The Very Strange Story of the Startup That Says It Made $10m Before Launching

Re:The Very Strange Story of the Startup That Says It Made $... by replicatorblog on Thursday November 05, 2009 @07:41PM (#925161)

I don't mean this exact approach, but something like Kickstarter where people could prepay a few bucks for something. Imagine if Blizzard offered people who paid $15 some special weapon or tool in their upcoming MMO. They have a massive fan base, but is their a way to "presell" with a startup?

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Re:The Very Strange Story of the Startup That Says It Made $... by SwellJoe on Thursday November 05, 2009 @08:28PM (#925226)

That's why I suspect lying (over-promising, making outrageous claims, whatever) would be needed for an unheard of company to make a large sum of money on nothing more than a promise.

Yes, Blizzard could pre-sell products, because they have millions of fans that trust them to produce good games. Can a company no one has ever heard of do the same? If the founders are famous from prior ventures, perhaps, but completely unknown? It seems unlikely.

So, I guess if one could concoct a scheme that would work, honestly, and for unknown founders and an unknown startup, that would be interesting and inspiring. I lack the imagination required to figure out how to do it (as do the folks behind this particular scheme, since it seems pretty obvious that they chose the over-promise and outrageous claims path).

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