Wordpress is you best bet. Most hosting companies have a "one click installation" through CPanel. Hostgator is one of them, i've learned a lot since building my first Wordpress website. It's a fun experience.
I recommend buying your domain and hosting from the same provider.
I think the best view to have is that you CAN change the world. Simply put, you can do it by doing your part. Every little bit counts. Maybe volunteer or help at a local hospital, or better yet tackle some problems that are arising in local healthcare or NGO centres and try pitching them ideas to make their work more efficient, better ETC... I think no matter what skill set one has, we can make a difference if we want to, and you don't have to drop your job, or start a new business to do so.
125k a year to start is great, remember raises come. Don't be afraid to ask wither, with time. Company culture is also a very big thing, be happy where you work and you won't feel like you're working. Don't sacrifice your happiness for a little extra money AND theres always potential to grow and increase salary.
Always be careful in these types of situations. Do you remember signing a non-compete with your current company?
If you see value ie. through a monetary sense OR another, I would speak to a employment Lawyer to make sure you can't get in trouble. Last thing you want is being sued for what your company lost in revenue + all other expenses.
You must have some great talent id this other guy wants you as co-founder, keep up the good work.
I really appreciate the lengthy response, it really means a lot and it helps a lot getting insight from the tech world. It definitely is not an easy thing to do, but then what is right?
I have found some open source algorithms that claim to have a decent amount of accuracy, though decent isn't enough it may be a start. What is your opinion?
Going as far as contacting the NSA, I don't know how willing they are in sharing their technology. I know they do work with private corporations which benefit both parties, I guess it would be worth a shot. That would be an interesting approach.
How long do you think it would take to build something like this? Even if we could just get sentiment values ie. Positive / neutral / Negative comments, that would be a great start and I believe much simpler.
In short form- an analytics software that analyzes what people are saying and the meaning. yes, i know there many variables and algorithms and it will never be 100% AND there is a way to monitize the data
I definitely agree with this model, and before i work with anyone I would definitely have to do some befriending. The only problem, none of my friends have a passion for business, or have the technical skills for it.
I recommend buying your domain and hosting from the same provider.