Young, Broke, and Beautiful — thoughts on Ind.ie’s path to sustainability

[aral]

We’ve been running on empty for a while now. Now that I’ve published the Graceful Gazelle and Infinite Iguana releases, I have to start planning how we’re going to sustain ourselves in both the immediate future and, longer term, how to make Heartbeat self-sustaining.

I’ve been ignoring the bank balance for a long time now and it’s gotten to the point where Laura, Jo, and myself can’t continue to make the sacrifices that we have been in the past few months. It’s just not sustainable and we’re all running out of funds personally.

I have a couple of ideas. We’re going to start off by giving a report of exactly what we’ve been achieved with the funds that my family and I invested (~£80K+) as well as the funds we got from crowdfunding (£60K+) in the past year and a half. Laura and Jo are busy combing through our records to prepare a summary for me as we speak.

We need to triage: immediate term, short term, longer term.

Here’s a quick initial brain dump, that I’ll develop as we go. This is an initial brainstorming, so please take it as such. Thoughts, comments, and other ideas welcome.

Immediate term

• Consulting and paid speaking engagements on ethical design and accessibility. We don’t even mention these on the site at the moment. Update the site to reflect that we do provide these services.

• Update the funding page. Right now, it’s a badly-aging relic from the initial crowdfunding. This probably requires a complete rewrite using our regular tech stack. (So that one person — me — can maintain and update it while also developing Heartbeat and maintaining & updating over a dozen other apps/services that keep Ind.ie going.)

• Present what we’ve achieved so far and push for a second round of immediate-term donations.

• Come up with a novel way of doing a second-round of crowdfunding that could involve purchasing early access to Heartbeat and the hosted Waystone at Ind.ie.

Short term

• Organise another Ind.ie conference — the ticket sales could give us some much needed cash flow. The Ind.ie Summit last year was a huge success and we couldn’t have gotten to where we are without the support of some of the wonderful people we met there. Beside anything else, I would like to see that community evolve from discussing the problem to discussing the solutions and helping move them forward. Would like to keep this in Europe and if we can find some good sponsors (who are not people farmers) and a sympathetic venue, it might help fund some of our other work. Who’d be interested in attending?

• Explore coalition with larger companies that sell products not people to see if they can support our work. This could also centre around the ethical design consulting work. We could help companies for whom privacy is a competitive advantage on how they can invest in alternatives to centralised systems. Especially interested in talking to Internet of Things (IoT) firms that want to differentiate themselves on privacy (and find themselves in a favourable position when regulation starts to suffocate the people farmers).

Longer term

• Our own cryptocurrency and support for blockchain to fully decentralise Heartbeat and to be able to fairly compensate us and others for value created / consumed. We have to find a way for the system to be self-sustaining and that involves sustaining the people who make it possible. That includes us — Ind.ie — the organisation that specifically exists to nurture this commons, as well as the people who have and will support us financially and otherwise in the future, and the people who otherwise add value to the system. I’ve been thinking a lot about how we can measure value and have the system fairly compensate value creators in a decentralised manner. And, most importantly, do so with minimum of effort and without an experience penalty.

I don’t know yet whether this will mean building something on top of Counterparty, Ethereum, and/or IPFS. I’m reading up on and playing with all those and more. I’m also looking forward to fully immersing myself in this issue in Hong Kong at the Smart Contracts for Smart Cities conference that I’m keynoting as part of the Blockchain Workshops.

Just as Heartbeat makes it stupidly simple to have a private conversation today (even today, even at pre-alpha, even though it is in the cradle) it should be as simple to send someone currency or to charge for access to some of your content. If you want to charge access to a video that you post, you should be able to do that without going through a YouTube. Or, if you want to sell access to a short story you wrote, you should be able to without finding a centralised book publisher. Or, if you post something up for free, people should be able to send you a little thank you coin. Same with hosting your content — the peers that host it for you (because there will be a future without Waystone) — should be compensated also. And the same for the encrypted backups that your peers host for you.

Again, all very rudimentary ideas but, going forward, we must look towards shedding our centralised training wheels (Waystone and the Pulse/Syncthing discovery server) and decentralise everything. That includes the financial system that will measure and compensate value. This has to be baked into the core and be a seamless, beautiful part of the experience.

• Ideally, in time, build our own platform (independent hardware + software), where we can sustain ourselves, and the commons that we are nurturing, by selling a unified, fully-decentralised experience.

As always, I welcome your thoughts, suggestions, and ideas. I’m grateful for your time and support.

