Thread: Making money off of a website idea.

I have an idea for a website that I think would be a high customer shopping website, but I do not have the ability to put it into reality. Is it total fantasy to think that I could lobby my idea to a already established company, and sell them the website(where I get x% of profits from the website, if the website is to be profitable.)

What is stopping you from building the site yourself or at least getting a little help from someone?

I would say if you know for sure that you will never be able to make your dream come to fruition alone for whatever reason, then there is no reason not to try and pursue some investment from friends, family, other resources, ect.. Just make sure you have all the proper research, information, business plans, and other proof necessary to show this is a legitimate idea before approaching anyone. Personally, the last thing I would want to do would be to immediately sell my idea off. I would rather struggle and learn trying to build it myself before just ditching it off to someone for a small percentage of the profits.

"Ideas are worthless, execution is everything"; that is one of the most used quotes on this site for a good reason. People don't just "buy" ideas, you have to bring them something to invest in. Unless you are a creative at an Ad Firm, there is not really a way to get around these facts. If things worked that way I would have been responsible for the invention of twitter, iPods and the snuggie already.

I'm assuming you meant "high-end". Not sure what type of retailers you're thinking of. If you're talking in the realm of luxury goods, I can say that it's been tried by LVMH with their eLuxury site, and it got shuttered. Top-end brands have zero interest in transacting online, as they want to protect their brand from the grey market as well as establish a long-term relationship with the end-user.

Originally Posted by Adrenaline981

"Ideas are worthless, execution is everything"; that is one of the most used quotes on this site for a good reason. People don't just "buy" ideas, you have to bring them something to invest in. Unless you are a creative at an Ad Firm, there is not really a way to get around these facts. If things worked that way I would have been responsible for the invention of twitter, iPods and the snuggie already.

Give yourself more credit man, you totally could have made a Snuggie.

I am terrible at sewing haha. I could only imagine pitching the Snuggie to an investor though. "I turned my blanket into a XXXXXL shirt! How much will you give me for the patent?"