Can I sell a multi-million dollar idea?

what precisely do you mean by 'support team'?? Do you need a team of programmers/ designers to help you make the site, or do you need people to work as customer support once the site is done, and answer the questions people send in or something like that? Or something third? Not even knowing what the site is about, it's awful hard to guess what a 'support team like that' might be - not to mention what it would cost....

I've never done it personally, but I've worked with several individuals and companies who were doing those things. I've helped to write bits and pieces of business plans.

VC's can be a weird lot. Tread lightly.

wat do you mean vc's can be a weird lot, tread lightly?

im trying to start a website providing a free service and was wondering before a start my business plan do i need sometime of legal documentation?and is there some type of documentation i need to give everyone firm i show my business plan to, to keep the plan confidential?

I was recommended to go to score for them to help me with my business plan and funding and was wondering if they have good reviews as far as credibility and if your experience with them was successful?

I merged all your posts into one since they are all related to your "idea", and moved this to Webdesign where it's more appropriate.

How about keeping future related posts to just this one topic instead of creating a new topic everytime, please. Thanks.

I mean you should be careful. In your position, you might be tempted to jump at any offer. It's not a cut and dried business. There are a lot of different angles and pitfalls. People who call themselves Venture Capitalists aren't really generous, altruistic people out to do you a favor. Quite the opposite.

I've seen VC's take half of some one's company and never raise a dime for it. I've seen VC's that wanted to take over all the decision making because they decided that the originator, you in this case, didn't know what they were doing. I've seen VC's up and suddenly run out on deals. Most of them will be looking for a short turnaround. They'll want to get in, inflate the value and get out.

Assuming everyone involved does have good intentions, it's like any business arrangement. Everyone goes in with high expectations, but things can turn sour, quick and leave you with more problems than when you started.

It's important to remember that you don't sell ideas to Venture Capitalists, you sell yourself & an assurance of a return on their investment.

Venture Capitalists don't invest in ideas, they invest in a probability that their investment will return a profit for them.

Venture Capitalists in a nutshell are banks willing to take calculated risks by making loans with the collateral being a stake in the company they're investing in.

I say if its a good idea ride it out until you can't handle it anymore.. it sounds like you can't handle it already!

i think what you must do is talking to your trusted friends that have competent skill at your idea. with him/her you must try to make prototype of your "so called multi-million ideas" done. after that part of simulating you must be partly understand what skill that you need or what person that you want to recruit.

And with that knowledge, i think you will get new mind set how to get your idea done or drop it.

thank you for all the advice, it was all helpful..and still appreciate anymore that will be added.

I've read all of the above posts, i see that you have the idea but not the knowhow in really what to do to protect yourself. What i mean is, when you go to a VC and you approach them with the idea you really need to know what you are talking about. You need to really have it all thought out, but i think the most important thing you need to do is work out what your expenditure and income is going to be.

I am concerned because you talk about the site being a multi million dollar site, yet i read that it's providing a free service. So, have you worked out how the site is actually going to make money? going by research have you discovered how much sites similar to yours are going to make? what about assurances, can you prove to people that the site will earn say $1mil in it's first year?

The money is the most important part as i'm sure you'll agree. It's the most important thing for you, but never forget that it's also very important to the VC. You really need to be very cautious when dealing with people you don't know. DigitalMedia mentioned earlier that will take some of the business and not pay anything, so you must ALWAYS protect yourself with some very direct legal documentation which has been checked over by a lawyer who specialises in contracts. You also need to know what the contract says so when the VC asks you a question about a certain part of it you can answer as confidently and directly.

Whatever happens, i wish you all the luck. It would be good to hear how things go in the future, so keep us all posted. If there are any other questions i'm sure nobody here would have any problem in helping you out.

any idea you have if its based online you will need to spend hundreds and thousands of dollars to promote and get ranking. and of course it takes hard work and dedication, in your case its an idea, if its that good, why sell it, do it and become a millionaire

Well a prototype doesn't require loads of money - it does require time and of course you have to have a decent presentation (post doing your research to really convince someone to invest their money into your idea...)

I recollect sigmaventures.com funded yousendit.com -- so are many other venture capitalists waiting for the next big thing ... as long as you have something concrete with regards to your idea.

Good luck !