Had an online business idea - what next?
Discussion
I recently had a 'eureka' moment, and thought of an online business idea that I think would be popular. Without wanting to give any details away, it's a web-based idea - but I'm not sure how it would 'work' technically (it would rely on getting information from other websites like a comparison site) and I don't have the technical ability to build the site itself.
At the moment it is just an idea - but I want to discuss it with a coder to see how viable it is. My only worry is that if I give my idea to someone with the ability to make it work, I'll be surplus to requirements!
Has anyone been in this situation before? If so how did you launch an online business without coding skills?
At the moment it is just an idea - but I want to discuss it with a coder to see how viable it is. My only worry is that if I give my idea to someone with the ability to make it work, I'll be surplus to requirements!
Has anyone been in this situation before? If so how did you launch an online business without coding skills?
Any good to you http://www.awesemthemes.com/products/compare-plus.
There is a few comparison templates and plugins for WordPress but not sure on your needs. Others available to.
There is a few comparison templates and plugins for WordPress but not sure on your needs. Others available to.
bazza white said:
Any good to you http://www.awesemthemes.com/products/compare-plus.
There is a few comparison templates and plugins for WordPress but not sure on your needs. Others available to.
Interesting, but I think I'll need something a bit more 'intelligent' - and might even need buy-in from the sites in question...There is a few comparison templates and plugins for WordPress but not sure on your needs. Others available to.
Pique said:
My only worry is that if I give my idea to someone with the ability to make it work, I'll be surplus to requirements!
Depends. The coder could create the site (and many have) but the site could remain unvisited (and many have) so it's down to you to then let everyone know.Pique said:
it would rely on getting information from other websites like a comparison
Sounds like screen-scraping; very easy for those other sites to block if they don't like how you are using their data...Have a play with this: http://community.screen-scraper.com - it's not really programming
I can't speak for any other coders, but I get to hear several brilliant ideas every month from people that want my company to make them the next Mark Zuckerberg and we've not felt compelled to steal a single one of them.
Tell your idea to as many people as possible to get the feedback which will be much more useful than the prospect of your idea being stolen.
Feel free to PM me if you'd like, I'm always happy to casually chat to fellow PHers.
Also, have a look at The Lean Startup.
Tell your idea to as many people as possible to get the feedback which will be much more useful than the prospect of your idea being stolen.
Feel free to PM me if you'd like, I'm always happy to casually chat to fellow PHers.
Also, have a look at The Lean Startup.
Possibly look at hiring someone via something like oDesk with the relevant skills?
It depends on the specifics but web scraping info is a pretty common thing for people to do so you'd probably find quite a lot of people with the experience to produce something vaguely like what you want.
It depends on the specifics but web scraping info is a pretty common thing for people to do so you'd probably find quite a lot of people with the experience to produce something vaguely like what you want.
One of the web sites I’ve built and operate is comparison site of sorts. It’s more involved than just screen-scraping, but this advice still stands...
The ongoing maintenance of screen-scraping code should not be taken lightly.
I spend a lot of my time these days fixing my screen-scraping code to keep up with the web site updates of those sites that I scrape. For me, it’s a frustration and an inconvenience but it’s not a show-stopper. If I had to go back to the coders and pay them for all those updates, it probably would be.
Without going into too much detail, I scrape bookmaker’s websites for their odds. I started off with grand ideas of systematically bringing more and more bookmakers into the system, until I had about 150 or so done... I’ve done 16 so far and to be honest that’s about all I can manage to keep on top of. It really is a lot of work.
That’s not to say it can’t be done. It would depend how complex the sites you’re scraping are and how many of them you want to compare etc.
I would second Jammy’s advice above, don’t be so frightened about people stealing the idea – before you start shelling out money for coders you need to be sure there’s a market for your product. Ideally, you want revenue from day one too - unless you have/can get a decent amount of funding, because you’ll need to budget for regular coding effort to keep it running.
Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss it – I can probably give better advice if I knew exactly what it is you’re thinking about. And I have way too much on myself to worry about trying to steal someone else’s startup idea so no worries there.
Good luck with it
The ongoing maintenance of screen-scraping code should not be taken lightly.
I spend a lot of my time these days fixing my screen-scraping code to keep up with the web site updates of those sites that I scrape. For me, it’s a frustration and an inconvenience but it’s not a show-stopper. If I had to go back to the coders and pay them for all those updates, it probably would be.
Without going into too much detail, I scrape bookmaker’s websites for their odds. I started off with grand ideas of systematically bringing more and more bookmakers into the system, until I had about 150 or so done... I’ve done 16 so far and to be honest that’s about all I can manage to keep on top of. It really is a lot of work.
That’s not to say it can’t be done. It would depend how complex the sites you’re scraping are and how many of them you want to compare etc.
I would second Jammy’s advice above, don’t be so frightened about people stealing the idea – before you start shelling out money for coders you need to be sure there’s a market for your product. Ideally, you want revenue from day one too - unless you have/can get a decent amount of funding, because you’ll need to budget for regular coding effort to keep it running.
Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss it – I can probably give better advice if I knew exactly what it is you’re thinking about. And I have way too much on myself to worry about trying to steal someone else’s startup idea so no worries there.
Good luck with it
boony said:
I spend a lot of my time these days fixing my screen-scraping code to keep up with the web site updates of those sites that I scrape. For me, it’s a frustration and an inconvenience but it’s not a show-stopper. If I had to go back to the coders and pay them for all those updates, it probably would be
Yep, normal practice is to pay cheap resources offshore to track the source sites and keep scrapers up to dateI suppose you also have to consider that lots of people probably have a great idea (in their opinion) yet are still doing the 9-to-5 because of a lack of willpower, lack of funds or laziness. So even if you tell them, they will then have two great ideas that they'll sit on until their deathbed. 
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