Got an idea for a web app, but you aren’t a techie?

You and your business partner have an idea for the next ‘Big Big Thing’, but neither of you knows anything about software development or programming.  How do you turn get your idea out of your heads and on to the internet?  I spent a few minutes chatting about this very topic earlier today.  The individual first asked me if I would be willing to sign an NDA and explained that we don’t do NDAs.  She decided she could describe what she was trying to accomplish in general terms without giving away the ’secret’ (basically, a fairly simple social network-style website).  She went on to explain that she had recruited a CFO and now she was thinking about hiring a CTO and trying to decide whether or not she should outsource development here in the US or overseas.

My advice:

• Stop asking for NDAs and start sharing your idea widely, here is why.
• Don’t hire a CFO (you won’t need one for quite some time).
• Don’t hire a CTO (at least don’t hire anyone who has ever been CTO of anything but a startup).
• Attend Local Events like Startup Happy Hour, Refresh Dallas, Ruby Brigade, Barcamp and Democamp.
• Find a young, passionate developer with an above average EQ to join the team as a founder (he will be at the events listed above) and make him a full partner in your deal.
• Outsource the major development to U.S. based freelancers (don’t worry if they augment their team with offshore resources as long as you don’t have to deal with them).

The right person:

• Some early stage startup experience (as a founder or employee).
• Passionate about software development (hopefully agile methods, LAMP, Rails, etc).
• Someone who has read more than one book about development (Don’t Make Me Think - Krug, Bulletproof Web Design - Cederholm, Designing with Web Standards - Zeldman, Defensive Design - 37Signals, Agile Web Development - DHH)
• Someone who writes about his work on a blog (regularly)
• Someone who has a LinkedIn profile with more than a few recommendations
• Someone who attends events like Barcamp, Web 2.0, RailsCon and Gnomedex.
• Someone who can sit on a panel at a conference and talk about your service.
• Someone who is well respected and has at least 300 followers on Twitter.
• Find the coolest startups in your area and ask them about the person you are thinking of hiring.  If he is respected they will tell you how great he is, if he is a chump they won’t say much…

One last thought.  Everyone assumes building a website or a web service is easy (I know I did).  Anyone with an idea can simply hire a few coders and presto they are on their way to kicking Google’s ass.  It is hard to explain, but an anology I use is: “I have an amazing idea for a new kind of shopping mall.  All I need is to raise the money (Around $500MM), buy the land and find a contractor to build it.”  Of course, it might be easy to design and build a mall (I doubt it), but if you haven’t done it before I suspect there are a number of important lessons you might not be up-to speed on.  Have you ever been to North Park?  That was the first attempt at an indoor mall, they didn’t get it right until a few years ago.  Building a successful web application really requires a little know how and experience ~ they days of Craigslist are over (i.e. you can’t build a rudamentary website and expect to be successful, it is just too late).  Your site needs to be MUCH better…

Written by Alexander Muse |