Wow. Hmm, that's a very big question. I'd rather answer it publicly too so it can help many more folks.

What I tell everyone who asks about that sort of thing is that [news.ycombinator.com] and google are the 2 best resources. Plenty of much smarter folks have written so much over the years that you can digest for free.

The most important, basic thing to do is build something people want. Start by solving a problem as elegantly and simply as possible, get it online and tell a few folks to see what happens.