Lots of idea's but not the skillset? What to do?

Ok I am sure most of us have ideas for business, applications, inventions etc.

I have lots of these and have a very creative mind.  Most of my ideas are for web based businesses and applications.

The problem(s) I have are:

1) I am not a web developer, I can do some HTML/MySQL/PHP but for the ideas I have in mind I would spend the next 10 years to get them running.

2) How do you work out if an idea is viable?

I understand that I can approach a development company, but my fear is once I have told them my idea and therefore my usefulness is negated, how do I stop them simply making the idea their own?

How can I do some research in to whether my idea would be commercially viable and who the competition are?  Sure I can do google research but that isnt going to tell me all I want to know.

Finally these ideas would need funding however 2 of the ideas I have in my head I am sure once the above problems are resolved, finding someone to back idea wouldn't be too difficult.

Thanks for any tips, help, advice.

Hi Darren,

I take it your ideas revolve around a Web App? I imagine you have two options - find a developer to come and work in house with you - though this may be expensive and one persone may not have the entire skillset you need.

Or take on a reputable development company and ask them to sign some sort of non-disclosure / non-compete agreement prior to commencement - I am sure there are legal peeps here on 4N that could advise you properly on that.

Good luck with it.

Simon

Thanks for the advice.

To be honest I posted this while my head was swimming with ideas.

I have now sat down and rationalised these ideas and realise what I need to do:

1) Get a web/software development company to sign and NDA.

2) Get them to give me a quote on the development costs.

3) Work out how much it will cost to market, host etc

4) Find investors

5) Retire?

For anyone interest you can get a predefined emtpy NDA template here: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/patent/info/cda.pdf

Darren,

You should be able to describe what you're after in generic enough terms to get an adequate quote without requiring an NDA at that stage - and it'll save you a fair bit of hassle.

Thanks bertie unfortunately (and it may just be the way my head is wired) it would be a hard thing to get a quote for without explaining how the idea would work. 

Can it be tested in theory? ie. can you mock it up in another format to test how people respond to the overall idea... try it out on some friends and family perhaps? Just need to get creative :)

Unfortunately I think it's one of those "go big or go home" ideas.

I am 100% confident it will work, but just need to find out costs now

Have you thought about simply patenting the idea(s)? Then you can also use the NDA's in conjunction so everyone who you hire is locked out from doing it themselves.

NDAs are not really worth anything.

Let's presume:
I go to a big multi-national with my idea, they say 'no thanks' then bring out a very similar product.
I could sue etc but it'll cost me a fortune which I, obviously, don't have. They'll employ bigger/ better lawyers than me - they win.

OR

A small company comes to me with an idea, I say 'no thanks' then bring out something similar. They sue, costs them a fortune and I claim poverty etc. No-one gets anywhere.

But on your original question - if it's that good, get a loan/ funds employ a development company to build mock-ups/ prototypes and take it from there.
Either way, in the meantime look to register the domain names and any IP.

Go into partnership (either a formal partnership, or form a company) with someone to develop your ideas.  There's plenty of people out there with lots of skills but very vew ideas!

Thanks again all, I did consider a partnership, however I would rather retain full ownership of this porject for now :)

Cant help at all Darren, other than my general knowledge backs up what others have said.

I always have a head swimming with business ideas, for me it is finding time to do them as I am sooo busy.

Hope it works out for you, especially point 5: Retire.

See you soon no doubt on the 4N circuit.

Jo

Sounds like my issue too Jo :)

See you tomorrow at Shakey Wakey if you're there.

Perhaps I am being naïve here….but most businesses are very precious about their ideas, and those ideas need marketing or developing.  If people didn’t share ideas– there would be nothing to communicate or develop or manufacture etc, etc, etc. 

In the ideal world, if some-one comes up with an idea – they will have the funds available to develop that idea.  That is not the real world, and why would you invest your  funds if you weren’t 100% sure that it could even be achieved?

You cannot just enter into a contract with a developer without having a conversation and sharing some information – even if you are employing them, how do you know that they have the right skills unless you have a conversation in the first place?  And how do you know you will be able to work with them.

This is exactly what NDA’s are for, get the spec sorted and take ownership of the idea.

Michelle