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

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

#81

Post by suhastech »

benologist wrote: post #24
nkohari wrote: post #10

Wow. I'd rather go on fucking Shark Tank. If someone is willing to take $5,000 to do the heavy lifting up front (therein taking most of the risk) for only 50% equity, their idea is either terrible or they aren't committed to seeing it through.

What risk? $5000 to cover yourself + $3000 marketing along with a (free) guy to do that for you which is a huge advantage that every person "launching" via a "Show HN:" submission could benefit from. If it turns out to be a crap idea you lose 50% of a crap idea. If it turns out to be a great idea you gain 50% of a business.

Agreed. Life is full of risk vs returns decisions.

Employment - Low Risk, Low Returns

Startup - High Risk, High Returns

I love how this preposition is somewhere in the middle.

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

#82

Post by gknoy »

greghinch wrote: post #59
lifeisstillgood wrote: post #44

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 com…

Agreed about the co-founder vs. investor problem. I would suggest anyone who wants to take this offer up do their diligence on hmexx and find out what he's bringing to the table as a co-founder. If it's just $8k for half a company that you will have to split 50/50 for the rest of it's existence, be wary. If he's a co-founder, he should join in on the workload after the MVP is proven. I would also consider vesting for…

> I would also consider vesting for both of you, keeps things honest.

For those of us who are complete neophytes at things like this, would you be willing to elaborate on what this means, and why it's important?

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

#84

Post by clark-kent »

The big problem I have with this is that the 50-50 split gives hmexx too much control.

With this 50-50 split who decides the future direction of the project.

After the MVP is ready there is still a lot of coding required to make it a successful business, you need the developer to be fully committed to the project. Losing 50% stake this early is not that much motivation. Unless the new partner brings specific skills to the table that the business can't survive without.

It's better to take a small stake like 15% and just choose a project very selectively.

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

#86

Post by drelihan »

shawndumas wrote: post #5

Why should someone do this instead of a KickStarter?

Web Apps aren't allowed on Kickstarter per their guidelines http://www.kickstarter.com/help/guidelines

"As in all categories, Kickstarter is for projects that can be completed, not things that require maintenance to exist. This means no e-commerce sites, web businesses, or social networking sites. (Yes, this means Kickstarter wouldn’t be allowed on Kickstarter. Funny, but true.)"

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

#87

Post by dlf »

My concern with the approach is that it doesn't seem very lean. An idea that a developer has kicking around isn't necessarily one that has a market. I'd suggest getting involved early on the product development side and getting out and talking to customers.

Articulated market needs are much more valuable than just an idea... Nathan Barry had a nice post on HN the other day having to do with this: http://nathanbarry.com/finding-ideas-project/

Business Model Generation (http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/book) is a helpful resource as well.

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

#88

Post by jwb119 »

First off, I love this idea and don't listen to the naysayers.

Second, I would strongly recommend getting a lawyer to draft up some sort of agreement that specifies what happens if the project isn't up to spec, etc. It would essentially be a basic contract. I know there's always the temptation to say "well the legal costs would be too much to enforce it" but that's not always the case. This is garden variety stuff here. You don't need to protect every scenario to provide some value to yourself.

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

#89

Post by traxtech »

hmexx wrote: post #9
traxtech wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US resident only / Europe / rest of the world ? Payment terms ? (upfront / milestones / finished) Future company as a delaware C/S-corp ?

Still need to iron out the details but... World. Upfront will be small (possibly nil) to prevent time-wasters. We can agree milestones based on nature of project. Once code is flowing onto a shared repository for a couple days, I'll feel comfortable starting the money drip. C/S corp in Delaware sounds reasonable. A yet to be drafted, founder's agreement to be signed at project start also to protect both parties.

Good. I still have 3-6 months of work to do for a customer, but after I'll get back to you if you still pursue this aventure.

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

#90

Post by ed209 »

jeremyarussell wrote: post #49
hmexx wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

For me it's not the split, or the lower rate vs what I'd normally earn. But I'm like you in that I can't just ditch existing clients for a couple of months and expect them to be there when I get back should this not work out.
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