This didn't make it to the Open Manufacturing list, but I thought y'all might find it interesting nonetheless. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Thu, Mar 17, 2011 3:32 am Subject: Re: [Open Manufacturing] Re: maybe im crazy, but why is most of these projects not working? I'm going to assume that promoters and principals of the various projects know their fields of interest well and have workable sales and marketing plans at the core of their business plan. If this is generally true then the problems they face pulling themselves off the ground are not that different from what most business people face in the beginning stages of their enterprise. Most businesses fail in the first 3 years of operation. Most of the businesses that fail do so because of improper initial capitalization. Their capitalization was improper because they didn't go beyond the usual circle of 'family, friends and fools' for fundng or they gave a personal guarantee to their banker for inadequate financing with lousy terms, offering up their house, their car and their first born dancing lassy to the banker as security for a usurious loan. Raising money for a business and for projects like the ones that are discussed here requires a team effort. In the United States business people that have investment opportunities to offer to their neighbors need to enlist Broker/Dealers in their efforts. One option for project principals here might be to form or buy one or more broker/dealer firms and make it a captive broker/dealer that does nothing but raise money for your individual projects. That's what folks that drill holes for oil do, and it just makes sense. Another important reason for failure, intimately related to the above, is the lack of a functional framework for collaboration that will allow firms and projects to network easily, and by the word network I mean a set of projects and firms that are sharing business services, human resources, marketing channels and productive capacity. Regards Alan -----Original Message----- From: Lee Nelson <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wed, Mar 16, 2011 10:11 pm Subject: Re: [Open Manufacturing] Re: maybe im crazy, but why is most of these projects not working? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWDerzFiqOo What would it take to bring these projects together? This is more than a collection of tools and processes. It is a life to be lived. http://www.google.com/search?q=walden+2 http://www.google.com/search?q=looking+backwards We need our hackerspaces to be living spaces and and gardens. Factor E farm is a good start. http://www.google.com/search?q=factor+e+farm We should have these all around the world and on the sea, all working together. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Open Manufacturing" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/openmanufacturing?hl=en.