Hello HN,<p>Hypothetically speaking:
You're working on an idea that has the potential to become one of the most successful products in the world if built well. For the sake of argument, let's say it "will" be considered as one of the best ideas of the last decade or two. You have the idea, and you know exactly what your product should do and how it should do it. But you are not an engineer. The dilemma is that your idea cannot be downplayed. Whoever you share it with immediately realises how insane of an idea it is; which makes your idea super easy to steal. Let's say this idea needs quite a lot of resources to be well built, and you definitely can't do it alone since you're not an engineer capable of building such a thing. Again, for the sake of argument, imagine you're not well connected to the startup scene so you'll have to make cold intros.<p>And one last hypothesis, your biggest motivation is not the money or the fame, but it is to change the world. And your idea will do that.<p>What do you do? Explain step by step your action plan to succeed.
Share your idea with anyone who will listen. A) If it is truly going to change the world, you'll be labeled a hero and will quickly gain support. B) If not, you'll know pretty quickly from the masses that it won't work. If you get shot down, you'll get feedback to where the holes are in your idea, which can only solidify your idea further. Execution counts. Ideas are a dime a dozen; even world changing ones.
I suggest that you downplay your own idea. If you start talking to startup people and devs you will find out that your idea could be great but not so great or that many others are working on it. There is a saying:<p>If your idea is insanely futuristic it is not the time to do it. If it's not then be sure that at least 5 other stealth startups are working on it NOW.<p>That's not to say that your idea is not worth it. But we have all been there in this cloud where your idea is the best in a decade.
As a person in that situation, I openly share the vision with anyone who wants to hear it. Then you realize that people don't understand it, and therefore don't care.