On Fri, Jan 1, 2010 at 6:16 PM, John Pratt <jpra...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Go read your TechCrunch, jessup.  Memorize the following paragraph and spit
> it out at the next Barcamp:

> blog. blog .blog. RSS feeds. semantic web.  cory doctorow. boing boing.
>  oreilly. CSS. HTML5 blog. blog .blog. RSS feeds. semantic web.  cory
> doctorow. boing boing.  oreilly. CSS. HTML5 blog. blog .blog. RSS feeds.
> semantic web.  cory doctorow. boing boing.  oreilly. CSS. HTML5 blog. blog
> .blog. RSS feeds. semantic web.  cory doctorow. boing boing.  oreilly. CSS.
> HTML5 blog. blog .blog. RSS feeds. semantic web.  cory doctorow. boing
> boing.  oreilly. CSS. HTML5 blog. blog .blog. RSS feeds. semantic web.  cory
> doctorow. boing boing.  oreilly. CSS. HTML5

> On Fri, Jan 1, 2010 at 8:14 PM, will jessup <w...@willjessup.com> wrote:

>> Holy crap - Don't even respond. Who can ban this asshole from the list?

>> On Fri, Jan 1, 2010 at 6:09 PM, John Pratt <jpra...@gmail.com> wrote:

>>> Sean, what have you even accomplished?  No one cares what you think.

>>> You are a troll.

>>> -John

>>> On Fri, Jan 1, 2010 at 7:51 PM, Sean Bonner <seanbon...@gmail.com>wrote:

>>>> Wow, this is the douchiest e-mail I've seen all day. And that is saying
>>>> a lot.

>>>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanbonner/4234089909/

>>>> Pro Tip: Pretty much the two worst things you can do when promoting
>>>> something are talk shit about previous partners, and talk shit about
>>>> other people with similar projects.

>>>> Also, if your new project is for mobile phone users in Portland, why
>>>> are you sending it to a group in Los Angeles?

>>>> -s

>>>> On Fri, Jan 1, 2010 at 5:36 PM, John Pratt <jpra...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> > I used to run Fundable.com until a few months ago, when I decided to
>>>> > shut it down against the will of my business partner, who allowed some
>>>> > serious programming errors and customer service issues to take place
>>>> > without informing me.  The final straw was when he said, "John, you
>>>> > should sell your part of the business to me because the Austin Police
>>>> > department is thinking about filing charges against Fundable.  Get out
>>>> > while you can."  That's when I shut down the credit card processing
>>>> > and took the domain away from him.

>>>> > For those of you who insist on thinking that the truth always lies in
>>>> > between two accounts of a situation, I urge you to drop that misguided
>>>> > notion, especially for this situation.

>>>> > I feel that this story is important to tell you because
>>>> > Kickstarter.com copied us.  I tried for 4 years to get people to take
>>>> > Fundable seriously, traveling across the country, even giving a
>>>> > presentation to FBFund, Facebook's fund to stimulate development of
>>>> > new apps.  It was a series of rejections for 4 years.  I really felt
>>>> > that I presented myself professionally in every business situation and
>>>> > I dressed appropriately and practiced my presentations.  That was not
>>>> > enough.   The idiots wanted us to show them charts with massive
>>>> > profits and widespread public acceptance so that they didn't have to
>>>> > take any risks.

>>>> > All it took was 5 super-connected people at Kickstarter (especially
>>>> > Andy Baio) to take a concept we worked hard to refine, tweak it with
>>>> > Amazon Payments, and then take credit.  You could say that that's
>>>> > capitalism, but I still think you should acknowledge people that you
>>>> > take inspiration from.  I do.  I owe the concept of Fundable to many
>>>> > things, including living in cooperative student housing and studying
>>>> > Political Science at Michigan.  Rational choice theory, tragedy of the
>>>> > commons, and collective action are a few political science concepts
>>>> > that are relevant to Fundable.

>>>> > Yes, Fundable had some technical and customer service problems.
>>>> > That's because we had no money to revise it.  I had plans to scrap the
>>>> > entire CMS and start from scratch with a new design.  We were just so
>>>> > burned out that motivation was hard to come by.  What was the point if
>>>> > we weren't making enough money to live on after 4 years?

