How do I realize my simple yet amazing software idea?

There's really no simple path from "amazing idea" to "filthy rich", the hard part is still in front of you. Ideas are cheap and easy. Everyone has them. Lots of people have really good ones. You have to get the application made. If you think that your idea is so good that a competent programmer is going to shoulder virtually all of the risk for only half of the company, go find that idiot guy. A better option is this one: find some money to hire a competent programmer (or two). The fact that you're struggling with everything but the idea leads me to believe that you'd probably be better off going with VC which will take a giant portion of ownership and, in so doing, also impose a lot of organization and structure (basically, they can load you down with MBA grads) to handle the business side of things that you might not be experienced with. That would take care of both coding and management and would leave you as part-owner and maybe product designer. So, yeah, there's no magic trick here: now the real work has to be done by somebody.

You can patent it, if you're concerned about that. Chances are, someone already has, though.

OK, since you've asked for realistic options, you've got three: 1. Learn to code it yourself. Unlikely, as you would have done this already. 2. Get some money together and pay someone to build your app. This probably involves writing up a business plan and getting a loan. Completely offhand, I'd estimate your budget in the tens of thousands of dollars. 3. Sucker some poor young programmer into building your app for nothing. Luckily for you, most programmers learn that programming-for-equity is a bum deal the hard way. You're not going to get anyone who's very good at their job, though. At best you'll get someone who is highly talented but very inexperienced. Look at it from the programmer's perspective. They can take a flier and work for you for several months for probably-nothing, or they could just as easily get some contract work and make twenty or thirty grand over that same time period.

You are still not getting the point that your idea is not special. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Execution is what matters. There were MP3 players before the iPod, tablets before the IPad, etc. I'd launch as soon as I had anything worthwhile to show, then constantly iterate based on whatever feedback I'm getting. You can't get feedback if you hide the app from the potential users. If your app really is that great, the reaction to it may help you raise capital to build it out correctly, or maybe even find a development partner that sees value in your idea.

I am asking hypothetically if my idea was groundbreaking. Please don't get caught up with giving me the "its not as good as you may think" from your soapbox speech. So, given my idea is amazing, I should do what? Let's say you have a great idea for a restaurant. The best ever idea for a restaurant, perfect location, perfect ideas for the menu, perfect design for the interior. Now let's say you need a building in which to run this perfect restaurant. Do you call up a company renting commercial property and say "Hey, I have this great idea for a restaurant, would you let me rent out your building for free in exchange for 50% ownership?" No, you don't, because obviously nobody who owns valuable property is going to give it to you for free in exchange for a chance to possibly make money in the restaurant business. Instead, you have to somehow come up with enough money to pay for the startup costs of your business, and use some of that money to pay rent. You take the risk by putting your money on the line to pay for the costs of your business, that's just how it works. Even though software development might seem like it can easily be done without needing to pay anyone since it doesn't involve things like physically building something, it still costs money. Your question is basically "How can I get this thing that costs money for free?", because an equity share in a non-existent company is by definition worth next to nothing. If you absolutely have no way of getting money for this business, then I would say try to learn the skills to write the app yourself, just like you would have to learn how to build a house yourself if you couldn't afford to pay someone to do it. Otherwise if you aren't going to do it yourself and you can't pay someone, then it's like trying to get someone to do it for free. Do you know anyone who would do it for free? Can you somehow find someone to do it for free? That is why it's so difficult to get a project like this done without money.

Speaking as a programmer, 50% equity would not be adequate compensation if all you are doing is providing the idea. You'd be better off offering some cash in advance, then royalties. Keep in mind a decent programmer in north american will run about $10k/month. You could probably find students to do it for significantly less. Maybe you should approach a local technical college, they often need small 1 semester projects for their 2nd year students to work on as a co-op/capstone project.

Related: http://www.bighillsoftware.com/blog/whats-that-app-idea-worth/

Man you guys are awesome and I truly appreciate your responses. Another note on the whole do it for equity thing, I am not trying to force or trick any programmer to do something they don't think would work. I was just hoping there would be a magical board were I could post my idea and some dev would say hey that sounds like something interesting and has a lot of potential - I am going to look into this as a possible side project. Not like "HEY THIS IS MY [GREAT IDEA] I GIVE U 50% FER UR HELP." It would be "Hey if you like the idea and think its good lets talk - here is my Alpha and what I have so far" If there is no where to do this out side of cornering devs in RL at 711 when they get their mt. dew 2-liters then thats cool..... I just want to know if that is a possibility or something I could look into before going to a freelancer.

On the point of keeping the idea confidential: Eventually, you're going to want to let customers buy it. At that point, the idea is going to be public. If it truly is a great idea, someone else is going to mimic it and you won't be able to stop them. You can stop them from copying the look and feel, or anything patent-able, but an idea itself can't be protected. And the competitor is going to have the advantage of seeing your already existing execution, so will be able produce their version in less time. And, because your idea was awesome, they'll have no trouble getting funding. Keeping an awesome secret does the following: It prevents you from getting useful feedback from many sources. It scares away potential developers. It prevents you from getting VC. So consider if delaying competition is worth the added difficulties in getting your idea off the ground.