More seriously; what do you want to get out of having that great idea? (The more exact the answer here, the closer you are to an answer to your original question.)
@tommi: With this idea, I would like to hear in five years that I was one of the people who "took the step to change". Yes, there might be some (or perhaps much) money in it, but I'm not in a mood to jump the VC train with this one.
@jsaarikko having very same kind of thoughts myself. I'm actually a bit further than that. I've got a coder (few actually), but the thing is that while work and school take their own time, no-one can make this project "full steam". Also, the lack of financial motivation (although everyone in the project are convinced of the idea and it's possibilities to succeed) makes many other things prioritized over this.
Why not be as open about it as possible? Claim the idea publicly in your blog, work on it publicly, state what you need help and resources with publicly. If your idea is good, it will gain traction, people will help you refine your idea and you will be the central information hub and see opportunities present themselves.
@caffeinejunky is right. I would say that beside each "want to accomplish" item add a cost guesstimate and possible time line. This accomplished, there are other steps/possibilities.
Another thing I wanted to say? Fuck the naysayers. Do you think Edison was well received when he said "I want to create a way that you ring into everyone's home when ever you want and put the horses to rest for a bit?" Now we ring into everyone pockets and not just home instead.
Howard Aiken once said "Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats."
Seriously. Tell the world about your idea. Give them all the details you have. Then see if the amount of effort you've expended can attract people who want to work with you to build it. In the process of building it you will run into unanticipated problems that will force you to abandon parts of your idea and change others. This step is essential and where most of the value comes from.
All the people who claim they had the original idea for Pagerank, Youtube, Facebook, etc don't actually have anything worthwhile until they get their hands dirty trying to implement it. As someone who has lots of impractical ideas on a daily basis this notion that ideas themselves aren't worth much is hard to stomach even though on an intellectual level I know it's true.
Given the choice between someone else implementing a variation on your idea and keeping it secret but never seeing it implemented which would you choose?
@CaffeineJunky: Don't forget that Edison wanted to use direct current. This resulted in a number of charred children. Thanks to Tesla, we have the much safer AC.
@jsaarikkomaybe I don't want to hear people saying "that's nothing new" If you've been thinking about your idea for a while, it's high time you let it out there and get it beaten up a bit to see how it survives that treatment. This doesn't mean you have to take the responses as absolute truth, but it'll give you more angles to consider, and also more tools with which to poke at it yourself, all of which is very healthy. Plus as @adewale said, if someone with coding skill or cash hears about it and gets excited about it too, there come your resources.
17 comments so far
rob a bank and kidnap a coder?
10 months, 3 weeks ago by tonio
If he kidnaps the coder first, they might be able to electronically rob a bank.
10 months, 3 weeks ago by dabitch
@jsaarikko if you come up with a solution, tell it to me too. I'm struggling with same kind of problem.
10 months, 3 weeks ago by lindstorm
metooing that.
10 months, 3 weeks ago by dabitch
Those who speak don't know. And those who know..
More seriously; what do you want to get out of having that great idea? (The more exact the answer here, the closer you are to an answer to your original question.)
10 months, 3 weeks ago by tommi
@tommi: With this idea, I would like to hear in five years that I was one of the people who "took the step to change". Yes, there might be some (or perhaps much) money in it, but I'm not in a mood to jump the VC train with this one.
10 months, 3 weeks ago by jsaarikko
@jsaarikko having very same kind of thoughts myself. I'm actually a bit further than that. I've got a coder (few actually), but the thing is that while work and school take their own time, no-one can make this project "full steam". Also, the lack of financial motivation (although everyone in the project are convinced of the idea and it's possibilities to succeed) makes many other things prioritized over this.
10 months, 3 weeks ago by lindstorm
Why not be as open about it as possible? Claim the idea publicly in your blog, work on it publicly, state what you need help and resources with publicly. If your idea is good, it will gain traction, people will help you refine your idea and you will be the central information hub and see opportunities present themselves.
What can you lose?
10 months, 3 weeks ago by vahakota
jsaarikko: if you don't want to use it "professionally" try to find a volunteer-coder and make a hobby-project out of it?
10 months, 2 weeks ago by marqs
@vahakota: Yes, why not. Hmmm...maybe I don't want to hear people saying "that's nothing new"....Gotta think about it.
@marqs: This would need a bit of planning and also technology investment. But yes, maybe.
10 months, 2 weeks ago by jsaarikko
I say write every thing down on paper you would want to accomplish. Seeing the words can be your own motivation for 'going forward' with it.
10 months, 2 weeks ago by CaffeineJunky
@caffeinejunky is right. I would say that beside each "want to accomplish" item add a cost guesstimate and possible time line. This accomplished, there are other steps/possibilities.
10 months, 2 weeks ago by jpblogger
Another thing I wanted to say? Fuck the naysayers. Do you think Edison was well received when he said "I want to create a way that you ring into everyone's home when ever you want and put the horses to rest for a bit?" Now we ring into everyone pockets and not just home instead.
10 months, 2 weeks ago by CaffeineJunky
Howard Aiken once said "Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats."
Seriously. Tell the world about your idea. Give them all the details you have. Then see if the amount of effort you've expended can attract people who want to work with you to build it. In the process of building it you will run into unanticipated problems that will force you to abandon parts of your idea and change others. This step is essential and where most of the value comes from.
All the people who claim they had the original idea for Pagerank, Youtube, Facebook, etc don't actually have anything worthwhile until they get their hands dirty trying to implement it. As someone who has lots of impractical ideas on a daily basis this notion that ideas themselves aren't worth much is hard to stomach even though on an intellectual level I know it's true.
Given the choice between someone else implementing a variation on your idea and keeping it secret but never seeing it implemented which would you choose?
10 months, 2 weeks ago by adewale
@CaffeineJunky: Don't forget that Edison wanted to use direct current. This resulted in a number of charred children. Thanks to Tesla, we have the much safer AC.
10 months, 2 weeks ago by bogart
@bogart Agreed, but you now what I mean.
10 months, 2 weeks ago by CaffeineJunky
@jsaarikko maybe I don't want to hear people saying "that's nothing new" If you've been thinking about your idea for a while, it's high time you let it out there and get it beaten up a bit to see how it survives that treatment. This doesn't mean you have to take the responses as absolute truth, but it'll give you more angles to consider, and also more tools with which to poke at it yourself, all of which is very healthy. Plus as @adewale said, if someone with coding skill or cash hears about it and gets excited about it too, there come your resources.
10 months, 2 weeks ago by spongefile