Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

161–170 of 395 posts

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

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good argument except it depends on: (a) one person being able to do the job of the entire YC team. (b) that person having equivalent relationships with additional capital. (c) one might make the case that the relationships to capital must be better because ventures are likely to be located further from conventional sources of capital. 50% equity is a lot to give up for two months of effort unless the other c…

The entire YC team can advise ~66 startups and they have ~14 people which suggests a person can advise 4-5 startups at a YC-level. It's not quite equivalent since YC has the benefit of multiple perspectives though at the cost of increased coordination. The truth of b & c are completely dependent on who hmexx is.

YC also has Yuri Milner, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and Maverick Capital working with any company which takes a convertible note.

Furthermore, those companies taking the note have a much longer runway than hmexx will provide and will be plugged in to a network of later stage investors.

Finally, each YC company has access to the other companies in its class and the YC alumni...and lots of other things in the valley.

It's logically possible hmexx could approach a similar level of success but it looks unlikely.

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

#162
Any limit to the number of projects you'll fund per person?

I'll just write an MVP generator and spit 'em out as fast as I can think them up.

At one per day (a walk in the park), I'd earn $2,920,000 per year and you'd have enough stuck on the wall to keep you busy forever.

(I wrote this partially in jest, but not really. Between my propensity to write software that writes software and OP's imagination and drive, maybe we're on to something.)

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

#165
post #162

Any limit to the number of projects you'll fund per person? I'll just write an MVP generator and spit 'em out as fast as I can think them up. At one per day (a walk in the park), I'd earn $2,920,000 per year and you'd have enough stuck on the wall to keep you busy forever. (I wrote this partially in jest, but not really. Between my propensity to write software that writes software and OP's imagination and drive, mayb…

[deleted]

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

#167

To the naysayers in this thread: You have several options here other than just saying 'oohhh, this is mean and nasty'. - match the offer with a better one, so all those that would take up the OP would flock to you instead - build your MVP, keep 100% and then do your own marketing. $5000 for 50% difference but you get to do all the work. Either one of those would be so much more effective than just berating the OP or…

Exactly.

This is great, out-of-the box thinking by the OP.

Anyone who want to do something like this (esp. the OP and jacquesm), please connect with me on LinkedIn: Terrence C. Yang, mentor, angel.

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

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this were a one time game you'd be correct. Assuming, he can quickly filter out a significant portion, it's possible to be very involved and have a significant chance of a large exit. This, of course, assumes that he's good at what he does which is an underlying assumption of this whole proposition. Rationale: Let's assume a home-run rate of about 3% which is my rough estimate of what it is for YC startups. That m…

That's a good argument except it depends on: (a) one person being able to do the job of the entire YC team. (b) that person having equivalent relationships with additional capital. (c) one might make the case that the relationships to capital must be better because ventures are likely to be located further from conventional sources of capital. 50% equity is a lot to give up for two months of effort unless the other c…

I don't think it's fair to compare it to YC. This looks a lot more like something you would do and then take to YC or other investors.

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

#170

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…

The thing I'd want to know most is what you expect you and your fellow entrepreneurs' respective contributions to be after the initial development phase and marketing push when there's more work.

You imply that they'll tend to be fire-and-forget type projects (iPhone apps would work well I guess) but even most of them need some significant attention further down the line. Who puts in the extra dev work or marketing efforts (or even further investment) if it's worthwhile/needed further down the line and how are they compensated if that split of work is very uneven?

Post reply on HN