[AustinPrior]

There's a lot to digest there. I agree that the crowd funding page could do with a refresh and would be happy to donate again.

I'd love to see another indie summit but I provably won't be able to attend as my weekends are spoken for 12 to 18 months in advance (one of the disadvantages of being in a wedding band)

The longer-term stuff sounds really exciting and aligns with this new decentralised future that's growing now. Bring it on!

[adamprocter]

I guess there is a need to look for various streams of income and setting aside specific work patterns, that are sustainable. Which I am sure you are already working on, but you need to look at your bank balance and be very strategic. Now I am not a business person at all so I am just thinking out loud.

Immediate term

Set up an easy donation option on the site. This could include 1 off and subscriptions options, Stripe could handle that with not too much overhead.

Yes you should totally put something on the site about speaking events and workshops. Perhaps you even start to think about making small ePub's for sale like five simple steps.

Perhaps Aral and Laura you could make versions of your talks / workshops as videos that could be packaged up for sale.

Short term

I think you should look for funding from other bodies, this is not easy but Nesta etc. if they can fit. Are there residency you could do ?

Talk to companies involved in ethical design and see if they would sponsor.
- Maybe a Sponsored podcast.
- Can you get hosting or such for free based on Sponsorship
- waystone sponsored by "Hosting company"

Long term

This is really interesting , walled content... for users with a shared revenue stream... hmm there will be loads to read about on that but , kinda related to the short term videos and materials to purhase

I post this for now and come back and add as I see fit.

[aral]

Set up an easy donation option on the site. This could include 1 off and subscriptions options

Great call on the subscription option, Adam. I am going to draft out the simplest possible donation site and will probably end up using Stripe’s basic components to begin with.

Yes you should totally put something on the site about speaking events and workshops.

In the works, as we speak

Perhaps you even start to think about making small ePub's for sale like five simple steps.

Perhaps Aral and Laura you could make versions of your talks / workshops as videos that could be packaged up for sale.

These are both things I’d considered in the past and currently forgotten about so thank you, will add them to the list that we’ll use to triage.

Nesta etc.

I do know a few people from Nesta and they’re generally lovely when asking you to do talks, etc., but not very forthcoming with funding. We looked a little into applying for grants, etc., but given the amount of paperwork involved, it would have to be a full-time job. We did apply for a Web We Want grant for our public speaking so we could afford to speak for free at community events but we weren’t selected. To be perfectly honest, sometimes I feel as if we’d have no trouble getting funding if we were proposing to carry out an interpretive dance performance exploring the subtleties of privacy as it applies to the mating habits of the spotted Guatemalan tree squirrel but there doesn’t appear to be much funding for tiny social enterprises actually creating alternatives.

Talk to companies involved in ethical design and see if they would sponsor.

There are a couple of companies that I am planning on talking to (ones that align with what we’re trying to do). The hard bit is making sure that we don’t undertake any sponsorship that would compromise our independence, etc.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond, Adam. Appreciate it.

[adamprocter]

No problem, I have however so far made zero from all my subscription/sponsorship efforts (newsletter, podcast, website) but then again I'm not offering much but a vain attempt to off set hosting costs.

Business models are not easy to work out but you should check out this and the CC website, might offer some ideas of building around the product, in fact Blender's open movies business models might be a really really good thing to look at. Sita Sings the Blues is another good example, not exact fits but worth considering.

• https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/creativecommons/made-with-creative-commons-a-book-on-open-business

Nine inch nails - free music - expensive concerts...
Maybe part of conference tickets would give you access to X , Y , Z

[adamprocter]

Nesta

Yeah its a nightmare, I miss so many at work and we supposedly have people that can help out and you do need to know the routine, if you can join up with someone else thats always good. Ill also have a think what a University such as mine could do for you.

[adamprocter]

Maybe Documenting the building of Heartbeat and selling it in parts might be good... that way you also train up other developers. I think making of stuff would be cool and subscribe to read.... like Retro Game Crunch did

• https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shauninman/retro-game-crunch-six-games-in-six-months

[adamprocter]

Also you have to charge for Heartbeat when you put it on the MAS. perhaps also Pro Subscription gives you more features. A good example would be Instapaper and Pro subscription. In fact the story of instapaper is one to look at.
I may have made this post a little messy now (feel free to tidy up!)

An app I have not finished see about idea
- http://wirelist.co.uk/about.php

You could maybe even look at what minimum viable product (MVP) you could get on MAS and start selling in fact even if you start cheap and then each major version is another paid 'upgrade' but gets tons better.

