There’s a very easy way to ensure that your project won’t be quoted by a quality, not-starving-for-work web development firm: make the firm sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) before you provide an overview of the project.

We care about confidentially and security, but we don’t sign an NDA until we hear an overview of the work. There’s too great of a chance that something you want done is currently living in one of our current projects. We don’t want to get involved in a legal gray area.

So now for the real reason.

In my life, I’ve never overhead an original, compelling idea that I could act upon better than the person who thought it up (this doesn’t discount the idea that I’m just not as smart as everyone else…but that’s another blog post).

If Mark Twain gave me an outline of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and said “there’s everything – go ahead and write it!”, the book would have been better suited for kindling than English class. I don’t have the skills to put together a great novel (let’s be honest – I don’t have the skills to write a poor novel).

Smart people know this. It’s not the idea – it’s execution, domain knowledge, and leadership.