The other side is really a *purer* side of the crowdsourcing process, the way I think it should’ve always been: Take the bidding out of the equation and just share an idea that others improve on or alter.
This levels the playing field because neither side has an unfair financial advantage any longer. This also allows you to bring an element back into the picture that’s been marginalized, if not forgotten completely: collaboration.
Tracy Osborn is totally nailing this. She’s starting a company by pitching people on being her technical co-founder. (You can read all about the company plan here.) It’s for wedding invitations but really, it could be any product or service.
She’s put her idea out there completely. Her business plan, her fears, her hopes. There’s no agenda here because she’s already come up with the concept, so it’s not like you have to. Nobody will steal it either because, well, people would know who had the idea first. Where this comes together for me is in the comments to the story though.
They show how a community for the most part can improve, troubleshoot, or massage an idea while still remaining positive. It doesn’t *cost* them anything to share their experience(s), and in return, they help shape her business plan, in effect becoming her virtual mentor. One of them could even end up possibly becoming her partner too. (This approach is also something at the heart of a proposal for TV viewers to decide on which unseen TV pilots get aired.)
Where I come out is that the wisdom of crowds can be a good thing—until you start bidding on it.
2 comments:
Thanks for your wonderful post! I expected to get some comments on the HN post, but nothing near the amazing, in-depth responses I've received. Half of my emails were people not interested in the cofounder position, but just wanted to lend their support. Really amazing.
It's very freeing to be open with your idea rather than think everyone is going to steal your idea — one is looking at the internet as your friends, the other is looking at the internet as your enemy. I prefer the former.
Again, thanks. :)
Crowdsourcing is the way toward gathering data, substance, essay writer cheap and thoughts by requesting commitments from an enormous gathering of individuals.
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