[SwellJoe]

But, I suspect you'd have to lie outrageously to accomplish this "social hack". Who spends millions of dollars on nothing, without having heard a massive line of bullshit first?

So, I don't think I'd be inspired by such a talk. I was also not really inspired by the million dollar home page, either...sure, he made a million bucks, but that's not an enduring business and it is not a repeatable business model. It's a fluke, like winning the lottery. I'm not an entrepreneur to merely make a million bucks; I'm in it to build something of lasting value to the world. A common side effect of building something of lasting value is making a lot of money.

[replicatorblog]

I don't mean this exact approach, but something like Kickstarter where people could prepay a few bucks for something. Imagine if Blizzard offered people who paid $15 some special weapon or tool in their upcoming MMO. They have a massive fan base, but is their a way to "presell" with a startup?

[SwellJoe]

That's why I suspect lying (over-promising, making outrageous claims, whatever) would be needed for an unheard of company to make a large sum of money on nothing more than a promise.

Yes, Blizzard could pre-sell products, because they have millions of fans that trust them to produce good games. Can a company no one has ever heard of do the same? If the founders are famous from prior ventures, perhaps, but completely unknown? It seems unlikely.

So, I guess if one could concoct a scheme that would work, honestly, and for unknown founders and an unknown startup, that would be interesting and inspiring. I lack the imagination required to figure out how to do it (as do the folks behind this particular scheme, since it seems pretty obvious that they chose the over-promise and outrageous claims path).