Ideas That Are Too Big For You

[PTC]

This has been an issue from time to time when I get a great idea; I don't want to just tell the world and put a call out to designers and programmers. I also feel to some extent that confidentiality agreements and non-compete clauses aren't quite worth their face value.

The obvious solution is to have designers and programmers you work with all the time and trust, but even for you big dogs out there, there are some ideas that require outside help. Maybe you need an actual product made, some original programming for some unique web 2.0 features perhaps.

Any suggestions for going about this in general?

If your answer is; please be more specific about the types of ideas... think shootpaul.com - the site is down now but it was a pretty cool site that we discussed here, required a user interface that operated a real live paintball gun and then the bells and whistles.

[Guerreiro]

You are saying you have grand ideas that nobody has ever thought of before, but you cannot create the products needed for the idea so you have to outsource it. But what if the guy you outsource it to decides to steal your idea and claim it as his own. What then?

Basically it all comes down to trust. Keep hanging on to your ideas, get a guy to do small stuff on your site related in the field of expertise you want the guy for and get his trust and make sure he is reliable and will not steal your idea.

[MPC]

I think you should talk to Anthony. He had a big idea, and managed to make it happen with some help.