A New Product Idea

Been working for past few days to get the right design for my new innovation.

Sometimes i wonder if i should directly contact Facebook or some other big social networking site and just tell them the idea. But then the excitement of having created something on my own pulls me back.

Want this to be something that i thought of from scratch and then build upon.
But i know this is going to be challenging. Working through the whole week for another startup and then finding time to work on this is going to take long.

Right now i am doing the product design work. Not sure if i should create a prototype working code before i try to show the idea to someone else or should try contacting people for some funding and then create a team side by side as well. Its difficult decision as the prototype will take fairly long time.

Also, there is a fear of idea being hijacked by someone else. I know any business idea sounds amazing to the thinker and one can go down the dreams without thinking the pitfalls. But then there is another fear that the idea might be hijacked by someone else if i share with too many people for feedback.

I am a seasoned Java and Ruby guy, but i am more into the back end working of software generally so the whole working code thing might take me even longer than a front end guy. But then thats what great engineers are about. I can learn lot about front end engineering while working on my own project.

More on product side...

The product is good for social networking sites. But this is not a social network idea. No I am not here to develop how you can have profile world can see, add friends and photos........

But this is the step after that. I think the best match for the idea is Facebook. MySpace is good but it has different genre but i think this will work there as well. In fact might just snatch big share from Facebook. When i think about it, Linked In would also be a good destination. I dont think this is not a good idea for a new social networking site but the reason it is better for existing ones is it will help in retaining their own traffic.

This product will help companies like Facebook against likes of Google buzz who have significant user base but not a major player in traditional social network. It would be interesting if Google Buzz gets into this kind of stuff.

Why i think this will help retain the traffic...

Initially there was site XYZ... then came ABC ..then came MySpace then came Facebook... One lost to another because of better product, innovation and then the viral effect. My friends are here so Ive got to be. Why do your friends moving to new network compel you? Because all these websites are all about others generated content.

Whats different about my idea? I generate my own content. And once i have substantial amount of my own content, i would not want to move to other site. The question is what is that content. And thats where my idea comes in.

Another advantage of user generated content would be highly targeted advertising. If i am generating my own content, I am a very good target for advertisers. Also there is a big component that might hurt Google in its core business. And since bing is in partnership with Facebook, i think they are most appropriate for this. I think google should go down that road as it has its own aspirations to be big internet player other than search. This will also avoid companies using scamville kind of advertising .

Well there are another 10 advantages that make me think this is the next thing internet will move to.

But then that brings me to my old question...

Should i contact other start up enterprenuers. Should i contact investors. Would they even take me seriously if i contact them because i dont have a big name and no history of starting a venture on my own...

But i know in the end i will be winner. I will come out with lot of growth in terms of what all i have learnt which ever path i go down eventually. I know internet will move towards this idea sooner or later. If i can grab this opportunity great. if someone hijacks, i get the experience and probarbly will be more mature as far as next venture is concerned.