That is what I think he is trying to say. This is a situation where someone has the idea and needs to find the resources (programmer) to make it a reality.
Clearly. But the person asking is a programmer and is asking for ideas that they can pass onto their partner. I’d say they figure it’s no risk seeing if they can unearth something new, or to be in a better position to support the endeavour.
Thanks for the input. The idea guy had the idea and has done some basic research, he has no tech background. I am putting together the tech infrastructure, got the dev, did the research etc. Though because the idea guy is a friend.
I agree that the dev needs to feel that he is going to get something out of it and rightfully so.
Thanks for taking the time to give me some help on this!
I agree and I've tried that route a bit, but I've had a little bit of trouble conveying the idea to someone else in order to get them to believe in it. I've found that I really need to create a mockup if I'm going to go that route and I just haven't taken the time to do that yet. I also live in an area that's not rich in technical-minded people (Waco, Texas), much less developers. So finding someone locally is almost surely out of the question.
It's a little like having an idea for a book or a movie, and going to an author or director wanting to "collaborate" to make the idea a reality. The simple fact is that it's hard to render ideas into any form that is widely digestible. Just like directors and authors, programmers "prechew" ideas. There are some surprising rewards to learning how to do this, in that much like a sculptor or a painter one realizes that the medium is actually rather influential, and how pleasant it is to "go with the grain" for any given project. But still, it's hard to learn how to prechew software ideas into reality, it is often not a pleasant task, which is probably why emails like this one have such an unpleasant character.
Although, wanting to have a pet geek to do your bidding is entirely understandable. Heck, I've been guilty of wanting that myself! And, I guess if I had the dough (or the charisma) I could have one. But an idea is an insulting offer - like offering $20 for your house.
"That sounds pretty cool. I'm not really looking for new projects right now because I want to spend my time on the ones I've got going already, but if you want, I can send you a list of programming resources* you might find useful."
If they respond with "But don't you like my idea?" or "You mean you don't want to help me?" respond with something like "I haven't done enough research to know if the idea is good or not, and it's really hard to predict how the market is going to go, especially in technology. I think it'd be awesome if you built this thing... I just can't offer much more than moral support, high-fives, and maybe a little bit of advice. If you really want someone to build this, try hiring a freelancer on ODesk... I just can't make the time right now."
Don't worry about whether the idea sucks; very few ideas survive through the full development of the product, and very few of these people will follow-through.
If they keep pushing, end the conversation with "Look, you're my friend, but I'd much rather we stay friends than become business partners." or "Look: I'm choosing to spend my time on my projects. This doesn't mean I don't like you, or that I dislike the idea; it just means that I'm not the guy to build it for you. I'll gladly point you to resources, or show you where to go to hire a programmer, but this is your project, and you should be the one to build it."
*Obviously, you'd have to compile a list like this, but that should be relatively easy to do.
Thanks for all the replies. I appreciate that. The first step that I'd take if I am serious in pursuing this is to validate the idea, as some of you suggested. If the idea does not seem viable, I'd build it anyway if only to learn how to code. Again, thanks!
I had another "ideas guy" pitch me last night, and I wrote him most of this in an email, which when finished turned out to look like being worth a blog post.
This is for all those people who "just need a technical guy to code up my idea!"
It doesn't work like that. It _especially_ doesn't work like that if your idea is hardware…
Makes sense. Maybe if you ask yourself why those with the existing infrastructure dont already have a version of your idea implemented, it can help you identify the important parts of your pitch.
> My idea was to use augmented reality to virtually show DIY interior design and move around furnitures in your room.
It doesn't sounds like you understand the scale of the technical challenge here. You're talking about developing a product based on a technology that is in its infancy! Meeting the type of dev that can execute on this at a meetup is going to be...dicy, at best.
Secondly, okay you have an idea. What else do you have? The only things you mention here are your "idea" so...can only assume not much else.
Thirdly, and directly to your question: it doesn't sound like you have the chops to execute on this idea, nor do you know enough about technology to build a business in any capacity, frankly. Join another startup, learn more about how software is built and how it works, then find something that you know is marketable. I mean, for Christ sake, this should not be hard for you--it sounds as if you have basically 0 invested here...
Tangentially, this is one of those posts that makes me wonder: What is it with non technologists that makes them want to do something in software? Why would you want to work in a space that you don't understand or care enough to learn to understand? These types of people view software as a means to an end, which isn't inherently bad but seems to not fit in the patterns of success I have seen in the software world.
Are you able to provide some additional context?
1. Can you please provide some links to the videos that you're interested in?
> I want to know what are the tools to build the app and why
2. Are you interested in the fabrication and assembly of something (someone gives you blueprints and you gather and assemble the widget) or are you interested in going from I have an idea to I have a finished product?
3. Do you actually want to build something or just have the knowledge?
Yeah, this kind of question seems really close to "I'm a business guy, all I need is a tech guy to implement my idea", which implies there's some way to avoid having to know how to do something that is core to the business.
Not a problem. :) Context and tone is hard in text. I felt silly saying that but I did have the idea I mentioned. I have a pretty good track record of having ideas I have no clue how to implement. Haha. Why the visual programming analysis project went nowhere. It's like tech and programming shower thoughts.
You need - as a matter of urgency - to find a programmer you trust enough not to screw you, and simply sketch your idea to them. They can then give you a ROM (rough order of magnitude) estimate of the work/complexity/trickiness involved. It won't be accurate, but at least you'll have an idea of the size of the task.
They might be able to wire-frame a static, non-functioning web site to give you an idea, and that might only take an hour. You need data, and you need someone to bounce the idea off.
And soon, while you have the enthusiasm.
I also note that you haven't told us your skills, haven't told us what you can do other than just having an idea, and haven't put contact details in your profile. It might sound harsh, but that tells me you're not really serious.
I could provide a one page combination business objectives statement and high level requirement specification, but a detailed spec would necessarily be longer and more complex in format.
No, I can't fund the development effort. If I could I wouldn't need a Y Combinator Plus.
I appreciate your observation about the seemingly limited value of just "the idea itself", but that's just the issue I was raising. The clear vision of why, what and how is indeed all I have to bring to the table.
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