Sell out, Mmkay. Get that sweet, sweet Venture Capitalist Money. Or, you know, add a donate button. Please. Please.
It was part of Monday's meeting. Truth be told, we aren't going to be able to quit our day jobs with the level of donations/subscriptions that we will currently muster, and that is part of the reason I have held off. That said, it would be nice not having to dig into our own pockets for servers and stickers. I cannot imagine a VC scenario that would work out well for the site. If Fred Wilson really wanted to give us $10M, it would be difficult not to consider trying to make it work, but I don't think that cash money is what Hubski ought to be after. In my mind, Hubski is about expanding a dimension of human interaction that could benefit from the effort. That goal can easily extend beyond what exists here and now, but I am not keen on selling myself or you all on a new strategy for Hubski that fits a funding model. Ideally, I would like to get the site into a state where is sustained itself, and can continue its mission with minimal polluting influences. I do think it is possible, and I think that it will be even more possible as time passes. The team seems to think that there won't be much harm in an early revenue model; we are going to experiment with that this year.
NPR has evergreen partners (a set amount comes out of my checking account every month). Hubski could do the same. Think givemarkadollar.com, but ongoing. No - you still couldn't quit your day job, but that could provide a steady, reliable stream of server/sticker opex. People feel good about contributing to causes they love.