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

When you set off on a grand adventure of entrepreneurship, there are a few milestones you’ve got in mind:

• Your first focus group
• The “beta” launch
• First revenue
• Profitability (!)

There is an easy tendency to imagine this as a steep hill, that gradually levels off as you approach the top. ‘Surely,’ you think, ‘It must be simple to get to profitability once you’ve got revenue, right?’ Not so much. (more…)

Ah, the code bounty - that staple of open-source software development, where noble-minded and well-informed users donate their hard-earned cash to support building the features they crave the most.

And yet, for such a universally-espoused idea, there are very few of them actually going on. Why?

Software bounties are nothing new - Novell sponsored a large set of them on the Gnome linux desktop, Drupal-man(n)-extraordinare Boris Mann pioneered “reverse bounties” for drupal features, and they’re a staple of development on the Asterisk open-source PBX. But there are some challenges with how they’ve (historically) been managed… (more…)

It’s so clear, so obvious to me that it practically burns in my brain. It keeps me awake at night. It distracts me from food, even from coffee. And yet, it’s so damn elusively difficult to put into words.

Explanation by Example: Ebay is for buying, but there’s only one winner. Craigslist is for selling, when you know what it’s worth. BountyUp is for buying, selling, gift-giving, contests, or charity - when it’s worth sharing. Share the costs - many pledges, one achievement. Share the rewards - pledges can be prepayment for something that wouldn’t otherwise happen (organize your own concert by your favorite band, at your favorite venue.)

All of which comes across as either too verbose, or too vague. In the words of Babak, “I put myself in the position of not knowing anything about the concept and found it to be slightly too ‘mysterious’ to spend any time on or to buy-in to when glancing at the home page.”

(more…)