Hello, I have a website idea that I really, really want to get developed. I feel like it will be a huge deal and I don't want to see someone else do what I want to do, before I get a chance to do it. I know exactly how everything will work. The functionality and the layout. My site idea would take alot of original work. I have talked to a couple developers and they both told me it would cost upwards of 20,000 to get my site developed. I cannot afford that, at all. Is there anywhere I can go to find a developer who will build my site for a percentage of all revenue or a partnership? A website that provides the contracts for collaborative projects? I'm not completly helples, lol, there is alot I can do but building the site that I want, is not one of them. Thanks for your help, GG
Hmm, a site that would cost 20k to make would most likely need more than a "yeah I'll do it, no probs" e-mail, especially if the developer was doing it for a share of revenue/partnership. I suggest if you want a site that will cost that much to create, you will run the risk of a) someone beating you to the idea or b) somebody stealing your ideas after you make initial contact with them. You could, however, try something such as rentcoder.com, rentafreelance.com, rentacoder.com, etc. Remember, the 20+k you were told will fluctuate depending on how complex the idea is, and how well coded the developer creates the site. I am personally looking at a couple of big online ideas I have, but have yet to find where I'll get any form of ROI on those ideas. If you were to venture into this idea, I would also advise that you speak to a lawyer beforehand, as 20k on 'just an idea' is more than loose change. Good luck on your quest, and if your quest every succeeds, please let me know - I'd love to see it Thanks, Spidey
Thanks Spider Actually the price quotes came about 8 months ago, and alot of the funtionallity that I am proposing seems to be more common place now. You know how the net is, alot can change in 8 months so I'm thinking the cost to develop my idea might be a bit less by now. Even though there are sill no sites doing what I want to do, yet... BTW, the ROI on what I have in mind, if I can get it to work, has the potential to be billions, IMHO. Thanks for your suggestions, I'll check those sites out. Rich
If you cant afford it dont start off so big. Take the features you dont need out and your price will surely be a lot less. When you start making money you can then have those other features implemented.
Good point immortality. But it has to be all or nothing. If I remove some features my site will be one site in a million. What makes my site so unique is the interactivity of different forms of website processes. It could be beautiful.. I so wish I had some deep-pocketed venture capitalists, or the know-how to do it myself. I was thinking of also posting ads on Craigslist to find local developers to work with me, as a group perhaps. I do live near a big college town so I might be able to find some good talent, people who I can meet up with, work with and actually learn from, while I share what I know. What do you think of that idea? My other idea is possibly contacting some real big internet companies. Companies that would benifit from doing what I want to do. What about that, would that work or would they just take my idea?
You got it. Get the idea blue printed with your name stamped upon the top. Then you cans start going after the big guns. Sooner rather than later.
Spiderman is right, start from the basics of the site and make it as a test run online then start adding features on a milestone basis...
You have a business plan that says it will turn $20k into "billions", you believe it and you are wanting to give away a significant proportion of billions to save on £10k? If you believe in the idea and have written a decent business plan which is believable you wouldnt have any problems getting a loan for what in business terms is a fairly small amount of money. There certainly are developers and development companies that are willing to do a project in return for shares however many, like ourselves, require that an initial sum is still paid (after all, if you believe in the idea strongly enough you should be able to raise at least some money) and all legal/ accountancy costs are covered up front. The "problem" with us simply building a site free of charge is that you could become totally bored with the idea after 3 months and abandon it leaving us with staff salaries to pay, solicitors fees and nothing to show for it. At least if you have invested some of your own pennies it is less likely to be a splash in the pan whim.
I would take out a loan but nobody would give me one as my credit is not good, at all. I could sell all my domain names and raise the money, possibly, that way but I would be trading one investment for another. I do think the site I want to build would be amazing but I would be scared to pay a developer that much money and possibly not get what I wanted in return. It may not seem like much to some people but honestly, $20k at once would change my life. Can anyone reccomend a site where I can blueprint an idea for a website? Also, does that even work? I mean what if ebay blueprinted the online auction, I see lots of online auction sites so I don't see how something like that can be blueprinted. Or if someone blueprinted the blog or something, I'm not sure how that works, obviously..lol Thanks for all your suggestions, I really would like to see this happen and I do dream about it so I think that's a good sign. I think I just need to get a group of local PHP coder friends or something to help me, in real life, that's probably my best bet.
Just a word of warning - never do business with anyone you would classify as a 'friend'. As for blueprinting an idea, it'd have to be totally unique and 'never seen before' type thing. Can't recall exactly where it can be done, either.
Why not find a small group of investors? I am sure if you post some information about the site, assuming it is as great as you say it is, you could easily raise some cash. No need to go into great detail about the site, just something along the lines of the basics and a few specifics. I would gladly invest money if I thought the site had the potential to become something big. I am sure the same goes for others.
But it is your business and not you that would be getting the loan, depending on where you are and how you set up the business you can separate the two as two legal entities (business and you) therefore losing your own bad history however not earning good history in the future and normally having more complex taxation to deal with (can be better or worse depending on your exact circumstances but more complex certainly). By blueprint I assume you patent? Yes in some countries an idea can be patented but it has to be very unique and generally it is only parts of the idea that can be protected.... people only need to deviate from it in a relatively small way and they can then proceed without issues. You also need to patent in each country you want protection or a multinational one which is much more expensive and difficult. A pan Europe patent is currently $11,000 plus you must have it translated into each of the 22 different languages and for a complex legal document you can easily be talking $1,500 per language. Of cause these are also just the fees to be paid and you have solicitors/ lawyers costs to add on top of that. A group of friends is never a good way to go, and just getting "a bunch of PHP coders" sounds even worse if you are wanting a professional and enterprise standard solution - even at $20,000 you are not going to be managing the volumes of a multibillion dollar site. The question is where in the line of home made site to enterprise standard that you want to jump in taking into account that you may well have to dispose of 50% of the code or more each time you move up. If you look at the MySpace story and how they had to go from CFM to .Net and restructure their server farms several times due to inaddequite planning you will get an idea.