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Thank you very much! To your first paragraph, YES!!! :) There is a tremendous amount that is out of my control, which is not my favorite situation to be in, but

by jdrobins2000 13y ago

Thank you very much! To your first paragraph, YES!!! :) There is a tremendous amount that is out of my control, which is not my favorite situation to be in, but sometimes it's the only way. I believe my idea is very big, and for reasons stated, I am concerned I need to go big out of the gate. I may be underestimating my capabilities, but I'm not confident two people (my partner and I) can pull that off. And anyway, eventually I will want to work with others, so it's either find good people now or find them later. I ironically have recently, in a roundabout way, already done the live someplace cheap thing (very complicated to explain, though amusing, but I'll save that for another time). It didn't go well. Suffice it to say, I have a wife and son, and have found out my wife does not adapt to big changes well, so I don't want to move around frivolously. I had bootstrapped using savings, and again it's complicated, but I am running out of runway. I'll need to feel really good about my plan to spend much longer without a job, funding, or mentorship. Maybe I could start small and grow, but I'm just not sure how long it would be take to grow revenues to cover my living expenses. SoCal is decided not a cheap place to live. :) Doing some freelance work is definitely a potential option and would buy me some time. I had considered that, but for some reason it fell off my radar, so thanks for the reminder. My only user now is myself, though I have shown a few others. Perhaps I should get a MVP out and see what kind of traction it gets? I may be overly concerned about someone copying my idea and scaling it up faster, but only because I don't have a strong argument to counter the concern. Can you explain why I should not be afraid of that? I guess that's the thing. I'd like to at least be able to know and choose the entities I am deciding to trust. By putting it out there for anyone to see, what stops someone from just ripping it off? Is this a wise investment? I believe it is, for the right investor who can afford the risk, but I understand the onus is on me to convince would be investors. It's certainly costing me quite a bit to work on it, but then again my motivation is more humanitarian than financial. I was hoping to at least get an interview with YC and get some feedback from some people with major experience under their belt, either "yeah that could fly" and then we'd get to it, or "never going to work because of X and Y". But, I didn't get an interview, so I got approximately zero feedback. I'd prefer to have a tech-savvy investor/partner who would really be able to see potentially fatal flaws, than a non-savvy investor who might invest without realizing those flaws.

MortenK 13y ago
Build a basic version and see what traction / feedback you get. Don't be afraid of people ripping it off, it doesn't happen. Everybody capable of ripping off your idea will have plenty of their own, that they'd rather pursue. The people I know, who talk about their great ideas but are vague with details (because it's so groundbreaking that everybody would steal the idea if they could), are the same folks who never actually get anything done. Don't be that guy. Get it out there, discuss it with as many people you can and get valuable feedback. By holding back of fear of your idea getting stolen you are not accomplishing anything.
- jdrobins2000 13y ago
  Thanks, a very rousing pep talk. I am sure what you are saying is true that most people worried about having their idea stolen end up doing nothing. I am trying to figure out how to not be that guy. But I am also trying to figure out the smartest way to do it. Maybe the answer is, whatever way gets my feet moving? It's interesting that no one has had an opinion on how to go about doing it, just that I should stop worrying and just do it. Which is exactly what I would expect someone to say who wants to steal my precious idea... ;)
gexla 13y ago
Cheap country is a no go, got it. Freelancing is a great option for bootstrapping in cases where you can live cheap. It gets more difficult as your situation gets more expensive. Most obviously, the higher your expenses, the more you have to work (while also raising your rates) and this cuts down on your "start-up" time. With freelancing, your clients have to be your first business priority. You can't give them a lower priority than your start-up. Work / life separation goes away and it can be difficult to fit start-ups in there. If a start-up can be hell, consider that your freelancing would be yet another start-up. Again, it's a great option when you can tame it (which is easy to do when you can live on next to nothing) but it can get really hairy as you need to scale up your earnings. It might still be worth a shot though, you don't know until you try. Who knows, it might blow up and go much better than you expect. Argument for sharing your ideas. Look at the logistical problems that you are running into.You need a lot of talented labor and you need a lot of money. You have no idea if you are going to be able to make money and you haven't yet been able to convince anyone to invest in it. Investors don't even care about the idea so much as they want to make a lot of money. In many cases they are investing not in the right ideas, but the right people. Who is going to make the insane sacrifice with the same passion and the same vision as you? If the idea were easy to steal, then it probably would have been easy enough that you would have built it already. I think people generally get these things backwards anyways. The best time for someone to steal your idea is when you have already built up some traction. At that point, you have done all the hard work so the copy cats can see that your idea is worth stealing. They can also watch your mistakes and possibly roll out a better service. You might as well tell everyone about it now. There is also the possibility that your successful idea may look entirely different than what you are thinking about right now. As soon as you get real users, it starts evolving. It's better to get that process going as soon as possible. Otherwise, I don't have much more info for you. Good luck!

MortenK 13y ago

Build a basic version and see what traction / feedback you get. Don't be afraid of people ripping it off, it doesn't happen. Everybody capable of ripping off your idea will have plenty of their own, that they'd rather pursue. The people I know, who talk about their great ideas but are vague with details (because it's so groundbreaking that everybody would steal the idea if they could), are the same folks who never actually get anything done. Don't be that guy. Get it out there, discuss it with as many people you can and get valuable feedback. By holding back of fear of your idea getting stolen you are not accomplishing anything.

jdrobins2000 13y ago
Thanks, a very rousing pep talk. I am sure what you are saying is true that most people worried about having their idea stolen end up doing nothing. I am trying to figure out how to not be that guy. But I am also trying to figure out the smartest way to do it. Maybe the answer is, whatever way gets my feet moving? It's interesting that no one has had an opinion on how to go about doing it, just that I should stop worrying and just do it. Which is exactly what I would expect someone to say who wants to steal my precious idea... ;)

gexla 13y ago

Cheap country is a no go, got it. Freelancing is a great option for bootstrapping in cases where you can live cheap. It gets more difficult as your situation gets more expensive. Most obviously, the higher your expenses, the more you have to work (while also raising your rates) and this cuts down on your "start-up" time. With freelancing, your clients have to be your first business priority. You can't give them a lower priority than your start-up. Work / life separation goes away and it can be difficult to fit start-ups in there. If a start-up can be hell, consider that your freelancing would be yet another start-up. Again, it's a great option when you can tame it (which is easy to do when you can live on next to nothing) but it can get really hairy as you need to scale up your earnings. It might still be worth a shot though, you don't know until you try. Who knows, it might blow up and go much better than you expect. Argument for sharing your ideas. Look at the logistical problems that you are running into.You need a lot of talented labor and you need a lot of money. You have no idea if you are going to be able to make money and you haven't yet been able to convince anyone to invest in it. Investors don't even care about the idea so much as they want to make a lot of money. In many cases they are investing not in the right ideas, but the right people. Who is going to make the insane sacrifice with the same passion and the same vision as you? If the idea were easy to steal, then it probably would have been easy enough that you would have built it already. I think people generally get these things backwards anyways. The best time for someone to steal your idea is when you have already built up some traction. At that point, you have done all the hard work so the copy cats can see that your idea is worth stealing. They can also watch your mistakes and possibly roll out a better service. You might as well tell everyone about it now. There is also the possibility that your successful idea may look entirely different than what you are thinking about right now. As soon as you get real users, it starts evolving. It's better to get that process going as soon as possible. Otherwise, I don't have much more info for you. Good luck!