A Morall Dilemma
Discussion
Last year I was invited to invest in a project to develop a mobile app and website targeted at a business sector which doesn't have much available in the way of apps. It didn't appear to be a massive income generator to me and the business plan looked way off in terms of income forecasts (250% ROI in 3 years!).
I thought it could make some money but not at the predicted level. The other problem was how the development was going to be done. All costings were based on bids from Freelancer or Elance web sites and the work package plan didn't make much sense to me.
To cut along story short I didn't invest but for some reason was left on the mailing list that had been set up. Despite a couple of requests to be removed. Anyway it's all going tits up according to the mailing list. They have paid for six months of development and have got no usable deliverable s and I could do better graphics than they have ended up with. They are shelling out lots of money a month on servers which aren't doing anything productive and they paid up front for two years.
So the dilemma is. Do I go and nick the idea and do it myself? I haven't signed an NDA or any other form of agreement and none of the other bumph has any confidentiality or competition clauses. I can do pretty much all the development myself apart from the front end web design. It feels wrong but I see a genuine opportunity to make some money.
TLDR: Do I go and nick someone else's idea after they have failed to get it off the ground?
ETA: Yes I spelled Moral wrong....
I thought it could make some money but not at the predicted level. The other problem was how the development was going to be done. All costings were based on bids from Freelancer or Elance web sites and the work package plan didn't make much sense to me.
To cut along story short I didn't invest but for some reason was left on the mailing list that had been set up. Despite a couple of requests to be removed. Anyway it's all going tits up according to the mailing list. They have paid for six months of development and have got no usable deliverable s and I could do better graphics than they have ended up with. They are shelling out lots of money a month on servers which aren't doing anything productive and they paid up front for two years.
So the dilemma is. Do I go and nick the idea and do it myself? I haven't signed an NDA or any other form of agreement and none of the other bumph has any confidentiality or competition clauses. I can do pretty much all the development myself apart from the front end web design. It feels wrong but I see a genuine opportunity to make some money.
TLDR: Do I go and nick someone else's idea after they have failed to get it off the ground?
ETA: Yes I spelled Moral wrong....
Edited by plasticpig on Tuesday 31st March 19:12
Edited by plasticpig on Wednesday 1st April 10:30
foliedouce said:
The vast majority of business is based on 'nicking' others ideas and executing them better.
Crack on
This ^Crack on
In fact, look at Apple, most of the stuff they've been successful with wasn't their original idea, they just observed, took notes, worked out how to do it better, and improved it.
I would go ahead and get it done, the Apple example above is perfect example, they take other ideas and then perfect them. Most business's are just someone elses idea that you think you can do better. Coffee Shops existed before Starbucks for example.
However I would send them an unsubscribe email everytime they send you the confidential inhouse emails and perhaps for your wn moral compass set those emails to auto-delete before you even see them.
However I would send them an unsubscribe email everytime they send you the confidential inhouse emails and perhaps for your wn moral compass set those emails to auto-delete before you even see them.
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