OUR MISSION
The people on this site are doing two things simultaneously. They’re
being true to themselves and their passions and interests and reason for living,
and—through that and at the same time—they’re creating or recreating things
that are original and exciting and can generate a new world.
Through my travels, I have come to know these people and their
creations. They are inspiring, and are worthy of attention and support. So the
whole idea of this site and this community is to talk about them, bring them to
the attention of other people, and encourage others to support and help them in
whatever way possible.
HARDY
SEEDS IN A HARSH CLIMATE
It’s always been my experience, as I’ve told you in each of their
stories, that the person who helps and the person being helped both get a
tremendous amount out of that relationship. One often hears that the helping person—the
expert or the god or the person with the money or the big-shot—is involved in a
one-way transfer. In my life, though, and in my experience with these people, I’ve
found that I always get more out of the relationship. I learn more and I walk
away a changed person—I have changed by knowing them as much as they have changed
by knowing me.
The idea is to seek these people out. And maybe I don’t even need to look
for them, because I’ve been lucky enough to randomly come across them. And I
think you’ll see from the stories here that I wasn’t on a mission—I wasn’t out
foraging or hunting through the forest to find them. They came into my life in
strange and mysterious ways.
Having done that, I found that what they’re doing tends to be extremely
difficult, and they’re often in a tenuous situation. Getting to the point where
they could actually create something takes a tremendous amount of time and
energy, and by the time they get there, they’re often just a couple of months
away from complete disaster.
That can be a good thing, because it can sharpen the mind or focus
one’s effort. But, to the extent that they have resources and talents and
experiences and support, I’ve found that their creation only blossoms and bears
more fruit. They’re often in harsh climates—like a seed that has flown into a
crack in a rock on El Capitan. They are hardy seeds and their roots are gaining
a foothold, but any confluence of storms, or rock climbers whose feet happen to
brush the seedling, can destroy them.
Through this endeavor of people helping people—through bringing them to
others’ attention and providing a vehicle through which they can be supported, both
materially and otherwise—it is my hope that their efforts will flourish.
TIMING
AND THE NEED FOR MONEY
Another major element of this endeavor is to try to raise money. This
is an interesting topic, and one that is challenging for me to talk about
because I haven’t completely come to terms with it yet. So I want to share with
you the different facets of my struggle with it.
One school of thought—in the free market and our capitalist economy—is
that if people have something good and others want it, the nature of the
product or idea or service will cause people to support it and put their money
where their mouth is. Therefore, if someone isn’t making money or isn’t making
enough money to support themselves or their venture—whether it’s a commercial
or a non-profit venture or an idea that they believe will improve life here or
elsewhere—the fact that they don’t have money either means that the idea is not
good, or that they haven’t been able to help people understand how good it is. According
to this school of thought, then, if someone asks for money, the only logical
conclusion one can draw is that their creation must not be good.
However, in my experiences with new ideas and with people who are
trying to bring things to the world that are different and perhaps better, I
have found that the timing of the market is sometimes not as rapid as
neo-classical economists assume. That’s just a fancy way of saying that neo-classical
economists believe that if something is good, you can either sell it or get
people to pay for it immediately—or that people who lend money will realize its
value, so you’ll be able to borrow the money you need to support your venture
until the market catches on. But I’ve learned through practical experience that
oftentimes things don’t work this way.
One of my goals, therefore, is to raise money to support these creators
in ways that address a wide variety of their needs. They might have begun a commercial
venture and need money to purchase something that will help them do it better, or
they might need some ideas to help them figure out how to speed the success of
what they’re doing or communicate it in a way that helps people realize what it
is and become excited about it and support them in a multitude of ways.
But the timing of the need and the timing of their success is often
mismatched. So we are trying to raise money to support these folks in their
hour of need and help them with ideas and resources and the multiple things
that can help them succeed. At the end of the day, folks need to eat and they
like to have a roof over their head. And they can have people support their
ventures by contributing ideas or skills or ways of doing things that can help make
them successful. So our goal is to raise money for that purpose.
