[thelist] Doing a 'freebie'

[Michael Galvin]

I have a friend who's just about to start up her own company.  She wants a
website (obviously) and has heavily hinted that I could do it for her.  For
free, natch.

Now, my thing is that the financial backing for this company is coming from
people I don't know and have never met.  I'm unwilling to do it for free
primarily because these money men will probably equate value with
usefulness, so if it's free, then it's "crap".  It probably won't be (I
don't know what they want yet), but this is a fairly normal human condition.
You get what you pay for, and all that.  They'll dismiss the freebie, and
possibly go with an agency or someone else they know who'll charge them a
bundle of money, and I'll be out of the loop.

Anyone got an opinion on this, and if I'm right, how do I handle the issue
without pissing off my soon-to-be-very-rich friend...?

Michael