This is a good example of why you, yourself, should have made a minimally viable product prior to pitching it to other developers. I don't think he's gone home

This is a good example of why you, yourself, should have made a minimally viable product prior to pitching it to other developers. I don't think he's gone home and began writing his own - that's not what I'm getting at. I'm just saying, feedback is much more constructive when you can show people functionality right then and there. If all you can show people is a Photoshop rendering of the design, or can only give them a verbal description of it, the feedback you get is going to be about that Photoshop image. For example, they're going to be knit-picky about button placement or font choice rather than whether or not they'd find the service useful. Also, if you had gone in there with a demo to show, perhaps it'd seem more concrete to others and they'd be more willing to jump on board rather than ignore your messages. edit: I guess to be more direct about your question - I tell people my ideas usually as soon as I begin to think that I may be on to something. I tell my close circle of friends first, to kind of bounce around the idea. Then, I built a super basic demo in a night or two and go toss it around on IRC and here on HN.