Ideas are a commodity. Execution of them is not.

The line contrasts the relative abundance of “ideas” with the scarcity of effective follow-through. Dell’s point is that having a concept is rarely a durable competitive advantage, because many people can generate similar notions or quickly copy them. What differentiates winners—especially in business and technology—is the ability to execute: to build, ship, sell, iterate, and scale reliably under real-world constraints. The quote also implies that execution requires discipline, resources, and operational skill, and that these are harder to replicate than inspiration. In a startup context, it’s a warning against overvaluing brainstorming and undervaluing implementation and delivery.