brothe2000

I am just happy that we have an opportunity to apply for something like this. Filling out the app was a good exercise in focusing my idea.

Definitely the right way to view it.

There's a really great tool called www.theresumator.com out there that is easy to use and works great. (I don't work for them, I work for SAP.)

As for AngelList, I've got a posting out there for a co-founder but not getting many hits but that's due to it being an equity thing with no pay.

You can definitely find people on there and they are fairly responsive.

A lot of people buy a lot of crap on ebay for outrageous prices. Might be Microsoft trying to prop up the market!

I'd like to think that if you have an open mind and are willing to "think young", I think experience can provide you with a greater reach to build what you want. Young people have a belief everything is possible but may not always have the means. When you are older, you typically have more means but are too grounded in reality of what's possible.

Age is a number not a limitation.

Find a need and fill it. It won't be an obvious need though. Look at Twitter. Who knew we "needed" that. Most ideas are twists on old ones. EBay was simple online auctions. LinkedIn is a rollodex online. Take something you know and adapt it. Keep evolving it and asking others if they need it. Better yet, ask other people what they wish they had. What would make their job or life easier. For example, I never make time to get up and walk or exercise. What if my computer turned off for 30 minutes every day and I had to walk a treadmill to turn it back on? Is it the next big thing, no but I would like it.

If you and your team think you can do it better, do it yourself. If you don't have a team and haven't put much into your own idea, give them a call and see how you can help.

This is more of an exercise than a question but...

When we interview some database people, we would ask them to whiteboard a database for a fake golf tournament we were having. What this did was force the interviewee to ask questions if they don't know golf (such as how many rounds are played, how many players, how does scoring work...etc) which tells us two things: Can they get info from a customer (internal or external) and how do they do hierarchies in data models.

Yes! Douglas Adams reference!

Call them, introduce what you are doing and ask them if you can meet.

If you can solve a problem they have, they will make time for you.

Most buyers care about three things: Cost, Productivity, Revenue. Think "CPR". If you can reduce costs, increase productivity, or drive additional revenue, they should want to meet.

Skip email or surveys. You want to talk to them and ask open ended questions about their needs to see if you can help.

I've worked with entrepreneurs like this and they would change their mind on features and functionality week to week. Entrepreneurs are constantly testing new ideas and features to understand what will work.

I compared it to walking a dog. The dog runs around side to side front to back sniffing everything but at the end of the day, the dog is still tied to you and you to it.

If possible get more involved in the actual business and start to build in flexibility and anticipate future enhancements based on the business goals.

If you don't get a say in the business and have no path to equity, leave.

I do this too. Is this common or are we weird?