Who should I contact first with a great idea for a highly technical?
If the technical challenge is going to be in the software, then absolutely contact an expert software engineer first. A software architect. Not to necessarily start work right away. In fact, depending on the advice you get, you may learn that a different developer would be perfectly fine for your project. One less expensive, in particular. Because that first developer should be an expert. An experienced software architect. Not just someone who claims to be a programmer and who will talk with you for $50/hour, but someone who will cost $10,000 to map out a full plan for the software architecture. Assuming that the consultant doesn't tell you outright that your idea: Won't work Has already been done a dozen times Has no patentable content that will prevent competitors Has such a low barrier to entry that your challenge will be competing with the 100 copycat startups that immediately pop up once you start getting any traction Will require a very high investment in R&D that may never pay off Or some combination of the above. An IP lawyer will potentially take your money to file a patent that covers something impossible to implement, or that misses important software engineering advances, meaning you'll need to refile. A manager will cost a lot and will just need to hire the software architect anyway. Step zero shouldn't be building anything, but simply making a plan and doing a technology sanity check. A patent engineer would need to be a software architect in order to write up any software patents, in which case you're really hiring a software architect. If your idea needs hardware, then you also need a hardware engineer. But if it's all software, the software architecture is the crucial critical path.