Wouldn’t it be cool if umbrellas had lasers shooting out the top? Wouldn’t it be rad if picture frames had custom messages scrolling around them? Or if you could get tweets read aloud to you by a Twitter app that sounded like Cheryl Cole? Well ok, so maybe we disagree here, but wouldn’t it be great if we could share all the random business ideas that pop into our heads?
There are loads of people in search of an inspiring idea to pursue. And there are loads of ideas that get thought up and left to wither in the cold – with no blankets, no food or water, no love… but if brought to the donation centre, they just might find the right owners to care for them and help them grow into real businesses. Whether you have too much on your plate already or your expertise is just not in the relevant field, you can now bring your idea babies to the orphanage so they have a chance at life. To do so, simply wrap your idea in a cute blanket and deposit it as a comment below. Putting your ideas out here will feel so much better than storing them in the basement, kept in secret but neglected.
And if you’re on the lookout for your next grand master plan, we invite to consider adoption. Please spread the word to any potential donors or recipients, and let’s kick off Entrepreneurship Week with a new centre to keep those bright or quirky ideas alive.
StartupCafe 
I’ve been talking about this very idea with a number of people over the past couple of months. My use case for the donation centre would usually be: “I need this tool, but I don’t have time to write it. I’d pay to use this tool if somebody wrote it.” Sometimes, it’s: “this would make a really great open source project.”
I even got around to registering “suggestedprojects.com” but, coincidentally, I haven’t had the time to build an app for it. 🙂
There are a couple of sites out there already, with a commercial bent (I haven’t really checked out either, just had them recommended to me by my local friendly SE Innovation adviser):
* http://www.planeteureka.org/marketplace/
* http://www.innovateuk.org/deliveringinnovation/smallbusinessresearchinitiative.ashx which is most interesting because it’s government departments offering up ideas and offering to pay for their implementation.
Unfortunately, I can’t think of any of my recent “I wish somebody would build this” ideas. 🙂 They usually find their way onto Twitter (@mathie).
Oh cool, thanks for the info Graeme! Didn’t really look into it I must admit, just thought this could be a simple prototype and if useful, could try to build it into the site better later.
That’s quite funny to hear you registered suggestedprojects.com – nice domain!
Will check out the two you mention here =)
Oh this definately merits a whole separate section or something. I often have ideas that relate to things I just don’t have enough expertise to judge properly. Sometimes they regard things I do know a bit about but just don’t have time to pursue.
Alright due to popular demand/suggestion, we’ve got a new Idea Donation spot set up…
Check out http://www.reddit.com/r/ideadonation/ and you can add on there =).
Think that’s better?
Any other suggestions welcome.
-Jess