

Ask YC: Do I have a chance? - thejefe711

My partner and I have an idea for a website.  We are 18 and 17 years old.  I thought of idea and do web design, and he has 4 years of programming experience.  If we build a prototype or beta do we have enough for an investor to invest in our company/website? Plus I live outside SV.
======
webwright
Sounds like a good team. What's the idea? Three things I've learned thru the
YC experience:

1) Investors like big ideas. If you can't tell a convincing story about how
you've got the potential to build a $500m business, almost all investors will
pass.

2) Traction wins. Don't build a prototype. Build a product. Prove that users
want what you build and show a healthy growth curve BEFORE you take
investment. It opens a lot of doors.

3) Distribution wins, too. Have a GREAT story on how you're going to find
users without spending a nickel. SEO and viral marketing win. Don't say "word
of mouth", "PR", "blogosphere" unless you've proven that your startup has legs
there.

Regarding, "outside SV"... It depends. Right outside? Or in the Yukon? Where
are you?

If funding is the path you should follow, not living in a hub is making a
REALLY hard game a LOT harder.

------
tsetse-fly
The bubble is in full effect.

There seem to be a lot of people that think their projects somehow require
funding. Your online social alarm clock is not a startup.

Stop imagining how you're going to make money off of crappy widgets. Get out
there, be curious and build things that solve actual problems.

~~~
noodle
online social alarm clock startup? already done:

<http://www.chumby.com/>

~~~
tsetse-fly
Chumby is much more than an alarm clock; it's a cool extendable toy that
people would buy. I was referring to: <http://sleep.fm/>

~~~
noodle
right, i was looking for something actually cool and useful :)

i guess my unspoken point was to try and note that even if an idea kind of
sounds stupid, there might be a good way to implement it to achieve success.

------
davidw
Why not try doing it without an investor? Does it absolutely require one?
Could you get something going that would generate revenue and then grow it?

~~~
socmoth
yeah, for your age, you don't need an investor until you need lots of servers.
So get lots of users then investors will be easy.

~~~
GrandMasterBirt
You need investors when you need heavy funding. For now just live with your
parents or wherever and make a prototype. From there you might be able to
convince an investor that this is the next big thing. If you are hosting a
website, then start it up, and show it off.

Hell I am 24 and I am not waiting for an investor to make my company a
reality. If it fails, who cares, I got many years to try again :)

~~~
extantproject
Right on.

------
kyro
You'll really never know if you spend your time speculating and hesitating to
take a step without 100% certainty. Just do it. See where it goes, and judge
accordingly.

------
drawkbox
You must build first. It is much easier to sell and you have more pull with a
completed or ready system. Also, unless you have real professional experience
you can't call that 4 years experience. If I could count my experience back to
my C64 days and Apple II days then it would be highly inflated. Experience
usually means professional work experience, at 18 you need to prove yourself
more. Deliverables help this immensely and once you throw down experience
means minimal.

The hard part is building and getting noticed, once that happens the
investment part is much easier. Truly great business ventures dont' always
need lots of investment though, just enough to buy some time to build it or
get it in production.

------
kennyroo
See how far you can get without raising money, even if you have to work part-
time on the side. Unless you're building something that requires a lot of
storage, bandwidth, or people you can get a lot done without a lot of cash.
Your location outside a tech hub won't be a factor until you need to start
hiring experienced people or you need to raise hundreds of thousands of
dollars. By that point you may know if the site is going to be successful or
not, and you can move if you need to.

------
noodle
if you build it (and its a good idea), they will come.

at 17/18, you can (most likely, i'm assuming) live with your parents or do the
work in your dorms and not have to worry about making a living while starting
your business.

find some time and just do it. worry about making money after you have
something.

------
msg
Along the lines of this recent thread and article, don't be too afraid of
revealing your work outside of your cave.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=216614>

A great way to get some real feedback is to make it, then post it as an Ask
YC. The community really steps up to give credit and criticism where they are
due. Take this recent thread on Dabbleboard as an example.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=202798>

Don't worry about making money right away. It's more important to see if the
idea goes somewhere interesting.

------
Baltropreneur
You don't have to be in the valley to build a successful Internet company!

Boston, NYC, Boulder, DC, Philadelphia.. all have current hot startups. There
is money to be found too in these areas; more in the valley of course...

~~~
apgwoz
which startups are you referring to in Philly?

~~~
PhillyEmpire
im based in philly with my staryup

theres a bit of startup atmosphere here

~~~
innaic
I'm interested in meeting people in Philly to work on startups in the future.
Are there any meetups that you could suggest?

~~~
apgwoz
as am i, if you find any, ping me at web @ my hackernews name.com

------
lanej0
"If we build a prototype or beta do we have enough for an investor to invest
in our company/website?"

Investors _tend_ to invest in companies/people and less in ideas (unless the
idea really is something revolutionary). Get your prototype in order, but also
do a little business legwork. Are there competitors? Who is the market? What's
the revenue potential? How are you going to market the idea?

------
Fuca
When asked what would be the main factor for someone to succeed, Bill Gates
answer was how young they start their first company, Warren Buffet who really
is smart and was sitting next to him agreed.

Go for it, if you start now I guarantee you will have your life fixed by 35
yo.

------
henryw
You should do it, but don't expect to get funding. Make your site support
itself. Since you are young, you can sink this if it doesn't work out and move
on. This may sound pessimistic, but if you are going to fail, fail fast, so
you can keep trying more things.

------
dfranke
Your ages will be a strike against you; expect problems with that for another
two years or so at least. It's not a fatal strike, though, so definitely give
it a shot. Apply to YC. Above all, keep building.

~~~
rob
Umm... there are plenty of 17/18 year olds (probably younger) who make
thousands online every month, all without the need for "investors". No offense
to YC, but a lot of people on this site seem to think they need to quit their
job, lock themselves in a dark closet for 6 months, apply for money, and build
a stupid site without making any money at first. Meanwhile there are people
(teens, dads, grandmas) building high-quality content sites and making the big
$$$ via ads, all without needing "investors".

------
Hexstream
If that project is building something useful for the sake of learning and
having fun, do it. Getting rich and/or famous should be seen as bonuses.

------
alaskamiller
You should talk to this guy: <http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=markbao>

------
comatose_kid
Why do you need an investor?

------
gojomo
Yes, you have a chance, of either invetment or (even better) market success.

A prototype might be enough to approach early-stage investors, mostly angels,
and a live beta definitely is -- if either helps confirm a market exists, by
demonstrating a compelling experience that attracts real use or a craving from
a valuable market.

I think you're on the right track: build, build, build first. (Take up some
programming yourself to help.) Use that experience to understand the
interesting parts of the problem and test the concept either with
representative customers or (best of all) real via-the-web users.

If you achieve accelerating adoption with users, or even hints of revenue. you
have a good story to approach investors -- who exist everywhere, not just SV.

(Experienced folks can defer building a bit, because they can raise money
based strictly on their proven abilities plus the intended market. But for
young first-timers, proving-by-doing can offset that advantage quickly.)

------
giles_bowkett
No, coward. You have no chance. Hide in your basement and weep.

Seriously dude just do it. You're young, fuck it. Asking if you can do it is
foolish; people have no idea what you're capable of until you do something.

