Great idea for start-up, NO idea how to find partners/employees.

You could go to a place like Kickstarter to raise funds but you need some sort of working prototype.  If you really believe in the idea you can also hire a contract programmer (with NDAs in place etc..)to build the basics for you. 

You say you cannot pay with an idea.  True.  But are you willing to put out some capital ($) to see if the idea works or not?  If you are not willing to invest the capital then I'd say it's not going to go anywhere.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Not sure what it is and no I can't really program except for Robots, PLC's and the odd small .php page.

But I can tell you this. I have had 3-4 Ideas on the last 10 years most of them small local business ideas and MAN people came up with them too about 2-3 years after I did. I can say that 2 of them are still going VERY strong and I kick myself for not doing it over and over again.

Find a way. If it truly is worth it find a way. Or find a few individuals that are on board with you that have connections and some money to help you. If it is a great idea it might take you and a few people. If it is multimillion dollar then I am sure you won't mind giving up some small portions of it for others to take risks and provide venture capitol monies.

In my experience, angel investors won't talk to you without a working prototype.  Why should they invest money if you are not willing to invest time/money into your own idea.

Techdiver, who do you work for?  Robots and PLCs are our toys too.

You could go another route, which is patent it first.  That also involves some expense, but you don't need a full time engineer to build your prototype.

I'd suggest finding an engineer to sign in with an NDA... not to implement the thing, but a) to estimate the amount of effort required, and b) tell you if there's something similar out there already.

Once you know those things, you can decide if it's worth the cost to patent or develop it.

Hey, I used to play this game.

Early, early, early stage companies generally do not seek public sources for funds, whether angel or incubator or whatever. Nor can they afford (sometimes) or wait (almost always) to patent something. 

In the 'idea' stage, you have nothing - other than the idea - to sell. Not only will outside investors not know what to give you, but you won't know how much you should give away. Rule 1 of startup: NEVER, EVER give away a tranche of your company early in the process, and only give one away when you know what it will be worth. You'll have plenty of chances to do it later - to build the prototype, to manufacture it, to produce inventory, to scale, etc. 

I'd recommend - strongly - that you get incredibly inventive to solve it. 99% of the seed-stage companies I worked with involved the founder doing the work themselves, or in some cases, the founder and friends or the founder and relatives. Find a book, buy a server, buy your friends cases of beer in exchange for lessons, go to it. 

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ETA: One other thing I will say in support of ^^^: Let's say your idea has legs. Let's also say that what you contribute to the company is the idea. Not capital. Not raising capital. Not resources. Not sales. Not code or manufacturing know-how.

Fast forward: Investors will love your idea, but will be lined up to replace you with someone that can contribute one of those things. I'd encourage you to think about what you want to do in this business...early stage then exit, early stage through prototype, early stage through growth & building the team, etc. Each stage has a timeline, skillset, and requisite resource and skill needs. Then go develop those skills. And given that this is early stage, either you should have those skills (if not, who will?), or be seeking a partnership where you provide resources, capital, relationship, sales, whatever, and where the partner provides the technical skillset. 

Just another thought.

A quick book to read that is business based and I just fell in love with is REWORK Based from a few guys that started a software company and how they grew their business and how they did it by not following the typical means that an MBA person would.

It really is an interesting read and starts to head down the dynamic that today's society and business needs along with business models are changing.

If you like that the other one I like is Seth Godin's Book the Purple Cow. Reading sounds like time consumption but if you truly have an idea it is worth it. Rework is a quick read and well worth the money. If you have a Kindle you can download the first 4 chapters for free.

You my friend maybe sitting on a purple cow but fostering it is hard. As said above investment may be as simple as taping your own resources.

I know the small business ideas like mine did not need large capitol investment but it required more then I had. Mind you if I had educated myself I could have started the business, acquired small business loans setup a Limited liability company so it wouldn't affect me personally. Hell I wish I would have begged borrowed and Stolen to get it done.

Had I done that I would have own the most successful Smoothie bar in my town right across from a goodlife gym they were putting in and my wife could have run it. That store sat empty for two years before someone pulled the trigger and put one in.

STOOOPID ME.

We also almost bought a small Tanning salon and were going to expand it into the empty office next to it. The lady running it was retiring and we almost had a deal then she changed the terms on the deposit size and I couldn't come up with the extra $5000 because I needed that to expand the store.

Ya well she closed instead and now someone has a huge tanning salon with 15 beds and a busy bushiness that they expanded into the three local cities around me. I know the owners and they live in a beautiful house outside of town on the water. It has taken them 8 years but his wife makes pretty darn good money with the 4 locations now.....

If it is worth it put the work time and effort in so you are not like me looking back and wondering. Now I am struggling in my small community to come up with ideas that will succeed here.

An idea without the stones to put some money into it to make it a business might as well just be someone else's idea.  I threw a thousand bucks at an idea a couple of years ago that went no where but I have zero regrets.

I would be very curious how you plan to tackle spam that hasn't been done already.  The top players in the market have 99+% efficacy rates and nearly zero false-positives.

There is a very big "fish" in your area that would probably be interested.

Agreed.  This idea would have to be HUGE to make a difference in this very mature market.