

Ask HN: How to fund a small idea - hacknat

I&#x27;m a fairly experienced software engineer. I have a small hardware idea that I know I can execute really well on and would be very well received by the small community that would use it. I&#x27;m fairly certain this product won&#x27;t expand the existing market, just solve a really tough problem this market has been trying to crack for a while.<p>The lifetime value of this product, given the market, is reasonably $10 million dollars in the US. I&#x27;m being very stingy with my estimate, but this market would never, even globally, crack $100 million (probably not even 50). I know this is exactly the kind of thing VCs AREN&#x27;T looking for. Let&#x27;s say I need an initial 100k to get going, and no more than 500k over the lifetime of the company. What are my options how can I get this kind of money for such a small idea?<p>tldr; How do you raise a small amount of money for a small payout?
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bradescott
Look at places like Kickstarter, Indigogo, Lending Club, and of course still
apply to Y Combinator.

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hacknat
I was wondering about Y Combinator. Do think they're going to be interested in
an idea that is so limited?

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jtfairbank
The more important concern is: can this work well starting off? Can you make
it through those first three years, and raise additional funding as needed? If
you have a strong team and reasonable initial plan, then they'll believe you
can figure the rest out with time.

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icedchai
use your own money. that's how.

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hacknat
I don't have a spare $100k

