The Plan

This plan, subject to continual revision, should be understood as part of Crowdfuns overall strategy and mission. The costs and time-frames are based on estimates of donations and direct assistance from coming volunteers. To read about the progress being made see our blog.

Date
January 2012November June December

Category
Research and Development (complete) Production (complete)

Cost
3500

Description
Stage 1 The Idea of Crowdfun (link) is developed. The Crowdfun domain names are purchased. The Idea of Crowdfun (including a strategy), an audible introduction, information for creators and volunteers, this plan, a Mission Statement, a blog and a FAQ are added to an elementary website. The website also contains a logo, the ability to register interest and feedback from potential volunteers, consumers and creators, and the ability to receive donations. It is available to the US and UK, and works by detecting users language preferences and locations. Stage 2 The blog is periodically updated with news of Crowdfuns development. The blog posts are also disseminated through Twitter and Facebook pages. Donations totals are updated and correspondence with Crowdfun supporters is continued. Donors, volunteers and promoters are sought. Donors are offered rewards based on the outcomes of stage 2 and details of their pledges are made public in line with the Idea of Crowdfun. Relationships are also sought with three groups. (1) With related creative commons and open source projects, including Wikimedia/Wikipedia. (2) With related journalistic publications, such as Techdirt and Demand Progress. This is to gain maximum awareness amongst the wider public and to advance Crowdfuns strategic position. (3) With academics and public intellectuals working in related fields, so as to obtain testimonials to the socio-economic transformative potential of Crowdfun. Artistic and journalistic Creators working within (a) markets

December July

Operations (underway)

400

Marketing (underway)

500

best suited to Crowdfuns early development (see strategy), or (b) those Creators which may be sympathetic to Crowdfuns ideals, are approached. May June Marketing 3500 A short animated video explaining Crowdfun to a mass audience is scripted, produced, edited and uploaded to the website. A new and revised edition of The Idea of Crowdfun is produced and formatted aesthetically for professional printing. The legal frameworks and sample contracts, containing various options for creators use of creative commons licensing, are written up and made available on the website along with general advice for product creators. A constitution (to be voted and consulted upon), containing voting and delegation procedures is written and ratified. The rewards for stage 2 are printed and mailed. May Operations 500 Detailed Proposals are solicited from prior marketing outcomes. Selected international creators are approached. The fourth stage is formally integrated into the plan. May 2013 August Production 8000 The website is upgraded to help attract appropriate creators and to make it easier for individuals to pledge their support and register their membership. The public records of donor activities become searchable by name, location etc. The site allows people to use a discussion forum useful for critical feedback and planning purposes. There are capabilities to take donations in more currencies, and the site is translated into common foreign languages. The site becomes fully responsive, so that it works on all major devices (phones, tablets etc). Social networking applications are also developed and integrated. Stage 3 News and analysis of relevant events continue to be published through the website and social media. Research into the context and historical significance of Crowdfun, including the markets in which it operates and the social restrictions on their development, is conducted. The findings will be put into a series of publications.

May- July

Research and Development

2100

July December

Operations Research and Development

1500 7000

August December

Production / Operations

30,000

The website is made fully functional with support. It has login interfaces for creators and consumers, containing the ability to pledge money for proposed products and on behalves of others, the ability to host and stream content, and the ability for creators to upload products themselves. First project proposals go live. The website is translated into many other languages and gains the ability to receive pledges and donations in highly varied currencies. General international artists are approached on mass.

November September - October

Sales Marketing

N/A 5,000

December

Operations

2000

A Stage 4 will be formally added to the plan during stage 2 and refined during stage 3. It will outline expansions of Crowdfun. These may include opening offices in different countries, advising intermediate entities who come to represent consumers or creators interests, and/or merging with other creative commons platforms, for instance. Cloud storage and content streaming facilities will be upgraded and social networking features further refined to allow consumers to choose exactly who sees which projects theyve pledged towards and who sees how much. The platform should be further upgraded to allow people to transfer money into their Crowdfun account which they can divide up among their favoured product proposals or intermediate fan groups, saving them from having to make repeated card transactions for relatively small amounts. This would cost somewhere around 100,000 to set-up with additional running costs.