Mar
30th
Mon
30th
Q&A day
- I received an email today and thought that it was so indicative of many peoples situation that I would post the question and answer here as well.
- Entrepreneur: I have a small startup I want to launch. I can do all the back end programming and database design for the website myself but I know that I'm no designer. In order to make anything that looks halfway polished I'll look to have an outside company do the initial layout and hire a freelancer to do the logo and small amount of graphic design. I'll then wire it all up and finish out the programming on my own. However, that layout and graphic design costs money. What avenues would you suggest are out there for micro-vc? I estimate that I would need between $6-10k if I operate on a shoe-string budget to get launched. Do you have any suggestions for either small loans or VC firms that specialize in small investments?
- Jamie's Answer: Based on my experience and the limited facts below I would recommend one two things. 1. Just hack up the design yourself. Look at Craigslist and Google, the sites have basically zero graphic design and are two of the most popular sites on the web. In fact I have seen programmers do better sites for the businesses they are working on then graphic designers. Just remember for most businesses functionality trumps beauty. 2. Find a great graphic designer and offer to swap them stock for the work. This not only saves you from having to raise the money but also makes sure that they are tied to success. I think that you are pre-investor stage right now. The work that you are going to have to do to get the $6k+ is probably not worth it. Also if you can bootstrap a prototype that works you might be able to get enough cash flow to grow the business without any VC/investors and that is by far the best way to go if you can.
- If you have question for me please feel free to email me, jsiminoff@phonetag.com