[dev_anubis]

and then each major version is another paid 'upgrade' but gets tons better.

Paid-for upgrades is the best way to guarantee that users won't get bug or security patches which is in no one's interests. Spyware services offering free-at-the-point-of-use applications have the benefit that they can offer instant, continuous, "costless" security patches, bug fixes and improvements to their users.

I don't think independent technology can use the business models of the past any more than it can use the business models of Spyware 2.0. Not least of all, because the FOSS license permits, nay encourages, the liberty to redistribute.

Also, the rest of the world are coming around to the idea that we should not pay (extortionate amounts) for digital products which have almost zero reproduction / distribution cost, and that trend will only increase in the next few years particularly as more and more "free" services are available at the expense of our data.

You can't compete with free.

There's a few things you can do short-term to raise more funds. Another round of crowd-funding, with pre-alpha access as the "reward". And as mentioned above, a campaign to get existing supporters to start making recurring (smaller) donations to give you a bit of help now and also a small revenue stream over the coming year or so.

Also, don't underestimate the novelty of vanity items for micro-payments. Just look at what Valve have done with their FreeToPlay games where the core content, functionality and everything of actual worth is available to everyone but worthless skins and variations on item stats fund the model. It's all very capitalist, but hey if you're not anti-capitalist like me then where's the problem, and how is it different than charging for access?

[adamprocter]

Paid-for upgrades is the best way to guarantee that users won't get bug or security patches which is in no one's interests

I was not suggesting security or bugs are not fixed for free but a model such as instapaper pay for app and subscription, or tweetbot pay for major revisions. I don't see any issue with charging for software sensibly. Although Overcast was free but you pay to unlock pro features.

I agreed new business models need to be found though and I think subscriptions are good.

[dev_anubis]

But then you have to back-port bug and security patches, which will evebtually vecome more touble than its worth. And besides all that will happen is people will circumvent the paid-for upgrades by either compiling their own binaries or using a third-party fork.

Sorry but after-purchase paid-for upgrades are a non-starter in the 21st century and in a free software project.

One-off purchases from an app-store are still generally accepted, as both a way to compensate the developer (which I believe most people DO want to do for nontrivial apps) as a convenience, vs having to learn how to compile from source and setup. "It just works" is a powerful selling point.

Selling non-feature digital products in-app as I suggested is IMHO a cheap and sly business model, but it works and it doesn't limit anyone's freedoms as per GPL. People could circumvent and load in their own art, widgets, skins, icon packs. But if they want to contribute to the developer and the artist then they can buy them instead. They aren't necessary to the experience, not having them doesn't limit interoperability, but for some deep rooted psychological reason consumers still desire them...

[alchemy]

This is a very interesting discussion. I am involved in several groups (not online) that have to find ways to fund their activities. I look at it two ways. If you are an established group/function then you are probably large enough to get some more money from your members etc. The other problem is when you don't have many members but are doing good things. Then if you are not careful it always seems to apply pressure inside the small group to hold the funding to acceptable levels.

We have 4 small non-profits that are always looking for funds. Most of the funds are always coming out of the members but rarely enough. One of the groups had a windfall of sorts and used some of the money to bring all 4 of these groups together. One was an art community center, one was an organization supporting mentally needy adults, one was a "TimeDollar" community group and one was a very small church. Over a few months we got to know each other and then we created an event together which we called "Art from the Heart". It was a lot of work but we were able to attract money from outside the 4 groups and that was great. It was a one day event and we cleared over $8k after all expenses and we will try to do it each year. We are toying with a second event.

The point is that it is possible for community neighbors to leverage their skills and impact when working together. It was far from perfect but it was really a wonderful outcome and we learned a powerful lesson of what was possible. The town is now working to "copy" the event in the Fall calling it "Art in the Park". The point is not to overlook partnerships even if they are somewhat distant.

It would be difficult to do this sort of funding effort if not a "non-profit" which makes contributions tax deductible (much easier for companies to donate towards)

In another direction, it is possible to sell support or sell a manual or ebook. It can work well to sell extensions if the number of participants is large enough. There was a company that sold extensions to OS/2 (ObjectDesktop) and they did very well and did some of the same on Windows. Guys name was Brad Wardell I think. I bought it mostly for one feature which was the way they managed to animate the opening of folders or objects on the desktop. They had several animations and they were very cool to me at the time.

Another model is to sell the equivalent of "Ringtones" like the phone company does. Heartbeat could have a sound function that could be extended.

