Welcome to my World

First you come up with an idea. Everybody seems pretty good at this step. Anybody you meet in life will tell you of all the ideas they have had.
Then you see if it can help do something. Most people don't do this step, but some do.
Then you check to see if anyone else has done this before. Hey -- I don't have to re-invent the wheel. Show me somebody else with a solution and I'm a happy camper.
If so far things are looking good, congratulations! You have absolutely nothing.
Assuming that you want to pursue your idea, there are about 12 tracks that you need to follow, all at once. There is IP, marketing, sales, financing, business management, developing a management team, prototyping your product, forming alliances, researching the competition -- I could go on, but I think you get the idea.
Not wanting to waste energy on stupid things, I've made it a point of searching out people who are smarter than me in these areas and talking to them. Gosh! There are a lot of them. More than the eye can see, and they all have advice for you. Unfortunately, it's never the same advice.
Add to this the fact that you, the inventor, really need to be responsible for the most important parts of your work, and you've got some reading to do as well!
Now I know how all those clients of mine felt all those years, with a hundred-dollar budget and three consultants telling them they should spend a thousand -- all on different items.
I went today to talk to my Small Business Development Center. You know, the guys that the politicians are always talking about that are supposed to be fostering economic development? I met a really nice and smart lady -- I am very grateful she took her time with me.
Unfortunately, however, the politicians lie. Have a great idea? That's nice, stand in line. So you would like to sell to DoD, or GE? Good luck! That sounds like a great idea. Let us know how it goes.
It's not that I'm bitter -- there are simply too many options for any sane person to pursue. Most of these options consist of dozens, if not hundreds, of hours of paperwork, meetings, and hand-shaking. Hey. I can understand. But I'm also chief cook and bottle washer here. If the database goes down, if the site doesn't support Netscape 4.0, I'm the guy that's supposed to fix it.
So enough with the belly aching -- I really don't mean to complain. I would like to humbly point out, however, that there is such a thing as "barrier to market entry." Those guys that want to get elected? If they wanted the economy so much better, they should be working on that.