I have made a start-up, we are a group of 4 members. We are trying to build educational service model in which we provide animated materials, audiobooks, e Learning service to schools. Animation and Programming(web/desktop programming) parts are crucial in our model. Before 3 month a member who was developing Animation left the concept and his task was incomplete. I am managing programming stuff and I have completed the product its ready to bring in market. I have invested 7 month in this start-up.
My question is without animation part I cant bring the product in market, What should I do now, should I spend time to find another person for animation? Out venture capital is quite little and cant afford to hire animation artist this level. Should I bring my existing product to the market?
Schools are seeking for such products, there are only few local vendors who are providing such products. I have met few of schools they have shown interest. So there seems to have potential market for the business.
Any suggestion would be a good help.
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It sounds like your product is incomplete until the animation is done.
a) You can try to look for someone to join the team, as a 'co-founder', with decent equity, but, that's going to take time. Start doing this anyway.
b) You can hire someone locally, which is fast, but takes money.
c) You can outsource, which may be cheaper, and fast, but could bring quality, communication and continuity problems.
Personally, if your product is good, and this is the only thing missing, I'd be going to the schools and selling it. When you have a contract with one or several, you know it's worth spending the money on either option b/c.
If you are seeking to sell a product requiring animation to the education market, then I'd suggest finding someone currently in education to do the work. In other words, find a really sharp animation student.
Donorschoose.org ran a Hacking Education contest not too long ago that involved school vendor data. Perhaps the resources available on their site might be able to guide you.