I wrote: > I know very little of these business things but enough to know that > half-knowledge is worse than ignorance, so someone else has to help > there.
No reactions so far :-( Without a business structure, the project can't organize funding, and without funding, all I'll ever be able to make (eventually) may be a couple of units for my own use, and that'll be it. Regarding funding, I was thinking of trying a form that combines kickstarter-style preorders with investment. The traditional preorder format works well for mature designs but to get there, you either have to make promises you don't know you can keep, or find some other funding. I'd rather not take the dubious promises approach, which leaves: a) financing all the R&D myself. I was hoping I could do that, but I got stuck in the "daytime" project that I had hoped would feed me while working on Anelok. So that won't provide the reserves needed to do the next step. b) find a vulture capitalist / sugar daddy / ... (or a small group of them) to invest in the R&D (and possibly beyond). Alas, I don't know anyone well enough who might do such a thing. c) idem, but the investor(s) be a company or a group of companies. Again there's the problem that I should spend less time in the lab and more time on the golf course for that kind of contacts. d) try crowdfunding. But what would people get ? I couldn't sell a working device at the moment, but I could promise to make a proof of concept design which then may or may not go into larger production. But that's not very useful for most people, is it ? To sweeten the deal, one could add the element of investment. I.e., anyone who participates in the effort, be it through work, money, or both, also gets something in return when and if it succeeds. This would sound roughly like what cooperations do. So anyone who'd want to invest or otherwise contribute would join the cooperation. Later on, when there's something ready for the masses to produce, then the cooperation could simply take orders. Of course, that's about as much as I know of doing such things. The person who takes care of creating and running the business side would have to decide what of this can be done and how. - Werner _______________________________________________ Qi Hardware Discussion List Mail to list (members only): discussion@lists.en.qi-hardware.com Subscribe or Unsubscribe: http://lists.en.qi-hardware.com/mailman/listinfo/discussion
