[my notes of the 22 August meeting. Apologies for mispelling everyone's names, emacs autocorrect is teh s uck --jet]
old business
------------
team formed for protohaven.org [PH]
devon, gad, louise, and erin
-> contact
hello@protohaven.org
forming good connections using small, focused teams.
old plan (before last meeting): stay here [Bakery Square] as long as
possible while looking for a new home, raise money via crowdfunding.
current landlord won't "play ball" due to open issues between TS Inc
and the landlord and wouldn't meet with the PH reps
[PH] working with TS Inc would waste time/effort, not worth team's
time to work with TS Inc just to pay the landlord
new plan: new home sooner rather than later. now looking at
different spaces than before, raw buildings are no longer an option.
Need to find something move-in ready this calendar year (2017). These
places are also cheaper per square foot than the big empty spaces.
also changes capitalization plan -- want to be around for a year (12
months) to support annual memberships, so need to raise money for a
new working space.
TS is willing to offset some of the membership towards capital in the
future. Makes it easier to continue supporting members by having
early access to capital. We take assets in trade for supporting
people like "lifetime members" or current annual memberships.
AutoDesk has an equity/lein agreement with TS Inc that has to ok
selling TS Inc selling/trading hardware. [I think it's more
complicated than discussed in the meeting, but basically, TS can't
just offload TS PGH hardware without third party permission. --jet]
Q: What happens to my lifetime membership? If I transfer it to
PH do I lose it at all the other TS Inc locations? Or can TS Inc
be liable for the lifetime and still trade for assets.
A: Devon: Not sure what we can say right now in terms of transfers,
don't think we can trade hardware for a lifetime membership.
Kathryn: TS Inc has a responsibility to handle these accounts
Devon: not all memberships are pre-paid, we need to bring over the
monthly and yearly memberships.
Q: Can we get accountants to put values on membership? Can we get
value of equipment being transfered over to PH? Can we get cost of
supporting the equipment for the budget?
Devon: meeting with lawyer this week and accountants to get these
numbers. Want general agreements on the idea of moving forward ASAP.
Q: Will Walnut Capital take a black-eye if TS PGH closes?
A: not sure, they're in the business of making money.
Devon: TS was pitched as a gym, who parks at a gym for more than 3
hours? WC wants to get paid and maybe PH isn't the right
organization to pay them.
Kathryn: it will look bad for WC if they're making concessions for PH to
stay in this space.
Devon: we need to look for a new space, realtors are looking at
long-term contracts. How can we build long term community assets to
pitch as part of getting a lease? How can we have one plan for one
site and then figure out how much we need?
New space will inherit less of what we have here becaue we've moved --
changing our name and marketing means we really aren't TS PGH. We
won't be TechShop Inc screwing members a second time if we fail [my
interpretation].
Looking at element costs (sq feet, buildout, utilities) that vary by
site. Maybe a longer buildout schedule and grow over time and take on
space as we need it.
Q: how much of the TS Inc model will be followed? Classes for school
kids, etc.
A: Devon: trying to keep what's good that we can do or change for the
better. Increasing storage, private spaces. TS Inc is willing to
license out some of that if it is worth it to us. Includes things
like SBU course materials gives us continuity.
Gad: these are tetris pieces of a business model to make all the cost, space,
and customers fit together.
Q: wrt kickstarter when we can we start producing the content?
A: practical question, need to have the content together and that
requires having the plan move along. If you want to volunteer, use
hello@ to sign up.
C: I've built a site, two things that have to happen: enough HVAC and
enough electricity. Also need enough space for people to work.
Devon: Coworking spaces. 90% of WeWork's space are private offices.
how many people are interested in renting space [many hands raised]
safety rated offices:
- human office space, work allowed, HVAC, networking, electricity
- storage office space, no work allowed, storage only, ex: 1-car
garage to store my art car project
- turn on the space is also important, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month
Q: roughly how much space are we looking for
A: 10k-20k, TS PGH is 16K + back dock
A: looking in the city: parking, public transportation, loading dock
access all issues
TRX: rented tables for project storage
Devon: looking for money everywhere we can. Having to rework our
accounting numbers due to the change in plan, but sources of money
remain consistent. Looking at new sources available once the
non-profit is alive, proposal *requests* have come in from potential
donors.
Q: Can we sublet to people who simply want to rent a training space?
Can we rent a small office per month + a large room per hour?
A: why not
A staged progressive move fixes a lot of our cash flow problems, do
things in smaller pieces and do smaller fundraising elements. Move
core elements then add additional elements as funds are raised.
Q: If this is a non-profit and a community asset it becomes an equity
resource for school education and workforce training. How will the
non-profit status change PH relative to TS PGH?
A: working with Louise and Erin from Prototype on this. Need to start
looking for scholarships and support funding. Need to find
good/reliable funding so we can keep a professional space with high
quality equipment available to students.
Q: equipment availablilty is key to supporting these spaces,
sequestration is one problem, oversubscriptoin of space is also a
problem.
A: answer is going to be based on space and space management.
Q: sweat equity. How can we convert teaching to membership/benefits?
A: exists now, need to continue process but change it for non-profit
A: Gabe: in-house, staff teach SBUs, stop bothering with external teachers
A: office hours
A: master-level classes
Devon: we can use these to generate partnerships with outside entities
to have them teach their certification properties
Q: could it be a real votech program?
A: accredidation is complicated, but can work with public schools who
teach in PH
Olga: these are all good ideas for the long term *after* we have the
space set up.
Q: can we get access to the SBU data, how many SBUs were given for
each tool?
A: yes, probably, but will that info might stay private to the core team
TODO:
- go home and think about the early-on problems
- we need money: membership renewals, sponsor scholarships
- we need membership
- think about what this space means to you and how you want to
support it, including sweat equity.
- meeting next Tuesday, 7pm