So I was presented with quite the dilemma the other day, while working away on a tour Bounty Up is looking to sponsor with Amity Records (shh…. between you and me, we share management). We’re producing a tour called The Two Fest. It basically features the importance of unity in the attempt to save our planet from imminent doom and destruction. We bring an artist from China together with an artist from North America, we feature Al Gore-trained presenters to talk about the dangers of global warming, then they point to a couple booths of local organizations that are actually doing something for the environment - such that the kids at the show can plug into some sort of action right away. It’s a model that, instead of being knowledge based, couples the knowledge with an action component. The idea being that there should be a greater percentage of those integrating the message delivered into their daily patterns of life, right? Right. Then we buy away the carbon that we’ve spewed into the environment getting everybody to ground zero, and we hope that the good we’ve done be better than the bad. So… the dilemma.

One of the critical factors that contribute to the success of a festival tour is the acquisition of sponsorship. Yes… the almighty dollar it is. Tours generally don’t bring in that much money on their own, and in order for them to actually happen they need to bankrolled, to a large extent, by corporate sponsors. This of course leads us to the next elephant at the door… what corporation do you choose to sponsor a tour? And herein laid my dilemma.

Does British Petroleum’s sponsorship of a tour that brings awareness to global warming sound any different than Shell’s notorious green-washing of their “environmentally friendly method of oil extraction?” (No, BP did not come knocking on our door, but a couple other big corporations did). So our question… is there a role for a corporation that, based on its current methods and antiquated policies (which have lost any value that they once possessed), is greatly damaging the environment, or for that matter continuing to have a malignant influence on some facet of humanity at large, is there a role for them to play in trying to remedy that damage? I think it would be arrogant to say no, but it would be naive to say YAY…

Thus I proposed The Authenticity Challenge to myself in a heated debate that involved two Africanos, a chessboard, and a crowd of concerned onlookers in my own premium debut of Geek Club.

The Authenticity Challenge

The sound of what the corporation does to play their role in solving the problem needs to be louder than the deafening sound of the rolling of eyes!!

Do nots:

• The Hood Over. Do not use the presentation of the sponsor in question to somehow justify the rightness of their current policies. (Shell’s example above)
• The End Justifies My Means. Do not use the presentation of the sponsor in question to somehow balance their wrong with the right (Phillips Morrison running anti-smoking campaigns…????!!!!)
• The Fake. Do not use the presentation of the sponsor in question to somehow make a futile effort to cover up the wrongs and act like they don’t exist. (American Politics)

The Dos:

• The 12-Step Start. Use this as an opportunity to admit where you are, and to acknowledge that this is a turning point.
• The Strategy. Lay out a plan of what you are going to do differently.
• The Proof. Start by doing something that actually makes a noise. Put up a bounty for somebody to do something beneficial for the environment, or make a change that is comparable to the size of your corporation.

If you want to find me, I’ll be the loud over-caffeinated obnoxious fellow playing chess with himself… drop by and introduce yourself.

With oceans of warm fuzzy love,

Todd

Recently we set out to raise a small round of angel financing for this crazy venture. Of course, we needed three things:

• A great idea, and a prototype (got that.)
• A great team (including a Board of Directors)
• A great ‘deck’

For those of you not yet familiar with Guy Kawasaki’s ideas on slideshows and pitching, check out the orginal blog post. I put together two versions of my presentation - one that’s fairly straight-laced and buttoned down. Dour, almost grim. And the other, using the “Colbert method” - keeping the spoken content in the “presenter’s notes”, but putting something funny in the main space. I’ve also been videotaping myself practicing the pitch - not only is this really easy to do with nothing but iMovie, but you can get amazingly valuable insights as well. (more…)

I’ve got a full scratchpad of features we’re working on, (outside of the large list of bugs). Along with the upcoming visual redesign, here are a few ideas we’re working through:

• Templates for new bounties
• A “play-money” or “testing” section
• User reputation levels, ala eBay
• Open API (make bounties from bugzilla, trac, wishlists, etc)
• F8 App (of course), and a UWA widget

We’re also reworking the sharing features, looking into openId support, and playing around with various social concepts. Our goal - not to duplicate the features of social networks, since there’s no point. Instead, innovate in ways to extract social value from the user’s natural behaviors. An example (in our current test build, which I was thinking I should make publicly available): (more…)