Kickstarter Campaign to fund a programmer?

[tschak909]

Hi.

I am starting this thread to gauge interest, and promote discussion.

If I were to start a KickStarter campaign, to fund $50,000, for me to work wholly on LinuxMCE for a year, would there be enough interest? You know me. You know what I can do. What are your thoughts?

-Thom

[davegravy]

I'd be interested. Any initial thoughts on how you would structure it? 

[CentralMedia]

Do you have a paypal account, I would give $100, not much but what I can afford at present

[tschak909]

@centralmedia: Yes, thom.cherryhomes@gmail.com

@davegravy: First thought would be very simple, focus on a triad of three major features, get those implemented. Move onto another three if time allows.

I would be working 8 or more hours a day, to implement these features, with a status report on forum at the end of the week, as well as time sheet.

-Thom

[_if_]

good idea, you can count me in as well for say 100€.

still it's hard to find 500 people which want to give 100$ because lmce is pretty much a niche product (somehow). maybe you can get more interest if you offer different stages where you then get LMCE tshirts or things like that. 

IF

[tschak909]

I'll do whatever you guys want, I am looking for something I can stably do for the next year (until certain finances kick in), without having to constantly beg and grovel for contracts.

-Thom

[bherbie]

A full time developer?  Count me in!  Are you planning on setting up something like kickstarter.com to track the pledges or just have us send money in to your PayPal account?

- herb

[WhateverFits]

I'd support a Kickstarter. I would LOVE to be able to fund a full time developer on this project. I don't have an extra $50K lying around but I'll definitely put up something!

[tschak909]

Yes, I am looking at something like Kickstarter, but I am trying to find out whether it would be possible to meet a goal, and if so, how much, so I could budget the appropriate amount of time...

-Thom

[ggmce]

Count me in as interested, I think this is a great idea. One thought as you budget this out; money for graphic design of the interface?

[ardirtbiker]

I am willing to contribute to this as well.

Dennis

[WhateverFits]

Set a relatively low goal with a bunch of stretch goals. $50k might be hard to reach, but $15K might be easier with $5K stretch goals of specific types of enhancements added in. $15K will give you a few months of full time pay at that rate and each stretch goal gives another month. Configure your features list such that you can break it down into about three weeks worth of work for the $5K giving a bonus week to you to work on items that are necessary but not worth listing as a stretch goal item (bug fixing, refactoring, cleanups, documentation, etc.). Set up some corporate sponsorship levels as well as individual levels.

[tschak909]

Thank you. You've given me a lot to think about.

It would be nice to do this for even...6 months... to get off the contractor treadmill, for even a little while (right now, I am getting the very short end of the stick....or the long end, depending on how you look at it...), you guys have no idea just how badly I would love to work on LinuxMCE, 24-7-365! I know precisely what needs to be done, and how, I just need to be able to do so.

-Thom

[jamo]

Hi.

I am starting this thread to gauge interest, and promote discussion.

If I were to start a KickStarter campaign, to fund $50,000, for me to work wholly on LinuxMCE for a year, would there be enough interest? You know me. You know what I can do. What are your thoughts?

-Thom

Thom, I think it's a great idea and I'd like to see it happen.
Also can't add a packet (my currency is fast becoming worthless) but will definitely contribute.

The tricky thing will be deciding what to focus on. You will obviously have ideas yourself but everyone else (esp those contributing) will have lots of input too and it might be tricky getting consensus. Do you only take suggestions from contributors? Does the size of the contribution affect the weight of the suggestion? Tricky, but not impossible I'm sure.
Regarding focus - I would add the high-level and rather generic comment that whatever is focussed on should be something that can broaden the user base as much as possible... because more users equals more potential funding, more pressure we can exert on hardware suppliers to comply etc etc. More clout in general. Identifying those things and agreeing on them is another story ;-)

[Esperanto]

My suggestion is to first start a thread here on lmce: make some suggestions with what you would do/make (and an estimate how much time/money each item costs). Then others can add suggestions/requests. Then you can put those on as pledges, do the ones that get fully funded and decide on the rest yourself....

I am not sure what is a normal fee (you probably get more normally) but I would aim lower. There must be a lot of people who would love to make $50k a year, especially coding for lmce. If you don't make a lot and someone else asks more for work they love to do it might prevent them to give. For some it might give the wrong feeling... just my 2c.

good luck!