So you’ve got an idea, but you’re not sure how to build it or where to go next.

Whether you’ve got an idea for a great app, website or platform, there are lots of people out there who want to help if you’re clueless when it comes to the technical side of things – it’s just a question of finding them. And explaining your idea. And building it.

It’s a lot easier than it sounds, honestly.

As a developer, I’ve been helping people turn their business ideas into a reality for a few years and it’s an exciting, challenging process.

Sharing your idea with someone and trusting them to build it can be a scary journey, but it’s your agency’s job to make it as smooth as possible – that’s what you’re paying them for, after all. And you will have to pay them, but we’ll get to that later.

How to find them

Word of mouth is king when it comes to finding the right people, so ask around. You probably know someone who knows someone who would happily grab a coffee with you and listen to what you’ve got in mind.

If you don’t know someone who knows someone, it’s worth posting about your idea or project in a startup community – like Cardiff Start, for example. You’ll get lots of people offering their help, expertise and potentially offering to work with you in no time.

Know what you want

Once you’ve found a few people to talk to, it’s important that you can explain your idea to them clearly and fully. You might not need to know how it’ll technically function, but explaining to them what problem you want to solve and how you think it can be fixed gives them something to build their design around.

Research and detail

Don’t be scared to go into lots of detail – a good agency will ask you lots and lots of questions, to get an idea of what it is you want and need. No one will understand exactly what you want first time, and most good agencies will go away and think about the best way to solve your problem and then come back to you.

Don’t speak their language 

I get that the idea of meeting people with completely different skill sets to you can be intimidating, but remember that they’re the ones providing a service, not you, so it’s their responsibility to understand what you’re saying.

It’s not your job to understand technical jargon or technical lingo, but it is on them to explain to you clearly what they’re going to do.

Pay them

A good rule of thumb is to always budget for more than you think it’ll cost. Some people come to us expecting the moon on a stick for a few hundred pounds, and it’s down to us to disappoint them.

Just like anything else, building something amazing takes time. Work out how many hours it could take someone to build your idea, and then times that by 50 – that’ll be the rough cost.

Can’t afford that?  

Don’t worry too much – you’ve got other options. But being realistic about a budget is important, and you need to ask yourself why your estimate or budget is lower than the cost.

If you want to build something but don’t have the money right now, perhaps get in touch with a freelancer or consider looking overseas. This probably isn’t an option for the long-term, but could be a good compromise if you just want to make an MVP (minimum viable product) for now and then go back and build something better later.