There are lots of things really. I would think the point is to get a lot of members and somehow invite them into becoming part of the community and having a sense of ownership such that they happily want to see things succeed and put their money where their mouth is.

Our society seems to be obsessed with "free" or "cheap". "Free" is really a very effective way to drive competitors out of your business area. Affordable and fair are really more mature ways to shop but it is not where our culture is for the most part.

Another thing I find is that it becomes easier to support something that has a moral or ethical standpoint. When I can help a little more ethics or morals or compassion find a place in the world then that is likely to be one of the better things I can do with my money.

And I think a portion of people will happily support beautiful design.

That's all for now.

[adamprocter]

Of course AFC Wimbledon is a wonderful model to look at.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFC_Wimbledon

We only ever had a hardcore of 4000-6000 fans in the premiership and yet after the club was stolen from us by business men, we started again with trials on a common, we started 9 leagues lower, as a non professional club and went on purchase our own ground, gain a record number of promotions and return to the football league, professional and totally fan owned. We now look poised to move back into the heart of Wimbledon in a brand new purpose built community stadium. The Dons Trust which we are all members ensures the Club cannot be taken away from the fans again and we call all the shots, we have fair pricing and fair merchandising. Sometimes the impossible is possible, keep it up team !

Football Supporters Federation is another thing if anyone here is into football and would like to work out how to get more involved in your club

[bob]

Adam - I attended many Wimbledon FC games back in the Premiership days. St James Park, Old Trafford. My best friend at University was a Wimbledon fan, and you could ALWAYS get tickets for their away games, to travel around the country. I became really fond of the Dons. My own team are the fallen Leeds United.

In later years when I lived in Guildford, one of our friends there (Dan Newman, a schoolteacher) had the fantastic experience of playing (and scoring) against A.F.C Wimbledon when they appeared in his non-league division, bringing their huge travelling support to Guildford.

http://wimbledonheritage.co.uk/livematch.php?Psection_id=5&Psub_section_id=11&fixture_id=1970&squad=1

AFC Wimbledon are an inspiration for sure.

[bob]

@aral Sorry to hear that things are so tight.

I think the conference in Hong Kong is a fantastic opportunity to explore collaboration and technical consolidation with Ethereum and other block-chain based technologies. As you know, I am "in deep" in Ethereum too. They have glorious base technology which you could build on top of, but are (intentionally) not addressing the UX yet. The Frontier release, where they recently moved to a livenet, only had command-line tools. Next up is the Mist browser. Do try to spend plenty of time with Vitalik, if you can. I've met him twice now, and he is a truly exceptional person. So deeply, deeply intelligent, and with incredible integrity and grace under fire. Don't try to tell jokes or have fun with him, though. I've tried. It doesn't work so well. He just isn't wired that way. Or maybe he, just behind closed doors!

Aside - do you still do web design work? Or has that been shelved because you need to be spending all your time on Ind.ie?

[adamprocter]

@bob Ive started playing with IPFS as I found the way into Etherium too technical at the moment. I managed to move p2p a markdown file on IPFS and have it rendered in a browser via Go which made me very happy

[bob]

Cool!

Just saw this too, @aral, in your hood - http://brightondigitalfestival.co.uk/event/cryptocurrencies/

[jelle]

Two examples to learn from.

Successful. De Correspondent, a Dutch crowdfunded news site. Raised 1.7 million euro's and now has 33.000 subscribes for 6 euro's a month and a healthy growth. https://medium.com/de-correspondent/a-short-guide-to-crowdfunding-journalism-b495ecba710

Failed project, but successful company. Blender, open source 3d software, wanted to create an 1.5 hour movie. They sold cloud subscriptions, but failed short on there crowdfunding goal. They got to 50% and sized the project down to an ten-minute short. http://opensource.com/life/15/9/how-open-film-project-cosmos-laundromat-made-blender-better

Aral and Laura you are both gifted speakers and your keynotes motivate people to think and act. My tips for the Ind.ie is to make it more clear what you are building. There is no product page about Heartbeat for one. And promote the funding more. Maybe break it down in smaller blocks. Need X amount for feature X.

[bob]

I think that a Product/Project page for Heartbeat is a great idea.

Labs has details on the projects in labs, but there isn't a page for your main Project

About | Blog | Summit | Labs | Forum | Fund

->

Heartbeat | About | Blog | Summit | Labs | Forum | Fund

perhaps?

[stefan]

Not sure if I'm thinking "forbidden thoughts" here , but maybe there are government subsidies that you could apply for? Here in the Netherlands we have some subsidies for small companies that are working on innovative technology.