Search Engine Looking For Investors And/or Technical Co-Founders

[meitsiuq]

I'm an American that has been living in Thailand a few years. I have developed a few websites (with a team of engineers) that I am looking for investors and/or technical co-founders in.

Previously, I founded a company that grew from zero to 8-figure revenues in 3 years. Now I'm looking to do something much greater. Although I developed the algorithm and spec'd out my search engine, I'm not an engineer. This is why I'm looking for a technical co-founder, or an investor that could provide enough capital to hire a competent team to take it to the next level (and based out of Singapore).

All sites are developed already.

The sites are:

1) Search engine with a unique social twist. Already about 5,000 queries per month with no advertising or marketing.

2) Social networking site (no competitors in the space, currently. But a market of hundreds of millions)

3) website tool for packaging up media (no competitors in the space, currently)

my main focus is the search engine. I plan to compete directly with Google and Bing search (yeah, don't laugh).

If you're an investor, I'm looking for equity investments in the 7-figure range. (I'd like to start up in Singapore with a team of engineers.)

If you think you could make a good technical co-founder, you should have experience delivering successful web applications in rails, js, python, java, LAMP, etc., and have good experience with APIs.

please message me if you're interested.

Edited February 3, 2013 by meitsiuq

[Gulfsailor]

Hi. I wish you a lot of luck with organising this from Thailand. The money normally is the easiest part. It's the complete lack of high technical skill in this country that will make it very hard. If you have a team with proven track record in business and technical side, then there is no lack of funding. But as said you wouldn't find highly skilled people in Thailand. And without certain guarantees that funds are forthcoming, it's hard to find the technical staff to start working on your ideas. It is the chicken or egg problem. That's why most well funded startups are a result of a group of 'nerds' putting their own time in creating a working product, and getting a little exposure. Then the investors will flock around, and will happily provide the necessary financial and marketing experience to make the product big.

I have first hand experience of how this high tech world works, as I am the final stages of developing a very high tech mobile app. After a lot of in vain searching local staff, I ended up with a team in Romania and several freelancers in India and Pakistan. After launch I will most probably need to relocate to Western Europe or the US to make it grow. Finding the investment to fund the development stage was the easiest part.

Good luck with your ideas! And whatever, do not give up. I am still sitting on a social networking idea that will blow Facebook away in less than year and is far easier to monetize. But the investment required will run into the 10s millions of USD, and without a track record it is unlikely I will ever get the funds to start this. That why it is interesting to see how my mobile app turns out. If that becomes a success, than I can move on to my 'project X'...

Edited to fix a spelling autocorrect.

Edited February 3, 2013 by Gulfsailor

[meitsiuq]

Thanks for the response. It's appreciated

I've already funded the development from my own pocket (for all 3 sites) but I need people that are dedicated to the vision rather than contractors. (The sites are already developed and released.)

Also, I need people with more experience than myself. I'm actually looking to start up in Singapore rather than Thailand. I, too, realize there's a severe labor problem here and I think Singapore is much more of a tech center. (I've hired over 50 people here for another business, including technical people.)

I think mobile apps may be yesterday's news. The future might be in HTML5.

[MrHammer]

Well, I wish you well to take on Google (Bing is far behind). We do need some competition in search, however Google has already become THE brand in search. Getting people to switch from them will be very hard as it's not just a question of being better, but Google users will also have to see the need to change. So as long as Google keeps providing a decent search experience, it will be very hard to convince others to try something new, just because habits are tough to change. Keep in mind that a search engine such as Duck Duck Go! is actually a decent alternative but largely unknown. In my opinion, a new search engine will fail unless it has a second selling point, such as the Ask.com toolbar which attaches itself to loads of freeware. Niche search engines stand a greater chance (such as Kayak.com and similar) but the compeition is fierce here as well.

I do wish you best of luck!

[belg]

i also had a dream one day, and then i woke up and smelled the coffee

there are business angels but those kind of projects, where you can supply your project to for admission, but if you love to dream about competition with google and bing

why don't u use your supposed 8 figure income from your previous websites to sponsor your 7 figure investment needs

smells like troll