Where this really becomes a sore spot is when someone wants to build a business out of their idea. All too often, “idea people” want too much ownership or revenue from their idea while failing to possess the skills necessary to bring it to life. Sometimes that bridge can be gapped but in most cases if you really want your idea to take off, you have to be prepared to give up a lot of the money to see that happen. It’s important to also remember that giving up money doesn’t necessarily mean giving up control but be prepared to give up some of that too. At the end of the day, if you are nothing more than the idea person and wind up with 3% – 10% of the bounty, you’re doing pretty well. If you are able to also help bring the idea to life, you’ll likely wind up with more but keep your expectations in check.

Always remember, it’s better to own 5% of something than 100% of nothing. Here are a few thoughts that might help keep you grounded as you set out to bring your ideas to life:

1. Focus on ideas that are in an area you know, you’ll have better luck knowing what the need really is and of having the ability to contribute to executing on the idea. So, if your idea is for the next generation of social networking websites but you can’t even spell HTML, be prepared to give up some ownership.

2. Be diligent in working with people who have the skills you don’t and compensate them well.

3. Don’t be a tyrant. It might be your baby but other people may be very good at expanding an idea even if they didn’t think it up to begin with.

4. Work with people you can trust. I can’t emphasize this enough.

5. Be prepared to work 12 hours a day 7 days a week if you really want to make it. If it’s a labor of love, you probably won’t mind anyway.

The reality is that most of the hard work and true art is in the execution, not in the idea; so, if the idea is what you bring to the table, great. It might start a business or product, but be satisfied with not owning the whole thing. Trust me, if you have thought of it, odds are someone else has too so learn to execute if you want to win the game.

As an added thought, if you just want to be an idea person and don’t want the rest of the hassle and are willing to accept a less ownership, consider licensing your ideas to people or companies that will run with them. You might only get a modest percentage but it takes the work off of you beyond a prototype.

However, over the past few years, the open source movement has gained tremendous ground in it’s battle for broad acceptance and reliability. I would dare say, open source is coming of age. The broad use of LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) to build still more open source applications is eclipsed only by the applications built on that framework. Of course WordPress and Firefox immediately come to mind but the number of open source projects abounds.

The open source platform enablers such as Apache and Linux have enjoyed wide use in the enterprise for some time but the applications built on them have struggled to gain acceptance in those same businesses though for good reason. Most of them simply weren’t ready for prime time. But that’s changing and quickly so. With applications such as MySQL driving more and more databases, and WordPress running some large and complex websites, businesses are starting to realize the benefits of using free, open source applications and are finding out how reliable they can be. More importantly, the age and durability of those applications means there is also a growing talent pool of professionals capable of supporting them.

The idea is, that out of this movement a few things will happen.

1. Incumbent, non-open source giants will begin to be displaced for basic service offerings (think Apache instead of IIS).
2. New businesses will grow on the backs of open source applications, and not just new products, but services companies as well
3. Open source technologies could eventually rival complex enterprise applications.

Number 2 is exactly why I started BlackBox Technologies. A lot of businesses are using open source applications and need expertise to support them and help them get up and running or to maintain those applications. Also, a lot of small businesses and individuals can now afford powerful, scalable, flexible websites because they can be built by professionals at a relatively low cost without incurring software licensing fees, now or ever.

But, number 3 is what intrigues me the most and is where I hope BlackBox will go, eventually, even if only in part. The open source movement has proven that it is capable of building applications that can operate effectively at the enterprise level. When coupled with a subject matter expert in a particular discipline such as law, real estate, corporate governance, etc… the technical minds that contribute en masse to open source projects will have an opportunity to compete or displace incumbent software providers.

There will be concerns about security, reliability, support … all of which are quite valid to the enterprise, and all of which can be addressed and mitigated. Early adoption would likely begin at a snails pace, but there is a very viable opportunity with a fortune waiting to be made from the services associated with those applications (see #2). At the same time the cost savings to large companies would be quite literally billions per year.

There are some applications which don’t lend themself to a services oriented revenue stream and will always cost money, and quite frankly, that is ok. People deserve to make money for their hard work and some apps will demand a premium, but the opportunity abounds for those willing to start the ball rolling now on the open source revolution for the enterprise.

PS: Just as I was finishing writing this I caught wind of a website that is at the grassroots level of just such a project. Slipfire is a start-up, open source project aimed at developing a CRM (Customer Relationship Mangement) application on the WordPress platform. If you are inclined to help an open source application out this might be a good one to get involved with. I don’t know much more about it but I’ll be keeping a close eye on where this goes.