Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP • Hacker News Board

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#41

Post by hmexx » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:01 PM UTC

brudgers wrote: post #22

hmexx wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but I prefer sharing my identity on a 1-on-1 basis during project discussions, rather than put it in the proposition.

[thread flagged] To me, this is a red flag. The offer is set before the entire HN community. It has substantial financial and legal implications. You are competing with YC. Your track record is relevant to the ranking of this thread on HN.

Fair enough. I can see where you are coming from, although even if you found out my real identity (which might be possible if you look carefully enough through my history of comments), you would not find anything that would substantially strengthen the proposition.

I'm no one special... just a techie with some moderate success who wants to help launch some cool new products.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#42

Post by jborden13 » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:01 PM UTC

I applaud this. It may not be the perfect deal for everyone, but creating options for want-repreneurs is typically a good thing. My only caution would be to vet the would-be investor to ensure that this is someone you want to be in bed with.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#43

Post by webbruce » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:02 PM UTC

This is a great idea. I think people strongly undervalue the step called traction. Getting people to pay for your service.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#44

Post by lifeisstillgood » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:06 PM UTC

Financially I do not think this is a great deal.

Emotionally its probably what many devs need.

Accelerators, meetups, co-founders, all serve the same need. Believing that the idea has at least one person who believes in it, and prods you to move on.

That said, this is probably a bad split - hmexx might be better to decide if he is an investor (early stage) or a co-founder -> if the latter then really its just one company - you cannot be a founder of two companies at the same time...

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#45

Post by nicholas73 » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:06 PM UTC

I think this is worth it if you would be a good co-founder in any case. That means you are really putting in 8000 for not working the first two months, and then work the same amount as the other founder.

However if putting in 8000 is the only thing you do, then it's a horrible idea. Putting in more money, maybe.

This is the perspective of someone in the Bay Area though. 5000 is easily saved/spent here.

You can find someone else cheaper, but likely would have to communicate remotely. That increases your risk too.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#46

Post by katzgrau » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:07 PM UTC

It's funny, because developers do this sort of thing all the time for much less equity.

Startup: Hey, come work here for below market salary for 5% that vests over 4 years Dev: Sounds rad!

This guy: Hey, work on your own project for 50%, and you only have to work on is the MVP for a month, and I'll pay you sort of crappy but probably better than other people in other fields. HN Devs: You. fucking. bastard.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#47

Post by krmmalik » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:12 PM UTC

What if the person isn't a techie, and doesn't necessarily need to build a product, but just needs to take time out to build the business?

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#48

Post by dschiptsov » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:13 PM UTC

We split the resulting company 50-50, as equal co-founders. - you must be trolling?)

How would you like to become equal to the years of thinking and trying by just throwing some money?

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#49

Post by jeremyarussell » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:13 PM UTC

hmexx wrote: post #3

JaneLovesDotNet wrote: post #2

Pre-emptive FAQ: Isn't this a horrible deal? Incubators typically inject more money for far less equity! I earn $10K a month, I could easily save up $8K in a few months, and do this myself for 100% equity. True. If you can get into YCombinator, for example , you should obviously go for it. I can't compete with that. If you're earning $150K+, or you've already been working on your side-project for a year, this may not…

If interested, drop me a line at hnproject2013@gmail.com If you have questions or HN-style critic on the structure/proposition, write below and help me build proposition version 1.1!

I'd take you up on the offer, but for a couple things. Maybe it just means this isn't for me.

1 - That 50 - 50 split is a killer when I'm doing most of the work. 2 - You talk about taking a month or two and full time working on this project until completion. Trust me when I say I'd love to do that, the issue is I can't just go jump back into the same job as if I didn't ditch everyone here for two months.

Like I said this is probably just not for me, but those are two things you may want to consider for version 1.1.

Re: Proposition HN: I will pay $8000 for you to build your side-project/MVP

#50

Post by PaulJoslin » Thu, Jan 10, 2013, 5:13 PM UTC

I really like this idea.

It removes the risk for the developer to just 'build' (which is ultimately what they enjoy doing) and also shifts the key responsibility for the initial marketing / customer acquisition away from the developer (which is often what they either don't enjoy doing or suck at).

After this phase, either the idea is a success, the developer gets paid and a mvp is now a business hopefully with profit (for both parties involved) or the idea was not a success and the developer still gets paid some money.

If you have a world changing idea and you've quit your job with a plan to start a start up - that's fine. This probably isn't the right opportunity for you - try Y Combinator or go in search of real funding once you've built a self financed MVP.

However, if you're a developer with a niggling idea that you keep meaning to work on because you know it could turn into something bigger or you just don't feel confident in your own marketing / customer (or user) acquisition skills then this is a really great opportunity!

I've literally missed so many opportunities before, where I've had an idea - not executed it due to no short term monetary reward or no confidence that I could market it correctly and then watched as a start up is formed a year or two later by someone else which was essentially that idea!