Originally Posted by Barefootsies

Agreed.

I have a white board in my office. I am constantly writing down ideas, thoughts, concepts. Sometimes it could take 6-24 months before an idea is completely thought out to the point of investing in it.

Over that time, I work out the ideas, the how-to's, bounce ideas off people, research, and so forth. I may spend a day writing out the step by step instructions for how I want it to work, and come back to it in a month. I start saving PDF's of sites I like, and can use to illustrate my thoughts.

Things of that nature. Almost any site or idea has been thought out for some time before investing a dime.