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Pioneers offer: https://pioneer.app/offer > Pioneer will retain 3% of any company you found over the next eight years. Pioneer will also have the option of investing an additional $20,000 for 5% in any of those companies. 3% of all companies founded over eight years is a very big ask.
Charge a membership fee. If the payout beyond server and development costs is $5k a month, that's 200 people paying $25/month.
That's a bit high, but membership fee can be reduced as number of members scales. Or, alternately, the membership fee can be reduced from beginning (perhaps even optional, with some extra reward for people who pay) and the monthly competition reward can be increased as membership scales.
The ideas will flow. The selection process will hopefully draw attention to best projects (though perhaps there needs to be some criteria round who can vote, such as requirement to contribute in some manner to vote). The prize will get them their ticket, and the recognition of winning the prize can earn them the contacts.
There is no need for a permanent ownership stake in the users' future businesses. It could potentially be financially profitable on its own (though not spectacularly so).
The intangible benefit of being able to introduce yourself to these interesting people, and of being able to introduce the interesting people to others who are looking for a specific sort of interesting person, is not very calculable. But it would probably make the endeavor worthwhile in its own right, without closing yourself off to audiences that are turned away by the terms.
You can still invest your $5k/month into someone, and the winner of the contest still gets their prize, but it's on more mutually beneficial terms for everyone.
I really like the idea of sharing the project and getting feedback from community, the accountability of regular updates, and the voting system. But I don't like the equity split. And I don't need investment. I don't particularly want to become a 'Pioneer' with access to the exclusive forum if I win the popularity competition, and I don't need a ticket to Silicon Valley. Is there a way to join the website without com…
There's a community called Work in Progress that's kind of like what you describe: http://wip.chat/ Note: $20/mo subscription
Thanks for this.
(Pioneer founder here.) Nat Friedman and I launched AI Grant last year ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14851806 ). The idea was to give out money to promising AI researchers around the world. To date, we've funded 50 researchers, from high school students in Hawaii to aspiring researchers in Africa. We’ve been inspired by the fellows we’ve funded all over the word. I’m following it with a new project called Pi…
Not sure what kind of ideas you’ll fund but there are lots of really smart people who love to tinker and solve problems. Being able to give them some runaway fuel so they can focus on problem solving rather than staying alive by taking a job they don’t love can go a long way.
When YC started, no one knew what it would become. It had good intentions, some money and a pool of wiling young folks to bust their asses.
And I think that concoction is amazing. Mentoring + network + funding + talent.
I really wish you the best.
(Pioneer founder here.) Nat Friedman and I launched AI Grant last year ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14851806 ). The idea was to give out money to promising AI researchers around the world. To date, we've funded 50 researchers, from high school students in Hawaii to aspiring researchers in Africa. We’ve been inspired by the fellows we’ve funded all over the word. I’m following it with a new project called Pi…
Looks good; how do you handle the fact that most 'lost einsteins' are working a crushing 9-5 and don't have the time or capacity to conceptualize (let alone work on) their passion projects?
Maybe just trying to attract a certain type of person who wants to get out of a job they find crushing. A job can be seen as crushing or a team effort. Einstein wasn't an island.
We often hear that may scientific advances happened as a byproduct of wars, could it be that in such times, patents become less of a priority or restraint. Which brings me to the question - If Einstein was alive today, how would he fair in a World more curtailed by patent trolls and over-zealous application. That in itself makes you wonder, what constraints do we have today that was less of a restriction in Einstein'…
Facebook/Reddit/Hackernews will do more harm before any patent troll can hope to intervene. Because they prevent the very forming of ideas by their "perpetual distraction" and "fear of missing out" aspects..
>Talented people suffer — one study called them “lost Einsteins” — but so does the economy from the loss of ideas and wealth they could have produced. The irony is that Einstein himself was 'lost,' having failed to find a teaching post and forced to work in a patent office. And many contend it was only because he had the time and freedom to contemplate on his own that we able to put forth such revolutionary ideas. If…
Such an under rated aspect of human existence. It has given us so much, but somehow managed to remain invisible that when something rob us of it, we don't have a clue how enormous of a thing we are losing...
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Maybe just trying to attract a certain type of person who wants to get out of a job they find crushing. A job can be seen as crushing or a team effort. Einstein wasn't an island.
Get out of their job for $5k? I agree I may be used to an area with a higher cost of living, but folks don't win $5k on Wheel of Fortune and think "now I can finally pursue my dream of becoming a poet."
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I could swallow the 3%, the networking opportunities are probably worth that to be honest (especially for a 'project' that isn't a tangible company or product yet), but the option is ridiculous. I also don't understand the system. I have to put my idea for a project on some leader board for other people to vote on? If I feel my idea has any worth why would I do that? I actually just planned on starting up a project,…
I agree on the 3% although the fact that it applies to any company founded over the next 8 years seems a little bit of a stretch. If you meet someone 5 years later who wants a cofounder, seems like it could be not-insignificant penalty. I would honestly prefer to not take the $5000 if it meant I could get the networking opportunities without the 3% equity. The option is just egregiously not worth it and represents a…