I would obviously pay them if/once the idea took off, but I don't have the capital to do so now.
Dilip was very kind in his response. My answer might be a bit on the "tough love" side. But that's for you to decide. My intention, just for the record, is to help you (and those like you) on your path to success. And that starts with having a viable philosophy about entrepreneurial-ism and business.
And I'm going to answer this because I get asked some form / version of this question very frequently from newcomers to entrepreneurial-ism.
The scenario goes something like this:
"I have a great idea. It's amazing, I love it, and I just KNOW it's gonna make me a ton of money. But I have no money right now so I can't afford to (fill in the blank with things like "to build it / create it / market it / etc" or "to hire the required staff needed to work in my business to sell it / develop it / etc"). And I don't want to tell anyone about my great idea because I'm worried someone will steal it and make MY million / billion dollars. But I can't afford to legally protect it either... So how do I launch without the skills to personally create the product AND no money to hire anyone else to do that either??"
The answer is ... You don't.
Look - let's be honest. All you have is an idea.
Big deal. Really.
I'm not saying it's not a good idea.
I'm not saying that if properly executed it couldn't make you a million / billion dollars...
But an idea is NOT a business. Nor is it an asset.
Until you do some (very important) initial work - like creating a business model, doing customer development, creating a MVP, etc - all you really have is a dream.
Right now your choices are:
1. Find someone with the skills or the money to develop your idea and sell them on WHY they should invest in you. And yes, this will mean giving up either a portion of the "ownership" or of future income or equity. And the more risk they have to take - the more equity they will want (and quite frankly be entitled to).
2. Learn how to code and build it yourself. MANY entrepreneurs without financial resources are still resourceful. They develop the skills needed to create what they don't have the money to pay someone else to do.
3. Get some cash so you can pay someone to do the coding. You'll probably have to have some knowledge of coding to direct the architecture of your idea. So you will likely still have to become knowledgeable even if its not you personally doing the coding.
(This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of options... And I'm sure some of the other experts here on Clarity have others to add - and I hope they do)
To wrap up - Here's my final tip to you that I hope you "get"...
It's FAR more valuable to have an idea that a very specific hungry crowd is clamoring for right now -
One that THEY would love and pay you for right now -
Maybe even one they'd pre-order because they just have to have it -
Versus YOU being in love with your own idea.
[Notice I didn't say "an idea that some as-of-yet-undetermined market would probably love"]
I wish you the best of luck moving forward.
