I have a great idea, a working site, and no clue where to go!

So like others, I had a great idea, built the site and it functions very well. There is no other site out there that does this, and it's truly a very useful site.

Now here is the problem, I have a great job at a great company, and dont have the time or marketing knowledge to really get this site off the ground. I would love to get an investor, who would take over and I would take a smaller % of ownership. But I can't even go to an investor, since I dont know how to really do a business plan, etc.

Any help would really be appreciated.

Startup investors invest in young companies AND people who run them. They don't manage the companies and they don't let you take a piece of cake someone else needs to bake.

Sounds to me like you're trying to sell your site, so you need a buyer, not an investor. Sites like flippa.com can help you do that easily.

Good luck!

You have to decide what your goals are, and make decisions on how you spend your time based on those goals.

If you really would like to be an entrepreneur, recognize that a successful business cannot, in most cases, be built in a few hours of spare time here and there. Suppose you find an "investor" -- then what? By definition, an investor would invest capital in your business, but how is the investor going to see a return on that investment?

Perhaps what you are actually looking for is a co-founder. You seem to have the technical side of things covered, but have no interest in the business side. However, you also say you have no time for this project, so is it reasonable to assume that you will find somebody willing to take the website and turn it into a functioning business on their own?

If you are, as you say, satisfied with your job and career, then what was the purpose of building this site, if not to turn it into a functioning business? Maybe you just enjoy development? There are plenty of people like that out there who make plenty of cool things as side projects, and do it not-for-profit. These bits of code can be contributed as open-source projects, or blogged about, and so on. Occasionally, one of these projects is cool enough to get some traction, and at that point, maybe there is a business opportunity there -- or maybe not.

And finally, if your goal is simply to build something and flip it for a bit of money, then your best bet is to try and find a buyer for your site. But that's what it will be: a buyer, not an investor. It's unlikely that you'll find somebody willing to pay you for your work, but also allow you to retain any ownership in it. It's also very unlikely that you'll receive a large sum of money for a site with no users, even if it is a "great idea."

Again, it depends on your goals:

• Do you want to found and run your own business?
• Or do you enjoy your career and plan to stay employed for as long as you can?
• Are you willing to put an extraordinary amount of time into cultivating something that is far from guaranteed?
• Or do you want to build something cool and then hand it off to somebody else?

Remember, there's no shame in being a creator rather than an entrepreneur. In the end, your most limited resource will be time, and you should make sure you're spending it in whichever way will make you happiest.

Your question, as asked, does not have a reasonable answer. What you're trying to do (find someone to run the site for you) and what you said you're trying to do (find an investor) are two different things.

An investor puts up money in exchange for some equity in the business. While that often comes with advice and mentoring as needed, the primary trade is money for equity. As such, the investor generally will not be interested in running the business, and if he should discover that you aren't interested either, then the relationship will rapidly deteriorate.

A buyer is looking for a business with which he can make money. Similar to the investor, he trades money for equity - with the difference being that he will want to buy the whole business. In this case, the buyer does not want you around, as he is doing this to have a business he can run, not a business he can share. (As an exception - if there are multiple current owners of the business, one might find a buyer for his share alone, but usually it will be for 100% of the ownership which the seller possesses.)

Finally, you can hire someone, which is what it sounds like you really want to do. The investor would therefore be providing the upfront capital to pay a third person to run and market the site, you would continue to be involved in product development, and you would hire someone to do the portions that you don't want to (or can't) do.

If you are not intending to continue to be involved in the business, do not expect anyone to invest in you or your business. Someone might be interested in buying it (see the answer which discusses Flippa), but not sharing with a tag-along. If you just want out, then look for a buyer. If you want to continue to be involved, but in a different role, then figure out what it is you need (e.g. a marketer which will cost $XXX per year), and then if you need money, you can look to getting an investment to cover that cost.

If you haven't got the business to traction, few people will invest or purchase at anything other than small change. Getting some decent traction could turn this on its head.

How to get traction? Find customers one at a time. If it's the site linked in your bio, then emailing a few companies per day/week would be an easy way to see if you have a viable business (to run, or sell).