Part of it is social and general anxiety. I'm afraid of putting myself out there, having my ideas and implementations judged, and finding both coworkers and customers.
Part of it is having trouble focusing on a single idea. Finding the right partner would help here: see #1.
Part of it is fluctuating levels of depression sapping my motivation outside, and sometimes inside, work. I have been fighting this for almost a decade. At one point several years ago the mere thought of doing things outside of work so reinforced how miserable I was in my day job that I couldn't get anything done.
I'm slowly working through my barriers. My most recent dip into the job market has demonstrated that the only way I am going to get the job I want where I want it is to make it myself, so I have renewed motivation to get moving.
Where are you located, and what are your qualifications? I'm NYC, Python/full stack. Email me!
I'd be interested in working on a project together (I have a recent "good idea" but it will need to be built ground-up). I don't have a lot of money, but I'd be fine with putting some capital down for hosting, domains, etc..
It would be very casual. No pay either way of course. Ownership is something to discuss.
For your first part, I feel everyone has that to some degree. You just have to do it. Email startups.
In my case, it's the "lot of work" issue that is the problem. It's really easy for me to ignore the work I don't understand very well (marketing) or don't enjoy very much (which is largely a function of not understanding very well) for raw programming.
I have a couple of friends doing a startup in the same space in which I'm writing some software, and their software is nowhere near as far along as mine, yet I don't have anywhere near the "business development" that they do. I'm not there because it's too much work for one person and I've focused on the tech. Their tech isn't that great because it's too much work for one person and they've focused on the biz.
Aaaaah, I just don't know. They're pretty inexperienced, mostly just straight out of college. I'd like to find one person who is as passionate and experienced about business development as I am about software development. Instead, I mostly get contacts from guys who've worked in government offices all their lives, looking for a free programmer to boss around on their "1 in a million idea".
Why don't you join forces with your friends? If your tech is as far advanced as their business development, it sounds like you could join as an equal founder.
Well, they're pretty sold into their idea (which doesn't interest me) and they have one or two other people involved (so I'd be coming in as an outsider anyway). I've met their developer once and he seemed like a nice guy, though very inexperienced (not to speak ill, he's just young). So basically, they have a team together and I don't want to break them up, before their time, if that time should ever come.
Some of it is selfishness on my part, too. I want as much ownership and control as I can keep, and I want it to be on my ideas. I've tried working on other people's ideas before and it just doesn't move me. I have a pretty clear vision of where I want to go, both tech and business. I guess I'd rather keep going slow right now than get side-tracked working on someone else's ideas.
If their current project ever tanks, they might be interested in coming on board with me. I think we're both just trying to see where everything we're currently working on is going.
Other than "virtual reality" with some aspect of "multiplayer", they don't. I'm going after productivity applications. They're going after social networking.
