$3 Million - Need a Craigslist Clone

$3M SOCIAL NETWORKS MEET THE TOWN CRIER
WHO: Jim Lussier, Norwest Venture Partners, Palo Alto
WHO HE IS: A former exec at Accenture and Beyond.com, Lussier handles software and services for Norwest, which manages $1.8 billion in venture funds and won big with investments in PeopleSoft (PSFT) and Tivoli Systems. Lussier led recent deals with travel-services company G2 Switchworks and P2P radio broadcaster Mercora.
WHAT HE WANTS: A kind of souped-up Craigslist for every neighborhood, everywhere. Just type in a zip code, and this website will present not just garage sale listings and classified ads, but headlines and photos from dozens of local news sites run by busybodies willing to provide free content and keep it constantly updated.
WHY IT'S SMART: The idea taps into the same social-networking allure that helped make Flickr a $35 million Yahoo (YHOO) acquisition -- that is, user-driven content, organized so that all visitors get a slick stage to showcase their stuff. In this case, the stuff isn't just photos but local knowledge: updates on a rash of burglaries, say, or a ranking of preschools. (The most popular contributors might receive a small percentage of ad revenue.) The site could also offer a marketplace for everything from baby-sitting to tree trimming. Sure, a number of regional websites already offer something similar, but this site would aggregate the content under one umbrella and provide a platform to scale it across the nation. If all goes as planned, Lussier says, paid ads could bring in as much as $100 million a year.
WHAT HE WANTS FROM YOU: A website template finished within six months on a $500,000 budget. (Lussier estimates that a team of two or three can do the job.) If it shows promise, Norwest will provide another $2.5 million to tackle the real challenge: developing a core group of users who can light the viral fire. "Building that community happens when people get value out of the service," Lussier says. "They need to feel compensated for their time by the information they get back out."
SEND YOUR PLAN TO: jlussier@nvp.com

Source: Business2.0

Posting it here just in case there is some able team out there who can make use of this offer. G'luck.

Warm Regards,
Kavs

Sounds like a fantastic project but i'm sure the backend would be very complicated and take forever to code.....although, I think one or two people here could probably manage it but it would take months, maybe years.

Originally Posted by [JDoe]Net A website "template" finished within six months on a $500,000 budget. (Lussier estimates that a team of two or three can do the job.)

But as per this guy it should be doable in 6 months with a team of 2 or 3 ppl
Since in such projects they usually ask for a prototype kind of thing..I think it is not an unrealistic goal to achieve...just need the right team.

Warm Regards,
Kavs

My partner and I are going to submit our idea; this site is so easy to pull off.

Way to go Wise & Young. G'luck to you team

Warm Regards,
Kavs

We just submitted an e-mail, hopefully I sold him on the idea for the layout.

I will let you guys know what happens (if anything) - most likely, they are going to run some kind of interview process, where they bring people in to the offices and ask for presentations - etc.

woah..that's fast...
btw..I think he is looking for the entire functional site and not just a template. Not sure why the magazine says "template" though...

Do let us know as to how it goes about anyways..

Warm Regards,
Kavs

I focused briefly on the layout in the e-mail, it was more along the lines of how my team would plan on setting up the community he invisions and what we bring to the table. A miny proposal to say the least.

I have a template for writing e-mails that sell, which in turn have done really well for me in the past. The thing I'm wonderning is if he will actually read the e-mail or not.

I guess we will see what happens...

UPDATE

I got an e-mail back from Jim, he was really nice and really liked the ideas I presented.

However, what he was looking for, was more or less, a finished product that needs the money to take it to the next level. (which I don't have)

Futhermore, I'm glad I e-maild him, cause I'm going to use the ideas to start developing a web 2.0 application, and hopefully get some of this new VC money that's all over the place.

Originally Posted by w_y UPDATE I got an e-mail back from Jim, he was really nice and really liked the ideas I presented. However, what he was looking for, was more or less, a finished product that needs the money to take it to the next level. (which I don't have) Futhermore, I'm glad I e-maild him, cause I'm going to use the ideas to start developing a web 2.0 application, and hopefully get some of this new VC money that's all over the place.

Hey..that's really cool. It is good to know that the VC did get back to you. I'm glad something atleast turned out of all this to get you started albeit a different way.

Wish you the very best...

Warm Regards,
Kavs