WHAT WE
ARE AND WHAT WE’RE NOT
It’s very useful to say what we are and what we aren’t in this regard, and
how we differ from other models, because the problem these creators face is not
new—it has existed for centuries, if not longer. There are examples of great
artists and scientists who needed to be able to devote all of their attention
and focus on their creation. Galileo and Sir Isaac Newton and Michelangelo
didn’t have to worry about where their next meal was coming from—these guys
either had funds or connections. Each example is different, but the idea here is
that the people on this site are Galileos and Michelanagelos in the making, all
in different ways. And to the extent that it’s possible, we’re trying to create
a situation that enables them to devote virtually all of their time and
attention to their creation and line of inquiry and what they need in order to
continue their work. We’re trying to bring that opportunity to them, and it can
be done in many ways. Ultimately, if these folks have enough money, they can
focus exclusively on their creation.
Now, too much money and not enough struggle can be a bad thing. But I
can safely say that all of these people have struggled. And, through struggle,
you learn things: You learn what works and what doesn’t, you learn through
failure, and so forth. If you have a big pile of money and not much experience,
you sometimes spend it on things that are frivolous and unproductive, and it
can actually siphon off energy and concentration from creativity. But I can
safely say that all of the people identified here have been through a struggle.
It’s helpful to explain in that way, because oftentimes the people I
come across or identify—the people I’m most attracted to working with—are just
coming through the door. They’ve started their creative process and they’ve
typically been through a number of trials and errors and nascent efforts, and
they’re making a serious push. Through that trial-and-error process, they have
really come up with a nugget that’s magic and has tremendous potential, but
they haven’t broken through yet.
People who have broken
through don’t really have a need anymore. If the audience or the market has
come to recognize their creation and has rewarded them for it, they usually
don’t need assistance. They can still often benefit from ideas, but their need
is not as great as it is for someone who’s trying to go through the door and
has a limited window of time for their idea or venture or creation to catch
fire before it is extinguished by lack of oxygen. Those are the people I focus
on. I think they are the people who can most benefit from my help and the help
of others.
It’s a bit of a paradox, because when you meet these people and see
them in operation, you think, “Wow! Do these people really need any help?” because
they’re usually tremendously driven, they have the power to create, they have
an original idea, they’re very motivated, they’ve thought through what makes
them tick and what makes them great, and they’re in the process of exercising all
of those things. So you think, “Wow, I could get hit by a bus and these people
would probably be successful with or without my help.”
But I’ve come to know this: To the extent that they can push their
creation along and focus their efforts and benefit by collaborating with others
or tapping into financial resources if they wish to do so, it always seems
helpful and always increases their likelihood of success, no matter how great
they are.
These people are all independent-minded and they are not compelled to
get help from anyone, much less us, if they don’t wish to. But we want to
create that possibility for them, so that if they decide it would be fruitful
and productive, and they do want to
tap into it, they can.
OTHER
MODELS AND HOW WE’RE DIFFERENT
- Venture Capitalists
In Western society, there are two traditional models, so it might be
helpful to discuss who we are in comparison to both of them. One is the venture
capital or investment model, where people give money with some expectation of
return. There are two elements to this model. Typically, people who give money
to this kind of setup expect their money back with a high degree of
probability, if not complete certainty. They also expect it to come back a
hundred-fold—again, not with perfect certainty, but with a non-zero
probability. So the first element is that they’re expecting money back.
The second element is that the brokers of that money typically feel
that they have more expertise than the founder or creator who originally had
the product or service idea. They think that they have a better idea of how to
create that product and how to build it and bring it to market. As a result,
they often invest a lot of time and energy and control in determining the
direction of the venture, and get very actively involved in management, often
to the point of removing the creator or placing them in a different role and
bringing in other people to help the company.
We differ on both counts. To the extent that we raise money for the
people identified on the site, we want to communicate clearly that the money is
given with no expectation of return—you could call it a donation. It’s not an
investment in the traditional sense, because there’s no agreement that the
money is offered in exchange for any equity position in the venture of the
people identified. It’s just a transfer of funds to help those people be
successful, with no expectation of pecuniary return with 100% certainty. So we’re
different in that way.