>>>> > During those 4 years both of us had to take full-time jobs from time
>>>> > to time.  Neither of us were that well-connected in the tech community
>>>> > or Fundable would have grown a long time ago.  It wasn't for lack of
>>>> > trying to reach out to people.   The company was making barely enough
>>>> > money for us to cover expenses and pay ourselves on the side.  Our
>>>> > server space was donated during the entire 4 years.

>>>> > I cannot tell you how painful it is to watch 5 assholes take your idea
>>>> > and run with it and not even give you credit.  I hate all 5 of them
>>>> > for that.  If I see them, I may punch each one of them in the face.
>>>> > If you have never started your own company and then had someone else
>>>> > steal the credit for what you worked hard to develop, you don't
>>>> > understand.

>>>> > The Fundable/Kickstarter fundraising model matters.  It's huge.  It
>>>> > could change the development of funding the arts as well as the
>>>> > political process.  We had an idea of this 4 years ago, but it was
>>>> > very difficult to bridge theory to practice.  To be honest, I didn't
>>>> > even know if it was going to work most of the time and I sometimes
>>>> > wondered if I was wasting my time.  We laid the groundwork for
>>>> > Kickstarter to exist.  Don't forget that when you use it.  If you were
>>>> > in a similar situation, I would remind people of your contributions as
>>>> > well.

>>>> > If you have met me in L.A. and you dismissed Fundable before or you
>>>> > failed to return my calls or you flaked on me in person or just said,
>>>> > "oh that's a cool idea" and then left our conversation, don't make the
>>>> > same mistake this time with my new project, located at PDXCell.com.

>>>> > PDXCell is an entity that will produce a decentralized wireless phone
>>>> > service for the city of Portland, where I now live.  The goal is to
>>>> > establish a very low cost wireless system that provides quality
>>>> > unlimited internet access and local wireless phone service for around
>>>> > $10 month, very likely through WiMax.  That's the goal.

>>>> > The details can be found at PDXCell.com.  You are welcome to help, as
>>>> > this is not a web startup or a non-profit.  This project is not a
>>>> > startup.  It will require the collective desire of many people to make
>>>> > it come into being.  I think, however, that if you read the web page
>>>> > you will become and advocate.

>>>> > I got burned with Fundable in a lot of ways, but at those times I get
>>>> > a better perspective on the situation I am not very bitter because I
>>>> > realize how much I learned and how much I got to experience.  More
>>>> > importantly, all Kickstarter projects are Fundable projects, I just
>>>> > don't receive any money from them.  The Kickstarter founders know
>>>> > this.  The web community knows this.  Now you know this.

>>>> > I won't be making the same mistakes with PDXCell.

>>>> > Be a part of it.

>>>> > -John

>>>> > --
>>>> > BarCampLA Wiki: http://barcamp.org/BarCampLosAngeles
>>>> > BarCampLA Blog: http://www.barcampla.org/
>>>> > BarCampLA Group: http://groups.google.com/group/BarcampLA?hl=en

>>>> --
>>>> Sean Bonner
>>>> http://www.seanbonner.com - homebase
>>>> http://www.metblogs.com - get local
>>>> Unless agreed upon, assume everything in this e-mail might be blogged.

>>>> --
>>>> BarCampLA Wiki: http://barcamp.org/BarCampLosAngeles
>>>> BarCampLA Blog: http://www.barcampla.org/
>>>> BarCampLA Group: http://groups.google.com/group/BarcampLA?hl=en

>>>  --
>>> BarCampLA Wiki: http://barcamp.org/BarCampLosAngeles
>>> BarCampLA Blog: http://www.barcampla.org/
>>> BarCampLA Group: http://groups.google.com/group/BarcampLA?hl=en

>> --
>> Will Jessup
>> Managing Member
>> 760 807 0850

>> Citrusbyte | Modern Web Development
>> www.citrusbyte.com

>> --
>> BarCampLA Wiki: http://barcamp.org/BarCampLosAngeles
>> BarCampLA Blog: http://www.barcampla.org/
>> BarCampLA Group: http://groups.google.com/group/BarcampLA?hl=en

>  --
> BarCampLA Wiki: http://barcamp.org/BarCampLosAngeles
> BarCampLA Blog: http://www.barcampla.org/
> BarCampLA Group: http://groups.google.com/group/BarcampLA?hl=en