Crowdsource Funding

Category: Crowdsource Funding

=Introduction=

In order to succeed in generating public support for OSE product development according to the poduct selection criteria and criteria for assuring distributive enterprise opportunities, we need to start with a clearly-defined ‘’’deliverable’’’. This deliverable must have clear attractive potential to a wide body of ‘’’stakeholders’’’, who also need to be defined clearly. Moreover, a clear ‘’’program’’’ and ‘’’timeline’’’ must be defined for achieving these deliverables, such that potential supporting stakeholders: (1), gain enough trust in the program, and (2), believe in the deliverables timeline. The program must be sufficiently ‘’’transparent’’’ – supported by background research, design drawings, economic analysis, and video footage.

=Deliverable=

The two main products – both at the stage of prototypes that are undergoing testing – are The Liberator, a high-performance compressed earth block (CEB) press, and LifeTrac, the lifetime design, open source tractor. The CEB machine is exceeding its performance expectations, LifeTrac is breaking new ground in design flexibility as a multipurpose construction, utility, and agricultural device, and both are showing clear potential for factor 10 cost reduction over their industrial counterparts. These products are an essential contribution to a post-industrial, open source economic system. These specifications and deliverables are outlined to clarify the above claims:

The Liberator

 * 1) The Liberator I - the machine itself as a ready-to-order product. The materials cost one year ago was about $1500. The current materials cost is $2000 due to the doubling in the price of steel. The expected sale price is expected to be $4-6k. We will offer a manual machine, which will be able to produce about 4 bricks per minute. Bricks are 6x12x4 inches. This is an advanced-performance machine suitable for both individual homes and for general contractors.
 * 2) The Liberator II - the improved performance version of the device, with automated controls and increased hopper size. This adds about $1k to the price of the above machine - and will be able to produce about twice the rate of Liberator I - or 8-10 bricks per minute. The competitors' price for such a machine is about $50k. Our expected sale price is expected to be about $5-7K.
 * 3) The Liberator III - the industrial scale version of the machine - capable of producing 16-20 bricks per minute, at an estimated materials cost of about $4k, and yet-undetermined sale price.
 * 4) Complete fabrication plans and documentation - all of the above products will be available in the form of do-it-yourself (DIY) plans for those with access to a basic workshop. The Liberator I and II may be fabricated with as little as a floor drill press and small welder - or $500 in shop infrastructure. The Liberator III requires a hoist or similar device for heavy lifting during assembly. This is geared at those people who would like to build the machines above at the cost of materials - or $2-4K for machines that retail up to $250k otherwise. The design is one based on maximum simplicity and highest availability of non-specialized parts - such that a motivated novice may put a machine together. The level of skill required is using a drill press, measuring hole locations, and welding - though welding is minimal and may be outsourced at a cost of about $400 - or 8 hours of labor at $50 per hour. We are also developing a version with a hopper that requires no welding, thus eliminating any welding from the machine almost completely.
 * 5) The documentation package is meant to be not only sufficient, but of the highest standards. It will include all information relevant not only to fabrication, but to maintenance and repair. The documentation should serve as a de-facto life-time warranty - where any servicing or repair can be done entire by the user - as facilitated by the simplicity and design-for-disassembly.
 * 6) The documentation will include a wiki for showcasing DIY implementations, sharing building experience, and being a robust support community for all users of the device
 * 7) Part kits - Part of The Liberator open source project is to build a fabrication facility for turnkey products and parts. Any or all of the parts may be ordered at the cost of production (materials plus labor) - to facilitate progress of DIY builders. DIY builders may order, for example, critical components - and do the rest of the assembly themselves.
 * 8) Workshops - For those who lack the skills required to build the machine, but who are still committed to building one  at the lowest possible cost, workshops will be offered. These workshops will essentially lead the individual by the hand through all the production steps - including use of prepared components as necessary. The workshops may vary in duration depending on the needs of the individual - and the cost for the workshop will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis.
 * 9) Fabricator training - The end goal of OSE's work is distributive production. As such, we will deliver a training package. This package includes complete fabrication documentation, training videos, and hands-on training workshops. The training workshops will be organized on-demand.
 * 10) Product certification services - As part of the distributive production package, we will develop a third-party accredition system to rate products according to OSE Specifications. This rating will be provided as a label with the product - which shows the various ecological and distributive-economic features of the product. The label applies to those individuals who are interested in setting up production facilities, and it provides transparency required by the open source nature of the product. This certification assures, for example, that documentation on

LifeTrac
=Audience=

The Liberator

 * 1) Owner-builders and others interested in more sustainable means of construction – The attractive potential for this group is clear – a $5k machine for high-quality building. Our message to these people is – “Mortgage? What is a mortgage?”

LifeTrac
=Strategy=

Here several strategic points to consider. The bottom line is - we have cutting edge work in front of us - for developing a viable mechanism of crowdsource funding for post-industrial economies of abundance.


 * State that any donation may be applied to any purchases made from Factor E Farm - as a dollar-for-dollar reduction of price for the product, up to a complete Liberator. Say someone chips in $20 - they are entitled to a $20 discount on a workshop that take from us. Say someone wants to chip in $10k - they will be entitled to The Liberator. The requirement for this is that we develop a dedicated 1-4 person workforce who is capable of delivering orders - as part of the overall destributive production package. Here we are assuming that Factor e Farm will have a guaranteed and continuing team of fabricators - about 12 in an evolved community - who will be able to produce on demand. The only way towards being able to deliver is to develop the digital fabrication capacity - where it takes us as little as 20 hours and $2k in materials to fill in an order. We may want to consider that anyone who provides a large amount of funding, say $10k, will still have to pay for the materials. We need to think about the 'rebate' point carefully.
 * Enlist stakeholders – such as Sasha in Serbia – who have a strong interest in small enterprise as a means to right livelihood – to be involved in the marketing effort
 * Involve OSE-Italy, OSE-Canary Islands, OSE-Serbia, OSE-Mid Missouri - towards collaboration
 * Set up OSE Crowdsource google group.
 * Contact carefully-chosen target groups, NGOs, magazines, etc.

Discussion

 * Engage vaporspace wizards
 * Engage real people like us - OSE-Italy - gmagius@gmail.com, OSE-Serbia-mrkflux@gmail.com, OSE-Canary Islads-lucas.gonzalez.sc@gmail.com
 * Metallurgy - small scale foundry
 * No problem selling products - just communicate the message
 * OSE Crowdsource list
 * Accountability is job one for now
 * Fiduciary intermediary
 * Tax free jurisdiction?
 * http://www.chipin.com/
 * http://www.kiva.org/about/pic
 * project program = whol big CEB project, project phase brief on CEB rapid protype section 4 has budget of 2500, work to start in 3 months, describe project to 3 stakeholders 'people' andrius as network who needs his name on it, UN official who sees DEEP value, and Italy type collaborator who is highly invested in seeing success of project....create materials for all 3 stakholders abou tthe CEB PHASE that needs ot be funded, and provide 'links' to the bigger project...point everythign towards a SINGLE "PHASE PAGE" with a paypal button