The second way in which we’re different is that we make no effort to
exert any influence or control over the creator. It’s our fundamental belief
that the creator has a vested interest in the creative process and a very strong
passion to create things in a way that works for them. This is very, very
important. In our experience, in fact, it’s one of the most important things,
because if you create a world that you don’t want to live in, it’s the biggest
creation-killing, morale-killing, energy-killing, demoralizing thing you can
do.
Oftentimes, the venture capitalists’ idea of success supplants the
creator’s idea of success. And what ultimately happens is that venture
capitalists, through their influence and management of the venture, end up
building a world that the creator did not envision and has no desire to live
in. That’s not only anathema to the creator—it is, more often than not,
anathema to the venture and the creation. It results in the death of both. So
our desire is to supplant that with something better.
Our philosophy is that these folks know what they’re doing and are
passionate about it. It’s a process of self-realization for them, and because
of that, the creation’s success is almost inextricably linked with them and
their efforts. We have no illusion that we could shed any light on that or
manage it better.
They often realize, though, that they can benefit from the counsel or the
ideas and input from other people, or from material support and other sorts of
things. And to the extent that they ask for help, we want to be ready to
provide it. But it’s really up to them and we only offer help when we’re given
permission. It’s not a quid pro quo,
where we demand it in exchange for offering help, material or otherwise.
- Non-profits
There’s another model, too, which is more of a charitable endeavor. In
that model, people give money with no expectation of a pecuniary return, but
there’s often an implicit expectation that they will be appreciated and
celebrated in some way—such as going to a good party with famous musicians and
good drinks at least once a year, getting their name on a plaque, or receiving
some other form of recognition or publicity.
In the United States, where our operations are currently based, these
organizations often have what’s called nonprofit status. Contributors are
allowed to deduct their donations from their taxes, and the organization itself
has to abide by certain rules and regulations.
We’re different from organizations like that in two ways. First, we
expect people to give without expectation of a good party or name recognition
or even a letter of thanks. We like parties—we love parties!—and we also like
thanking people, and being gracious and polite. But one of the things we’ve
learned is that creating is hard work that takes a lot of time and effort and
passion, and we’re trying to construct something that allows these creators to
devote almost all of their time and energy to their creative efforts. So, we
don’t want to build a big infrastructure to send out thank you letters or
organize cocktail parties.
We therefore offer our existential thanks in advance. And we are hopeful
that donors will appreciate our emphasis on creation and understand that we are
grateful for your contribution. The only reason you will not be feted or wined
and dined is because of our desire to focus on the important work at hand.
There’s a second way in which we differ from nonprofits. Although we’re
set up to be in full compliance with all federal, state, and local statutes, we
want to offer these creators as much unconstrained support as is possible—and having
nonprofit status often limits both the kind of creators one can assist and the
ways in which they can be assisted. We want to have as few of those constraints
as possible. So we will certainly operate in a legal and upstanding way, but to
the extent that we can avoid those constraints, we would like to.
We do realize that there’s a cost to raising money in this way. Since our
donors cannot deduct contributions from their taxes, if you were going to
donate $1,000 and you pay taxes at a rate of 30%, you would instead donate $700,
given your tax perspective. So we can raise less money under these conditions,
but we believe that the money we do raise—since it will be under as few
constraints as possible—can be put to its highest and best use. And that’s our
goal.
SUPPORTING
INCREDIBLE CREATIONS
I have my conflicts and struggles about money, but I became clear about
the fact that I not only want to identify these creators as I come across them—I
want to try to raise money to help them out.
I’ve run across a lot of people in my life who—through being themselves
and doing what they love to do and are passionate about—have the potential and
the ability to create new and wonderful things. And, generally, the biggest
obstacle between them and stepping through that door is that they have
financial considerations.
