How much money can you raise for a web-startup with 0 lines of code and 0 users?
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.<p>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.<p>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.<p>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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By the way... best of luck... specially because you are going into "social" arena :)
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?
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.