I have the groundwork planned for a coin but want to do A captcha faucet but that takes alot of time and how would I get the funds to be listed on an exchange
Ico would fix the problem and make it faster but I feel really scummy taking money from people
Whatever root you take to launch your own coin will cost you money and that can be ranged from low to high depending on your capacity.
So without any money, its impossible to get your own coin and it's also impossible to get successful.
As you don't like to launch an ICO, why don't you directly list the coin to an exchange? There are normally two ways to list on exchanges, 1. by voting 2. by paying fees.
Fees and requirements can vary from exchange to exchange. You can start voting campaign and pay with your coin. Last time I saw Wepower launched a voting campaign to get listed on binance, though they also paid bnb to the participants.