What to do with a finished prototype of a very good idea?
I'm just finishing up over 6 months of thought and labor on a project.  The impact of my web app will send reverberations through-out the internet, for sure in terms of the technological idea behind it (it will definitely make TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, etc), and, hopefully, reverberations with day-to-day users of the internet.

For the sake of this post, assume that this idea really is a very, very good idea.  Pretend I explained the idea to you, and you loved it, and you saw it's immediate appeal as well as the framework it creates for future improvement, profit, and research.

Now, my question to you is: where do I go from here?  

- Do I put it online for all to consume?  Hope that I can withstand the massive amount of traffic it obtains from several blogs?  Force myself to keep the system afloat (optimizing, scaling, fixing bugs, securing every last bit, etc) long enough so that my websites reaches the breaking point (critical mass) before another competitor moves in?

- Do I make a privately accessible prototype, and try, somehow, to show it to VC's to get money so that I can launch the product confidently and with the assurance of an entire team of people working on it?  There are so many regions of development to explore and a lot of the technology can be vastly improved if I had some really brilliant people working on it.  It has several extremely appealing and unique ways to generate revenue right from launch.

- Do I make a privately accessible prototype and try to sell it?  Yeah, the idea is that good.. I just don't know how to get in touch with the people who would buy it.

- Patent the core technologies, then ask this question again in a few months?  I'm not sure this would help... would a patent on MySpace prevent other social network clones from popping up?  No.  Nor would a patent on what I've made.

This is a very important decision for me, as I'm nearing the end of the beginning.  The 6 month, 15 hour days, going insane taking into account dozens of existing ideas and having them mold together when least expected into something so pure, simple, and beautiful that I know the world will appreciate and use it.  This is the project I was born to make.

I welcome any questions you need answered in order to give sound advice.

Thanks
What to do with a finished prototype of a very good idea?
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I'm just finishing up over 6 months of thought and labor on a project.  The impact of my web app will send reverberations through-out the internet, for sure in terms of the technological idea behind it (it will definitely make TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, etc), and, hopefully, reverberations with day-to-day users of the internet.

For the sake of this post, assume that this idea really is a very, very good idea.  Pretend I explained the idea to you, and you loved it, and you saw it's immediate appeal as well as the framework it creates for future improvement, profit, and research.

Now, my question to you is: where do I go from here?  

- Do I put it online for all to consume?  Hope that I can withstand the massive amount of traffic it obtains from several blogs?  Force myself to keep the system afloat (optimizing, scaling, fixing bugs, securing every last bit, etc) long enough so that my websites reaches the breaking point (critical mass) before another competitor moves in?

- Do I make a privately accessible prototype, and try, somehow, to show it to VC's to get money so that I can launch the product confidently and with the assurance of an entire team of people working on it?  There are so many regions of development to explore and a lot of the technology can be vastly improved if I had some really brilliant people working on it.  It has several extremely appealing and unique ways to generate revenue right from launch.

- Do I make a privately accessible prototype and try to sell it?  Yeah, the idea is that good.. I just don't know how to get in touch with the people who would buy it.

- Patent the core technologies, then ask this question again in a few months?  I'm not sure this would help... would a patent on MySpace prevent other social network clones from popping up?  No.  Nor would a patent on what I've made.

This is a very important decision for me, as I'm nearing the end of the beginning.  The 6 month, 15 hour days, going insane taking into account dozens of existing ideas and having them mold together when least expected into something so pure, simple, and beautiful that I know the world will appreciate and use it.  This is the project I was born to make.

I welcome any questions you need answered in order to give sound advice.

Thanks