Projects and Paychecks

I commented on a discussion the other day that was taking place on the steemdev discord server and I thought I would share it here with hopefully a wider audience.

There are a LOT of people that approach developers asking us to partner with them. The general pitch goes something like this, "I have an amazing idea and I am putting together a team and I really want you to be our developer." The problems that immediately crop up are

1. The idea is not amazing. Sometimes it is just a blatant ripoff of another project.
2. There is no money behind the project.
3. Maybe the idea is good but that doesn't make it a business. It isn't enough to have a good idea. You have to know how you plan to profit from that idea.
4. You are offered a percentage of profits. Most business ventures fail so there is a good chance you are offering 10% of zero.
5. Every situation is not suited to a bounty. If you come to me and say "I will pay you X dollars to deliver Y," I can look at that and compare the compensation you are offering to the value of my time. For a bounty you want me to work on the same problem as a bunch of other people and maybe I get paid and maybe I don't. There is no reason for a professional to do this.

My message to those who are considering seeking a professional developer for their projects is this:

If you do have a truly amazing idea back it up with your own money. If you truly have no money but you think the idea is that good then find an investor. If you can't find an investor or aren't willing to put your own money into the project then keep working on your idea until it is good enough to warrant investment.

I'm not really sure if this is a friendly helpful post or just venting about all the people asking for free work these days but whatever it is it is.

Btw, if there are any devs out there I am looking for people and I am actually paying a real wage.