[CS-FSLUG] OT: Business Model Proposal for Christan Libre App

[Tim Young]

Hopefully I am more encouraging than discouraging...

LightSys works with mission organizations, and we have seen a number of models
of organizations crop up that do things different ways.  There have been a lot
of them that have tried a for fee approach, where the consultants charge some
(usually MUCH less than the going rate) for what they do.  Most of these
organizations have gone belly-up.  But a few of them have survived, and an
occasional one has flourished.

I see the main issue is that churches and missions tend to look to their
congregation and "donors" as free resources.  If you attend a church, you
obviously should be willing to donate some of your professional time to the
church.  This attitude somehow leaks into their mentality for obtaining help
from any Christians at all.  There is an underlying attitude that it should be
for free.  But at the same time, there is a recognition that this is a fee
based society that we live in.  So there are many churches and missions that do
understand and are willing to acknowledge that feeding your family is an
important thing to do in life.

I think there are two main avenues to success here.

1) Find yourself a primary client.  If you locate a church that will use CHADDB
and is willing to support you and the start of your team, then you can probably
get it off the ground.  Once you have one, it is easier to find another one or
two.

2) <soapbox> If it were up to me (Tim Young's missions emphasis unabashedly
surfacing) I would like to see the CHADDB organization be set up more like a
mission.  Missions is truly the work of the church world-wide.  Ie., If you
started working on a French translation of CHADDB, you would suddenly be
internationally focused.  The next thing you will know, someone will be working
on a translation for the Philippines and India.  The concepts represented in
CHADDB are needed around the world, not just here in the USA.  There is a group
called "Hosanna, Faith Comes By Hearing" (fcbh.org) which has a for-profit and
non-profit side to it.  In the USA, they charge for their services, which cover
the cost of their international translations.  And many people are willing to
not only pay for the services here in the USA, but even donate over and above
the cost if the services because it goes towards world-wide "missions."
</soapbox>

If Norbert Bollow is still on this list, you also might want to talk to him
some.  He has a lot of good insight into developing businesses based off
opensource products.

    - Tim Young

Don Parris wrote:

> I have engaged some of us in debates regarding the financial viability
> of libre software.  I'm just curious as to what some would think of
> the following proposal to establish a network of local consultants
> capable of providing support for CHADDB, and either of its two
> front-ends (Java or Python).  The Python-based project I'm working on
> is called Ekklesia (Genesis Edition).  Genesis is console-based.  I'll
> graduate to the GUI level in due time.
>
> I've been thinking of ways to offer a commercially viable app while
> remaining loyal to my libre software leanings..  I may not even go the
>  commercial route, but I am curious about what the consensus might be.
>  I really am not much of a business guru, but do think that this idea
> could at least make it somewhat viable for everyone involved  I don't
> have any serious research to offer to support it - it's just an idea.
> I do know that MySQL AB is a debt-free company that seems to emply
> some/all of what I'm proposing here.  What do y'all think?
>
> The proposal can be found at:
> http://matheteuo.org/chaddb/bus_proposal.txt
>
> Also, see the new screenshots of Ekklesia at:
> http://matheteuo.org/chaddb/screenshots.html
>
> Don
> --
> DC Parris GNU Evangelist
> http://matheteuo.org/
> gnumathetes at gmail.com
> Free software is like God's love -
> you can share it with anyone anywhere anytime!
>
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