Heyy hi tina,
I just saw this website craiglist. By itself the website seems to be quite complicated! can you tell us how much further complicated site you intend to design? 😉

tinalive

I have a business website idea that is more complex than a simple e-commerce site. I am not a "computer person" so I have no idea where to start actually developing the site. And I need to be financially creative about getting a group together that would work on my idea.

1. Who and how many people would I need to develop, start, and maintain a site similar to craigslist or monster?
2. How much money do I need to raise? And why?
3. What are the steps I need to take to start?
4. Where could I find "partners", that will work for a piece of a dream pie?

Thanks for your help, suggestions, comments!-Tina

Hi Tina,

Would suggest you to clearly write down the basic functionality of your site. A monster.com caters to a different clientele than a craigs list (which is hilariously funny btw, well atleast the Best of CL). So, I would ask you, what do you want your site to do?

Any site depending on how complex it is would need a strong team of techies, the more avante garde the site, the techies should be that much stronger. A techno-functional guy should also b there, if you are planning to hit mainstream with your site, then a decent sized technology budget should be there (roughly $10k a year/per server, infrastructure, connectivity costs, technological policies (privacy,password,security,appln security, et al)).

Simplest steps to start off would be -
1. document what you are planning to do
2. be extremely clear as to how you are going to make a craigs list and what kind of BI would you be mining
3. how are you getting to the masses - it cud be an ad in the paper, or viral mkting, or flyers, whatever
4. on a strategy note, i would like to know how are you building barriers for your competitors as well ... as in, what is stopping other players to do what you are planning to do.... what makes you special 😀

Hope this helps.

tinalive

I have a business website idea that is more complex than a simple e-commerce site. I am not a "computer person" so I have no idea where to start actually developing the site. And I need to be financially creative about getting a group together that would work on my idea.

1. Who and how many people would I need to develop, start, and maintain a site similar to craigslist or monster?
2. How much money do I need to raise? And why?
3. What are the steps I need to take to start?
4. Where could I find "partners", that will work for a piece of a dream pie?

Thanks for your help, suggestions, comments!-Tina

My 0.02 Dollars -

Let me try to answer your questions one by one -

I have no idea where to start actually developing the site
K: The best way to start is to search for local talent. Friends who have experience in web development. Otherwise, if you budget allows, hire a company that does this kind of work. As Kidakaka said, you will have to be very clear about what you want to do.

Who and how many people would I need to develop, start, and maintain a site similar to craigslist or monster?
K: You'll need people with experience in PHP, JavaScript, AJAX, SQL ( will vary depending on the nature of your website ) . How many - Min. 2 - 5 depending upon your budget and time constraints.

How much money do I need to raise? And why?
K: This is one question that every entrepreneur faces 😀 . Kidakaka, can you throw more light on this? 😉 . The answer to this question, in my opinion, depends on the nature of your website. The cost of maintaining dedicated servers is very high & you will also have to spend money in advertising ( big cost! ) . Since you are not a 'computer person', you will need to hire people to run the website for you. If you can post further details about your idea, I'll be in a better position to answer.

What are the steps I need to take to start?
K: What is your current level of preparation? Where do you stand right now? Have you taken any steps or you just have an idea in your mind?

Typically, you should start by doing survey on the internet. Are there any similar sites? How are you going to build traffic to the website?

Don't be scared 😁 . Have a clear plan of the things you want to do and if possible get them reviewed.

Where could I find "partners", that will work for a piece of a dream pie?
K: Friends! Why do we have friends? 😀 . If that is not possible, you should look for a person who understands how things work on the internet.

I hope this will help. If you have further questions, feel free to post them in this thread.

-The Big K-