Looking for a business partner (Designer & CSS master)

[Mantat]

I first posted this request in the Design forum but I think it would be more appropriate here.
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Hi all,

I have been working on a project for the past few months and now need some help. I am wasting way too much productive time and energy trying to make the design work. All the exceptions and special rules of CSS are killing me. You role wouldnt be just about the graphical interface but also about the design of the pages and functionalities. I do the code and you do the GUI!

I dont want to elaborate too much on my idea because it has a great potential and I dont want any copy cats... I will contact the interesting/interested appliants with more details. BTW, this is NOT a Mac fan/rumours/new site!

So, what I need from you:
- experienced designer (and you can show me samples of your work)
- need to respect W3C standards (I am aiming for Strict XHTML)
- know CSS and CSS2
- know javascript enough to make your interface work
- know about Prototype and Scriptaculous (this is a big plus!)
- work on a mac (duh!)
- about 10h a week (robably less if you are fast!)
- I need someone who can do clean/corporate design style, at least its what I have in mind right now but I am open for any design that would work, both visualy and practicaly.

As a bonus:
- if you are from the Quebec/Montreal area since we could meet in person

What I give:
- about 10% of the revenues, you dont have any investment to do other than your skill, time and passion.
- you keep the copyright of your work.
- opportuinity to work on a site that will get a lot of visibility from a very targeted community.

Some specs of the webapp:
- Developed with Ruby on Rails
- MySQL DB
- a lot of AJAX
- page count? ehh.. not that much but a lot of templates that are dynamicaly loaded.

I am a very honest person and want this project to work. I have an already great day job for 40h/week and give this project another 20-30h/week. I cannot expect that level of comitment from others but I think its important for you to know that I am into this 100%.

Once the core code of the app is done, it will be easy to transfer the principle of the site toward other markets. SO basicaly

I hope I can find a great business partner! Send applications by email and questions as replies to this thread.

Thanks!

 

[Butters]

This sounds like something I would be interested in

Here's my portfolio: http://www.jaded-design.com.
I always code valid xhtml 1.1 and css and I'm very experienced with designing,
I work on a mac, and know javascript quite well.

please have a look at my work and let me know if I'm what your looking for
Thanks,
Tony.

edit: I haven't yet but if you want me to apply formally via email I can do that?

 

[dornoforpyros]

translation: I have no money, but I'd like you to do the work for me. "this will lead to big things"

 

[radiantm3]

translation: I have no money, but I'd like you to do the work for me. "this will lead to big things"

The thing is, any web designer with the experience he wants probably wouldn't take on a "non paying" project in the first place.

 

[Mantat]

Lowballers...

That is why I said business partner and not simply a designer. Sure I could manage to raise some cash and pay for a designer but the person wouldnt be comited to the project, only to the contract. I know because that is what I see everyday with my day job...

As for pro's running away from this, I dont see why. This is not charity, am I not beging for help, I am asking for a partner. As far as I know, when someone is looking for a partner, he isnt showing a stack of cash. First you search for people interested in the project and with the right competencies...

And as far as I know, a pro would gain much more from good visibility than a beginer. I think the best example of a programmer/design team up would be http://corkd.com/. Google a bit and you will see that this web app gave them more visibility than they hoped for!

My idea is along that line: target a specific market with a great offering. Revenu model uses different sources and the site has low maintenance. As far as I know, this sound like a winner. If you arent interested, no problem but no need for such comments.

 

[billy_d_goat]

Starting a business is probably one of the most difficult things you can do. I mean, seriously, if it were easy everyone would be doing it! From my experience it is very tough to find good partners. Do you have any friends you can pull from? At least you can trust them

 

[Mantat]

All my friends are programmers or vetenarians, not designers... Trust is important but since I will host the code and only give away the templates, its not that risky... Still, I wouldnt partner up with someone from Nigeria...

 

[eto]

... Still, I wouldnt partner up with someone from Nigeria...

Is that anyone from Nigeria?

 

[Mantat]

Never mind, it was an allusion to the classic Nigerian scammers...

 

[THX1139]

You need to have four things to attract a serious partner.

#1. A really good idea

#2. A solid business plan

#3. Financing available

#4. A confidentiality agreement

People will want to know what your idea is before agreeing to partner-up with you. If you were offering the above, you might have better response because people would know you are serious.

Ideas are easy to come by. Executing those ideas are far more difficult.

 

[Mantat]

I agree with 1,2 and is some ways no 4(when talking about project plan, they are implicit in most of the cases). But for 3, I totaly disagree. This is the information age, all the software I use are open source, the only cost I have to pay is for the hosting which is going to be around 100$/month.

Any internet startup that ask for money has to ask it self what they are going to do with the cash. Most of the time, its to buy stuff they dont need. I know a friend who wasted 20k$ in office supplies and other junks. Of course the business never lifted, it was in the negative since day one. A lot of the cost related to webapp can be scaled to the revenues and that is what I am planning to do. Its not 1999 anymore (unfortunatly!).

You need to have four things to attract a serious partner.

#1. A really good idea

#2. A solid business plan

#3. Financing available

#4. A confidentiality agreement