

How much money can you raise for a web-startup with 0 lines of code and 0 users? - jrpat

I'm currently taking part in the preliminary stages of a venture to create a social website with a team of three other people. We're currently at an impasse with regards to how to actually try and launch the company.&#60;p&#62;From everyone I've talked to (and from researching how the y-combinator and others work), I've been put under the distinct impression that the lean startup methodology is the most widely used and suggested. I'm the only person on the team that can do design and coding. My understanding is that I should code the site for free, in essence creating a minimum viable product that can be used to validate the venture concept itself.&#60;p&#62;The rest of my team, on the other hand, is under the impression that if we have mockups of how the site should look and a well-thought-out business plan, we can raise somewhere on the order of $50-100k to get it coded (and likely an equal or greater sum to market it) through either private investors or even VC/Angel groups.&#60;p&#62;So my question is this: in this day and age, how much capital can you actually raise for a website concept that hasn't a single line of code or a user? Furthermore, what is the best way to launch a web-startup?
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ankurdhama
Well ... it depends on what you show or demo for your concept (mocks or real
code) can trigger a specific set of neuron connections in the VC(s) brain that
can lead them to _believe_ in your concept/project which will lead to funding.
I don't think there is a specific formula here. There has been many projects
without any code that got funding and many projects with good amount of code
and still didn't got any funding.

By the way... best of luck... specially because you are going into "social"
arena :)

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jrpat
Thanks for the response (and for wishing us luck) !

So I guess my question really is "what kind of money would a VC throw at a
social web-startup with no code or users," assuming obviously that they liked
the idea and thought it could go far? Is it realistic to hope for hundreds of
thousands of dollars? And what would be the equity you'd have to give up?

I realize that a lot of these questions are very much dependent on our
specific ideas and financiers. I'm just wondering, in general, how does this
sort of thing usually work?

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jwinn
It also depends on your relationship with the investors. If you have previous
successes or other credentials often less "traction" is required.

There are also lots of ways you can demonstrate interest without a lot of
coding, ex: set up a splash page to see how many people sign up before the
product even exists.

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jrpat
So, assuming we could get the funding then if we wanted it, which approach
would you guys say would give the venture itself the highest chance of
success? In other words, just because we get funding doesn't mean the site
will actually succeed. Would we be more likely to succeed using the lean-
startup methodology or just raising as much money as we can?

