Think there is a pretty significant component missing in analysis - more young people start companies. It could be that the success rate for older entrepreneurs is 3x of 4x that of younger - not assuming it is, but if young entrepreneurs are starting companies at 3x or 4x the rate of older, it might explain some of the anecdotal observations.
Its a really tough question. I have tried many of the routes suggested above. Elance, 99design and carbonmade. None of the experiences were great - elance and 99design work well for one off projects such as logo design and both vehicles provide many cost effective solutions, but designers are often in other countries in different time-zones and may speak different languages and the result is often poor communication, difficulty setting/meeting deadlines and lack of real understanding and buy-in from the designer.
Carbonmade is higher end and really just provides portfolios of design work to peruse and contact information - I found the hit rate on making contact to be very low and ultimately ran into communication/timing/buy-in problems here too.
Short of engaging a design cofounder/partner/employee, your best bet is to use a site like carbonmade to try to find someone local and to meet face to face and establish a relationship with the designer - difficult unless you are in NYC or LA/SF or other design hubs.
Positive first impression - website is nicely done. I thought the video had good energy and a thoughtful message, but I didn't hear anything about mechanics. How do you set up an account? how do you manage the interactions with your brain trust?
Is this the 37signals business? if yes, that is certainly okay because that has proven to be a great business, but if no, how is it different?
Please give me a break! First, congratulations - your sensational headline got me to read the article. But, other than the "granular" problems you point out, the larger arguments are just silly.
The Act does not tip the power construct unfavorably towards investors. Any VC worth a damn is a partner not an adversary. If a VC uses conditions in the Act to exert leverage in negotiations, he is not worth having as a partner in the first place.
The Act does not increase entrepreneur risk. Every founder has to consider many different areas of risk to his business, to his family and to his lifestyle. Rather than increasing risk, the Act presents an opportunity. As with any opportunity to gain something, there is a chance that you will fail. The Act would only increase entrepreneur risk if it changed the law in that it reduced opportunity - it doesn't.
The Act is bad for (US) investors because good entrepreneurs will self-select away from the US? Come on! That is absurd and in fact the opposite should happen.
Sorry, but the article seemed for the most part insincere or misinformed.
I know nothing about programming (maybe that is obvious from the odd question). If someone had an interest in learning, where would he start? Are the paths so varied that even the basics are not universal?
Then to me the question/quote is really subjective. Design is SO critical no matter what your company does and for some companies it is even more critical than SO! If you are sure this designer is talented and you are very clear about how you handle feedback/revisions/etc then, to me, $2k is not a bad quote.
I'm in the middle of the same process. I linked up with someone on elance.com based on their portfolio of work. Results have been so so - think the most important thing is to understand expectations - web design is sort of a generic term - what are you actually getting? design? execution of your own design? If its the former, $1k to $2k seems cheap, if its the latter, maybe expensive.