Protect a new idea like a seedling. Not everyone should get to step on it before it’s grown.

A new idea has no defenses yet, and that is a stage rather than a weakness. Criticism becomes valuable later, once there is enough of a thing for the criticism to land on, but at the start a shrug from the wrong person can end something before it had a chance to be any good. This is about timing, not about dodging honesty forever. You get to choose when the door opens.

Keep the next one to yourself for two weeks and build the smallest version you can. Then show it to one person whose judgment you respect. After that, open it to everybody.