It's funny to see many people giving their "expert" opinion about how expensive your web site was, just by looking the design. It is very easy to say when:
1. You are not the one developing the site, thus You have no commitment.
2. You ignore all the other project requirements (already mentioned above) just by looking to the presentation layer.
If the project was too expensive, blame also the founders , which may have asked for a MVP bigger then the necessary.