17.000$ is a very decent amount to start a small digital project, congratulations! If you have to code and/or build a business plan for free, for example, plus pay for different expenses like marketing, hosting, etc. it can mean a no-go in most cases, but finding a good equity partner who trusts on you and you can rely on is a blessing.
I don't know how ambitious is the OP's project, but I'm happy to see that members with a good plan or idea here can find that kind of amounts to start or scale their business.
It's all a risk, $17k might not be a very big amount for some but it is not a small amount too, so someone who has trusted the guy with his project has taken the risk with his money, he probably has verified and confirmed everything before the investment but even after that, I would say investing in newly launched projects is nothing more than a risk these days because we all know that most projects don't come out to be what they preach initially.
A large number of projects make very big promises, they create good-looking websites, their whitepaper is compiled with details and everything and those who read it will think it will be one of the greatest projects of all time, but sometimes, it doesn't work out, and the team abandons the project.
