I've been in web development since 1999, and let me share something with you: everyone has an idea. Everyone. When people ask me what I do, I cringe. I don't wa

I've been in web development since 1999, and let me share something with you: everyone has an idea. Everyone. When people ask me what I do, I cringe. I don't want to tell them, because I know what's coming. Every one of my family (I'm talking immediate and extended) members has, at some point, asked me to build/host/collaborate on some type of web-based product. Remember the laws of supply and demand you learned in econ 101? Well, there's a ready supply of ideas available at no cost. I can't stop people from telling me their ideas, so before you even begin, realize that the value of an idea is $0.00. So what has value? Value comes in what I can't find easily. The number one thing missing from the equation any time someone pitches me an idea is some modicum of effort. You may not be able to code, but there are plenty of other things you can do. How much effort have you put in to outlining your idea? Outline your product. Outline its features. Outline its appearance. Spell out the business side in detail. Calculate a burn rate. What other capital investments will you have to make? Who else is in the space? The more detail you have, the more dedication you appear to have. Beyond that, recognize that your idea might not be appealing to a programmer. Programmers aren't excited by the same things that business developers are. We don't want to implement yet another social business app, even if it does target a niche that "no one else is even paying any attention to!" If your idea isn't technically interesting, your pool of potential developer targets just got cut in half, and the pool of talented developer targets just got cut by a factor of ten. Develop your idea and share it. Don't fall in to the trap of believing that your idea is unique and requires protection. I don't sign NDAs. Period. I don't sign them because you have nothing I want, and I have everything you want. Remember, I don't want to hear your idea. Show me your idea and all the effort you put in to it. If it's enough, I'll work with you. I'm not going to steal your idea because I've tried to do it all myself before and it doesn't work.