Hi,

I got a cool idea for an internet website, which not personally I find cool, I also found some supporters (from my colleagues) who like the idea and think it has great potential. But I won't tell you the idea ;)
My question is the following: how can I actually turn this idea into reality ? I have programming skills but just for me alone it is a hard and long job since I'm a full time worker and can only afford to work 2-3 hours per day on the project and that's quite few considered to the amount of time you need to build a good website (design, graphics, content, programming the background logic). So I can't handle it on my own. Unfortunately many of my colleagues aren't great coders/designers so I can't ask them (and I don't like to tell too much people about the idea).
   How should I approach the situation ? Is there any way how I can make a patent on my idea ? (i guess it won't work since i haven't heard of it). If you made some experiences with building a startup I would like to hear them

Creating a patent costs money (e.g. lawyer fees so someone can help you write it up, and lead you in the process of submitting the patent).

What you can do is try to find partners who you are willing to share the company/ site with you. E.g. you ask for a programmer to work unpaid, but get 50% of the profits. (Or, in a team of 3 – with an additional designer – 33% and so on.) But you must then share the idea with them, so you can't be too defensive about that part. You can also try to find a good financing partner. The more about your project you share, the higher the chances you can find good partners (for instance, if a programmer or investor is reading along they might already have started to be interested in your idea, if only you'd have shared it...).

/me reads along :)

Perhaps you could at least disclose some information on the size of the project – are we talking a fullscale social networking site, or is it more of a simple setup/complex algorithms site?

The profitdesign is an excellent idea, at least in the beginning. But sharing a bit more of the idea is necessary to get the right people involved.

Chroniton, forget about patents unless you want to be paying lots of money to lawyers.

While 2-3 hours per day by one person would be enough to develop some simple websites, if you are hoping to make money from it you will need more time than that.

I've spent this year developing a new website on a full-time basis, yet I probably average only one hour per day on programming. The rest is spent on routine maintenance (backups etc), replying to email enquiries, customer support, quality control, chasing payments, marketing and promotion, accounting, etc...

As Philipp says, you could find partners willing to work unpaid for a share of future profits. A team of four, each working 2-3 hours per day, might work. That way you get a nice mix of skills, and the enjoyment of working co-operatively on something.

Another possibility is to find an investor. This will give you the cash to hire people to develop the business – but in return you must give away most of the control, and most of the future profits, to the investor.

The website I have been developing is the Question and Answer service at http://uclue.com/ and it's functional although a long way from being finished.

Because it was an interesting project, I got a lot of help from other people (including Philipp).

There are people who say you should plan everything in advance. I don't think you can do that meaningfully in a rapidly changing world. You might want to consider just "jumping in head-first". Do as much as you can in 2-3 hours per day, and generate some "buzz", and see what happens. You might be surprised what interest and offers you get.

Just to clearify..I already told people about my idea (and they liked it/would use it). I just don't want to tell anybody or write the idea about it on this forum here where everyone can read it. Just some simple words about it..it is more a big idea..at least what I have in mind. And it is going in the category of social networks but applies a whole different perspective and features..something that is missing in todays social network sites.

Chroniton, implementing a new social site is the easy part. Getting a critical mass of users is the hard part.

Is there a way that you could integrate your idea with an existing website that already has a large userbase? Just add your functionality into some other site?

Also, I just remembered that back in June I blogged about all the help I received with my website:
http://roger-browne.com/weblog/

"forget about patents "
!!! ALWAYS PATENT!!!
I've learned that petenting is a must! Remember that "Device for Communication Between Persons By Use Of Wires"? THAT WAS ME! But my Idea was stolen by some Alex or Bell or something and he got all the credit!