Hi so i have a great idea for a service website and im a newbie and was wondering whats the biggest obstacles you had and how long it took you until you got your biz steady and stable also my website has currently ZERO competition and if done right my website can be valued over 50MIL+ USD yes sounds crazy but theres similar sites but in a diffrent industry that their company is valued at more than 200mil anyways thats not important im just curious if its worth hiring web dev. and designers from elance/freelance/BHW ect. its my ling term project so i need your advices greatly appreciated thanks...
Has anyone built some stable service website biz?
- Thread starter vadim911
- Start date
nastybasti
Newbie
- Jan 21, 2014
- 25
- 8
There are two ways to valuate a business:
1. What it is really worth (its assets, intellectual property, employees, subscribers)
2. What it can be worth (only really matters if you are on an exchange or going public).
I hate to burst your bubble, but even if you build the next Facebook
You wont be valued at the same amount as facebook.
The reason for this is unless you have an underwriter and vc banks which make your company public, that type of money really doesnt happen. To take it a bit further, that money is never real. If Zuckerberg or bill gates dumped their stock, they would be worth 1/100th of what they are in stock. Its because the company stock would sink and with them their net worth. Its FIAT monopoloy money. Rich on paper and not real wealth like PUTIN or SAUDI oil money.
As for your question on hiring freelancers on Odesk or Freelancer. If you are not technically savvy and starting a tech company chances are you wont be the next kevin rose. Only few guys have ever hired freelancers and not been ripped off on a good idea. For example if you hire an offshore guy to build your next helpdesk software (zendesk), dont be surpriesed when they steal your code and compete against you with lower prices (Freshdesk).
If its a software startup then your best bet is to find local developers to partner with. If you must use freelancers build your app in components. Meaning a guy in ukraine builds the DB. ANother guy builds the front end in Poland. ANother in bangladesh for middle teir stuff. Assemble everything from the USA. THe only way offshore works is if you are offshore to manage your team directly. A lot of this depends on the complexity of your idea.
If your idea is simple. CHances are you will get ripped off by someone with deeper pockets and better marketing. If your idea is complicated where you can patent some of the tech behind it, then you can make good money selling your company (instagram). It really depends on what your idea is, and how much cash you have to back it up.
1. What it is really worth (its assets, intellectual property, employees, subscribers)
2. What it can be worth (only really matters if you are on an exchange or going public).
I hate to burst your bubble, but even if you build the next Facebook
You wont be valued at the same amount as facebook.
The reason for this is unless you have an underwriter and vc banks which make your company public, that type of money really doesnt happen. To take it a bit further, that money is never real. If Zuckerberg or bill gates dumped their stock, they would be worth 1/100th of what they are in stock. Its because the company stock would sink and with them their net worth. Its FIAT monopoloy money. Rich on paper and not real wealth like PUTIN or SAUDI oil money.
As for your question on hiring freelancers on Odesk or Freelancer. If you are not technically savvy and starting a tech company chances are you wont be the next kevin rose. Only few guys have ever hired freelancers and not been ripped off on a good idea. For example if you hire an offshore guy to build your next helpdesk software (zendesk), dont be surpriesed when they steal your code and compete against you with lower prices (Freshdesk).
If its a software startup then your best bet is to find local developers to partner with. If you must use freelancers build your app in components. Meaning a guy in ukraine builds the DB. ANother guy builds the front end in Poland. ANother in bangladesh for middle teir stuff. Assemble everything from the USA. THe only way offshore works is if you are offshore to manage your team directly. A lot of this depends on the complexity of your idea.
If your idea is simple. CHances are you will get ripped off by someone with deeper pockets and better marketing. If your idea is complicated where you can patent some of the tech behind it, then you can make good money selling your company (instagram). It really depends on what your idea is, and how much cash you have to back it up.
thanks for the quick reply and this idea is currently in the USA since i live here and i know this market a bit that im getting into also theres plenty of room to grow as i am reinventing the industry but in a new form anyways appreciate your reply makes 100% also i have few entrepreneurs that im working with and they all run big tech companies i want to partner up with them and give them equity of the company so they can help me push through it because they have more experience than me and i was just curious on hiring people and how to value them if they are an asset to the company or a total money drain to the company so im just curious in those ways as well... thanks
nastybasti
Newbie
- Jan 21, 2014
- 25
- 8
A lot of this depends on your venture.
Without knowing how complex it is its hard to give good advice. Plus you probably want to get all sorts of advice, and some negative to try and poke as many holes into your idea as possible so that you can prepare for any possible negatives.
If you have no tech background my approach would be to:
a. Either bring on just one very experienced CTO level that can oversee development and take a hands on approach on any beta required to test the service or raise funds.
b. Hire a dedicated team of developers in a foreign country (i love Ukraine for this type of work), but then you are really looking at being on site for the majority of development to make sure what you are trying to build does not get ripped off and gets built properly. Based on your name it seems like you are a a Russian speaker? if so you are in luck because some of the brightest developers are from old USSR countries.
If you are in a position where you need to raise capital for development my advice would be to skip that step. Raising capital for Internet ventures BLOWS. its a waste of time unless if you are well connected and willing to give up the lions share of your business. If the case is need of capital, then bootstrap it. Find a CTO for equity and have him build the concept to the point where it can start to generate some income.
Without knowing how complex it is its hard to give good advice. Plus you probably want to get all sorts of advice, and some negative to try and poke as many holes into your idea as possible so that you can prepare for any possible negatives.
If you have no tech background my approach would be to:
a. Either bring on just one very experienced CTO level that can oversee development and take a hands on approach on any beta required to test the service or raise funds.
b. Hire a dedicated team of developers in a foreign country (i love Ukraine for this type of work), but then you are really looking at being on site for the majority of development to make sure what you are trying to build does not get ripped off and gets built properly. Based on your name it seems like you are a a Russian speaker? if so you are in luck because some of the brightest developers are from old USSR countries.
If you are in a position where you need to raise capital for development my advice would be to skip that step. Raising capital for Internet ventures BLOWS. its a waste of time unless if you are well connected and willing to give up the lions share of your business. If the case is need of capital, then bootstrap it. Find a CTO for equity and have him build the concept to the point where it can start to generate some income.
appreciate it im actually Ukrainian but i moved to USA about 14 years ago and ive worked with few people from Ukraine on my ecommerce sites and they do great jobs not because were from same country also i have a bit of IM background i currently run few service websites but they gross me around 100k each a year but this project that im putting together is something outside my comfort zone thats why im asking for a few tips to not start and get caught failing because i didnt take someones advice who previosuly built a bigger biz than me thats why im asking but i appreicate your answer i will be sure to do more lurking on this topic and keep my research going and maybe start a little beta going for my state and run a test if it gets good traction then i can work on expanding it into domestic/international ....
nastybasti
Newbie
- Jan 21, 2014
- 25
- 8
Great!
If you really think if you have a great idea probably your first step would be to talk to an attorney who focuses on IP law to see what aspects of your idea can be patented. A patent wont prevent competition, but at least if someone totally rips off your idea you could try and sue them out of your way.
Best of luck.
If you really think if you have a great idea probably your first step would be to talk to an attorney who focuses on IP law to see what aspects of your idea can be patented. A patent wont prevent competition, but at least if someone totally rips off your idea you could try and sue them out of your way.
Best of luck.