cautious about deploying information based website

[Icedfuse]

i am building a website,
i ultimately wish to have a plethora of information on it.
the data is that which will never get old.
the website operation does not involve any fancy algorithms or anything.

there are other websites out there, which are similar in nature to the concept of my website. Except that I am creating my webstie with the aim of being more comprehensive, clean, and organized than the others.

i would like to upload my site at a premature stage, before it's completion, to allow users access to it earlier, and for data to be gradually added to it. I am cautious of doing this though, because of course, the other websites that are already established could take from my layout, design, and data and use it to refine and add to what they have.

i was thinking of going to different business places, such as SCORE, and presenting what i have so far. Maybe with a business model i can receive assistance in developing a team.

i feel that if i make the website big enough, and market it fast enough, i can capture hits from the competitor websites, and my website will become the standard for the area it is designed for.

i don't want to be paranoid, yet i don't want to be lackadaisical about the matter, either.

what are thoughts on this logic?????
help???
ideas of wisdom????

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

[LeeU]

Well, it's a bit hard to "market it fast enough". It takes time to get into search engines, and to get it out to potential customers. You just have to create it, place it on the Web, and work at promoting it. If you have a good "product", it won't matter "how fast you market it".

[Mr. E. Cryptic]

I am cautious of doing this though, because of course, the other websites that are already established could take from my layout, design, and data and use it to refine and add to what they have.

this is the nature of any business, on or off line. All you can do is build the best site you can and keep it at the top of it's game. If competitor X goes one better than you, all you can do is retaliate by going one better again.

[Reli4nt]

If you worried about someone copying the idea or the layout then you don't belong in ANY business, especially not in this one.

Excellence is about execution --success is in the delivery.

I tell my clients all the time, look at all the major web businesses out there, Google, Amazon, Ebay, Yahoo, MySpace, Facebook, even MS. Not ONE of them was the first of its kind or even a unique idea in any way. Every one of them learned from who came before.

Now you may say this exactly what you fear, be discouraged and do nothing. I say, do what they did and learn from them. Forget coddling the idea. Make a product so good that no one can copy it, so good that even by mirroring everything you've done, others still catch match the research, time, heart, and spirit that you have put into it.