Since we were kids, we’ve been taught that our primary responsibility
is to be safe and secure, and a fear of straying outside the walls of that
medieval village and into the forest—so to speak—lies deep within us. Doing or
creating something new is risky, and often takes a while to build and tweak and
improve, and to ultimately realize success. Even then, there’s no guarantee of success,
and, typically, not much money comes in during that time.
I have found that to be the most common obstacle for people becoming
themselves and the creators of great things. At the end of the day, therefore,
I want to create a vehicle that could attenuate that concern and that problem
to the point where people would be inspired and freed to do what they love to
do.
There’s another wrinkle to that. If you do want to create something or
set up a venture where you are create something new, you either have to have
the money to support yourself, or you have to try to find it from some other
source. And as I described earlier, that money often comes at a very high cost,
not only in terms of usury, but in terms of a sort of implicit tax whereby the
financiers get so involved that they influence or ultimately emasculate the
idea—or tie it up or filibuster it or submit it to the tyranny of review by a
committee, so it gets watered down or derailed or diverted. Typically, creators
end up spending most of their time appeasing or managing the folks who finance
them.
In my experience, particularly in the corporate setting, this often derails
people even before they get started—or, once they do get started, it acts as a
primary deterrent and ends up derailing their best efforts. Having a vehicle
through which funds can become available without these sorts of constraints may
therefore be the extent to which these ventures can become successful.
In addition, there’s often no immediate audience for people who are
creating commercial ventures or have new ideas, even on a small scale. And
people who invest money prefer projects that they’re sure to make money on, so
they often look for things that have already proven their success or are some
small derivative of something that’s already proved itself worthy of making
money or creating an audience or getting some return.
That proclivity skews things toward investment in ideas that are
marginally incremental. And one of our major goals is to support creators of
things that are incredible. They’re not marginal, they’re new, they’re a big
leap forward in many different ways, and they are things that, by their very
nature, go into uncharted waters. They’ve never been seen before.
Since there’s no benchmark or reasonable certainty of return or success
with them, they are the kinds of projects are not typically financed. And their
creators generally have a hard time getting material support because they’re
busy creating or they’re trying to sell an idea that has not been seen before
and is not a proven success. So they spend a lot of time selling it to people
to who are enormously skeptical. Typically, their efforts to raise money are
therefore unsuccessful, and their ideas often starve because their time is
consumed in these unproductive efforts.
SEEDING
A NEW WORLD
One way that people who donate money to this cause can view themselves
is as seeding the new world in a way that will be very fruitful and productive.
And while they may never see their money come back, I think their lives will be
enriched, directly or indirectly, through the creations of the people on this
site.
There’s yet another challenge related to why these creators tend to
suffer from a lack of resources. Often, as you can see from some of the
individuals on this site, they’re offering an alternative to something that’s
fairly well-established in the old world. And making people aware of the new
thing and its benefits, and helping them understand why the new way might be
better than the old, often requires a tremendous effort. These creators are
often competing in the marketplace with folks who have strong financial
incentives to preserve the old way of doing things. Creating something new, and
helping people become aware of it and its benefits, often requires resources
that the creators have not been in a position to amass because of the very
nature of their life that has brought them to the point of being able to create.
The other interesting thing about these individuals as creators is that
they attract folks who are very talented, and who are creators in their own
right. By seeding these people, then, and providing them with resources and
ideas—financial and otherwise—they will, just through the product of their
endeavor, provide finances and support and an outlet for the creativity of everyone
in their orbit—people working with them, people working on their team, friends,
associates, and family members, etc. So there’s a kind of multiplier effect.
Not only are you helping the individuals identified here—you’re also supporting
the entire constellation of individuals that they attract through what they
offer or are trying to create. And, through that, you open up even more
opportunities for the creation of new worlds.
So this site is an initial attempt to open up these
possibilities. We hope you enjoy the stories and the people on it. And we hope we
this description helps you to understand what this undertaking is and what the
funds will be used for. You can feel free to contact these creators directly or
to make a donation through the website.
late spring, 2008.
story produced in collaboration with Corinna Fales.
