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If I was feeling like a real troll, I'd point out that if it was a good enough idea, surely you'd remember it in the morning ;)

No, in all seriousness, best of luck, and get an NDA in place. And maybe get in touch with SS. Especially as if things go pear shaped, I'm pretty sure there's some thread or thing around on here somewhere you could blackmail him with ;) :)

kd
 
As said, the vast majority of developers won't go near your idea unless you pay them a decent salary. Its far too dangerous for us to commit to something that doesn't really have a budget and relies on the future of the site.

You would need to create a pretty strong contract which stated deliverables, timescale and scope otherwise you could just keep adding features and expecting the developers to do all the work while you sit back.
 
I think you will struggle to find somebody willing to work for 6 months for a small percentage with no guarantee of return or a salary. Who could afford to do that? You need initial capital to fund staff or to pay a company to develop it for you.
 
I'm in a similar position Kermit, I've got an idea that is based around music, I made a thread a few months ago and I plan to develop it myself in the summer.

I haven't told anyone the idea because I don't want anyone stealing the idea, but at some point you have to tell someone.

If I manage to get some money over the summer then maybe I could hire a developer or two. (No idea how much they would cost) the idea of an NDA is very interesting and I'm glad something like this exists.

Anyway good luck :)
 
Good luck getting developers working on your project for no money and a small stake of the company for 6months. Your best bet are probably students, most decent developers either have jobs or the ones contracting/freelancing are good and will demand something in return. There is a reason you see 100s of 'web developers' struggling to find decent work. Unfortunately, ideas mean nothing so you cant really protect it and once its out and it is a success, your have to fend off all the copycats.
 
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nex20 said:
Good luck getting developers working on your project for no money and a small stake of the company for 6months. Unfortunately, ideas mean nothing so you cant really protect it and once its out and it is a success, your have to fend off all the copycats.
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How do you do that though?
 
Kermit said:
Your both possibly right but I sure there's a few website designers out there still designing websites who a few years earlier turned down the golden goose who are still working for their salary when they could have taken nothing, given up a lot of their spare time but then reap the rewards later, just look at fb, ms, google, apple to name a few big names who while the names of main men behind those companies are well known those that got in bed early with them almost without exception are multi million/billionaires.
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I think you are misleading yourself there a little bit. Most startups like that have either been started by a developer themselves or have had investment to get them going. You will find very few good developers that will work on a project in the hope of hitting it big.

We work in an industry that tells us that for every huge success story there are millions of complete failures. For every one idea that a developer turns down that would have made him any money, there will have been 50 others he turned down that would have lost him years of his life for nothing.

Like the chap that sold his apple stock after a few months said, who know what would have happened, he might have caused problems that scuppered the company or may have made it 10 times better. Decision making with hindsight is pure speculation in most cases.
 
It's not the idea that counts. It's the execution.

Google, Facebook, Microsoft... none of these were "new ideas". They were actually at least 2nd or even 3rd hand by the time they got hold of it. What set them apart was execution. They executed better than their competitors.

You need to find a co-founder that can also develop the software. The split will need to be 50/50. Then if you start making money and need to pull in another person or two, they get 10% divided between them. After that the shareholding remains closed.

Don't be one of those business founders that doom themselves to failure by retaining 51 or 60% or whatever. It will set you on a path to failure. 50% of SOMETHING is better than 60% of NOTHING.
 
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NathanE said:
It's not the idea that counts. It's the execution.

Google, Facebook, Microsoft... none of these were "new ideas". They were actually at least 2nd or even 3rd hand by the time they got hold of it. What set them apart was execution. They executed better than their competitors.

You need to find a co-founder that can also develop the software. The split will need to be 50/50. Then if you start making money and need to pull in another person or two, they get 10% divided between them. After that the shareholding remains closed.

Don't be one of those business founders that doom themselves to failure by retaining 51 or 60% or whatever. It will set you on a path to failure. 50% of SOMETHING is better than 60% of NOTHING.
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Yep, its about having the right idea at the right time and getting the execution right. The main reason (as far as I understand) Zuckerburg got away with facebook was because the idea he "stole" was not an original idea at all. There were other sites out there like facebook but he was in the right place to get a good user base and made a decent job of it.
 
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