2kproposal

Project Concept

Describe the general nature and scope of the project and what products and/or services will be offered

We propose a non profit community center for the modern age.  Accompanied by the internet as a distributor of knowledge, the explosion of entrepreneurism, and the reduction of cost, Maker culture has taken off. We want to expand access to modern, functional, industrial tools to populations including artists, engineers, students and the community at large.  The value of the space will be as much in the tools as in the connections to be made between members.

Explain the need in the market the project addresses, how the project will go about addressing this need

Make magazine has seen major growth in a dying publishing market and DIY programming has consistently been popular on TV.  For the last several decades American culture swung towards a broadcast society.  Since the inception of the internet that is changing.  People are more and more interested in creating and sharing something with the world, weather that be a youtube video, art, or a prototype.

The phoenix area is full of tech companies and therefore engineers.  Startup costs can be incredibly high in order to gain access to the tools to prototype your design.  There is room here to aid these entrepreneurs in bringing their products to market.

Technical students are more and more becoming disenfranchised with the opportunities available to them in academia.  There was a day many years ago where the only place you could find a 'computer' was in academia, but that time has passed.  Budgets are shrinking which means less investment in anything other than relatively cheap commercial off the shelf technology!   And even this technology is increasingly outdated and barely functional.  Secondarily, Colleges also appear to own stock in bureaucracy so that no cross pollination is allowed to happen.  Students are chased out of labs the second their work is done and not allowed access outside of their specified class hour.

Even historically non technical savvy types are taking interest in this maker culture.  This is evidenced at least by networks like TLC which are full of DIY programming.  Lilypad is an interesting cheap convergence of microcontrollers and fabrics into 'smart textiles'  This softening of the electrical engineering field is bringing in demographics previously unreachable. A perfect place to see this culture in action is at the local First Friday.

Describe the steps needed to successfully launch the project

• nonprofit-in progress
• insurance
• a space
• donations
• tools
• marketing

[what is a 3d printer, why is it important?]

Rep Rap(Replicating Rapid-Prototyper)

Currently low end commercial 3d fabricators cost upwards of $20,000. The Rep Rap(Replicating Rapid-Prototyper) is a free to download blueprint to create your own 3d printer/prototyper for less than $1000 in commodity parts. The Rep Rap is perhaps best explained in their own words:

• "Today, virtually everyone in the developed world runs their own printing works, their own photographic laboratory, and their own CD-pressing plant. Moving from two-dimensions to three, why shouldn't they also make their own MP3-players, their own coat hooks, and their own car wing mirrors?"
• "And why shouldn't they use the machine that does the making to make new improved versions of itself?"

Here's a great single page write-up about the device:
http://www.reprap.org/pub/Main/WebHome/one-page.pdf

File:Escher Drawing Hands.gif

Marketing Strategy

Describe the market in which the project will operate and what barriers there are to market entry, if any. Include an overview of potential partners. Explain the project’s outreach plan.

This business plan has been successfully tried around the country and even the world under the title 'hackerspace, a list of which can be found at hackerspaces.org. These groups are all unconnected with some of them private, some non profit, and possibly others for profit. Generally, a collection of people pay monthly dues between $50 and $75 per month in order to join and use the complex's tools and network with its users.  It is free to list yourself on this list which brings about national recognition to the users of these spaces.

Techshop, http://techshop.ws/, does a commercial version by charging $125/month to mainly attract Startups. His commercial version has yet to reach Phoenix however.

The major barrier to market entry is capital. Tools and software are extremely expensive and the problem turns into that of the chicken and the egg. Without tools, users are unwilling to pay monthly fees, and without fees there are no tools. Donations will help this as all a company necessarily needs to see is your nonprofit tax deductible status. The space will attempt to partner with any and all technical companies in order to bring in the capital and supplies necessary to bootstrap the business.

We intend to outreach to colleges and high schools and other tech communities in order to educate and gain community recognition. It will also be important to do talks and workshops at the location. This will bring in additional users to continue the subscription model and continue to build our name presence helping us gain new donors.

Hopefully it is not obvious to the reader, but it can be difficult to describe what exactly Heatsync is. The Rep Rap in some ways directly displays what we do in a very real, very visual, and very tactile manner. It is a device which can make your dreams reality before your eyes.

By taking the rep rap out to schools and to First Friday's and other events we will be able to gain real mindshare and marketing at the same time we gain a valuable prototyping tool.

Because a primary goal of the Rep Rap project is a machine that can build itself, it is important to be able to locate your nearest Rep Rap neighbor. To this end the Rep Rap team maintain a list of rep raps around the globe As of this writing our Rep Rap will be the only one in Arizona. This would allow us the incredible opportunity of being the Mother of all future Rep Raps in this state.

Project Team

Summarize the entrepreneurial, academic and/or community-focused aspirations, experience, and/or training of the team members. Describe any relationships with advisors and mentors the team will utilize. Provide resumes or bios for each team member in the appendix, if available.

We are a team of artists, engineers and makers with a passion for community service.  We have long existed disparate on the web, developing and sharing and we want to bring that culture back home again. Amongst our group you'll find, for example, professional Engineers, seamstresses, musicians, and students.

Need an ASU student for team lead, nominations or volunteers please!

• David - former Devry LUG president (confirm?) and IEEE PHX Section's Teacher In-Service committee member (confirm?)
• Jacob - Computer Software Engineer, Computer Systems Engineer Undergraduate and IEEE member
• Paul - "work in education where we develop new instructional technologies for the classroom, we have written and been rewarded many grants"

Who else did we have with relevant experience?? Can anyone think of an appropriate advisor, community or ASU based?

Budget

Provide a brief financial summary of the project, including a description of how Entrepreneur Advantage Project funds would be used and how other funding, if necessary, will be secured. The budget (revenues and costs) should include only those activities that can be completed during the award year.  If the nature of the project requires a longer timeframe, explain why. Include the following line items for revenues and costs:

We intend to use the initial $2000 to complete our nonprofit status, continue looking for a space to rent and insurance, and continue building the online community in preparation for the space.

• ~750 for nonprofit exempt
• ~? a whole bunch of extrusion goo
• ~? rep rap parts, a starting point may be:

http://objects.reprap.org/wiki/Mendel_materials_procurement#Costing

Cost type	UK estimate	Notes
Bar	£11.19	RS
Bearings	£31.20	RS
Belt	£23.33	RS
Extruder parts	£15.00	Estimate
Fasteners	£74.21	RS (expensive)
Motors	£80.00	Assumes 4x NEMA 17s
PCB/Electronics	£110.00	Zach\'s Gen3 electronics
Thin sheet	£0.00	Beer can
RP	£20.00	Assumes no commission
Thick sheet	£20.00	Estimate
Studding	£11.65	RS
Total	£396.58	Yay!

Economic/Social/Cultural Impact

Describe the economic, social or cultural impact of the project, if successful, as well as the ability/expectation of the project to attract other funding, if applicable.

This project is entirely about enabling the community to achieve.  Part of our goal will be to constantly continue community outreach not just to offer service to the community, but to survive! As previously described, we believe the only way to grow the nonprofit will be through community outreach.

Attach Appendix (10 page maximum)

Attach resume for team members and/or include other supporting materials, if needed.