RE: [kFW] Kendra Foundation: Forming and Funding Company...

[Daniel Harris <daniel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Scott,

Geeee, where do you get the time to write all this? I'll do my best to 
answer...

At 09:49 16/07/2002 +0100, Scott Switzer wrote:
>Perhaps we can keep a checklist/outline with all of the items that need
>to be completed in one place.  This place obviously should not be in
>email format, but I guess that it will do until there is a better place.
>Below are some initial questions that we should work on.  One question
>is omitted below - who answers these (and other) questions

Whoever wants or has time to answer them. But that's just my answer. ;-/

>and how is the process of a resolution reached?

By discussion. But that's just my answer.

Please note that below your questions are mainly referring to Kendra 
Initiative - though Kendra Foundation is in the subject line. I'll do my 
best to show the proposed differences in each as we go.

>1.  Organisational Structure
>	a.  What type of business/organisational structure should be created?

Well, for Kendra Initiative there's been lots of discussion on this one 
already. You can read it in the list archives and the meeting minutes. 
We've come close to describing what we should have but either the 
discussion just petered out or majordomo went belly up. In seeking to set 
up Kendra Foundation I'm pretty much avoiding the question altogether for 
the moment as it is essentially me being able to carry on the work that 
I've been doing in a bigger and better way - supporting and marketing 
Kendra Initiative. The good thing about this is that it leaves open the 
discussion on how we structure Kendra Initiative for when there are more 
people that want to talk about it but doesn't mean we have to halt the project.

>	b.  Are there existing structures that we can use to model our
>own? (e.g. Apache Foundation, Linux, MySQL, Java (Sun),
>StarOffice/OpenOffice (Sun), Netscape/Mozilla (AOL))

That's exactly what I'd like us to investigate over the next few months.

>	c.  What are the legal implications of each structure?

Ditto.

>	d.  Does a particular type of organizational structure prohibit
>Kendra from being used in any specific cases?

Well, we can't set up a company that aims to make a profit.

>	e.  What type of license do we develop Kendra under (e.g.  GPL,
>LPGL, Commercial Open Source, etc.)

Any software coming directly out of Kendra Initiative or Kendra Foundation 
would have accompanying source code. We don't want to restrict people's use 
of that code in any way. It's not in our interests to do so. The words "You 
are in control - You have the choice - You have the responsibility" would 
be placed in the licence. Developers would be under no obligation to do 
anything under the terms of the licence and would not even be required to 
preserve the licence for any future works using the code.

The above is the most ideal situation but having met with Ben Laurie of The 
Apache Software Foundation (amongst other things) yesterday and discussing 
Kendra, he suggested that it may be putting the project at risk by just 
giving the code away without a licence - that's called putting it into the 
public domain. The risks are that people could then come along a copyright 
the code and restrict our usage of it! Crazy, I know, but it seems we have 
to be careful. Also, there are issues of developers relinquishing ownership 
to Kendra on any code they write. Ben suggested using the modified BSD 
licence. All this needs to be fully investigated. I suggest that we start 
from a position of wanting to make all code totally public domain and then 
work back from that explaining why we have placed clauses in the our licence.

>	f.  What is the strategy for financing the organization?

I'm assuming you are now talking about Kendra Foundation here...

>		-  Grants and public funds (government)

Yes.

>		-  Corporate grants

Yes, if these are available for non-profit companies.

>		-  Pricing for product (small users are free, large users pay)

No, for both Initiative and Foundation. There's been much talk on this too 
and it really seems that we shouldn't charge for product to anyone - it 
just serves as a hindrance to adoption.

>		-  Venture capital firms
>		-  Banks

Yes to both, if these are available for non-profit companies. ;-)

>		-  Partners

Not sure what a partner is in this context unless you're talking about 
Kendra Participants - in which case it's up to each of them to decide.

>	g.  Is there a way to make Kendra self-sustaining (e.g.  able to
>exist without constantly looking for £££/$$$?)

Don't think so. I don't think we'd get the project off the ground if it had 
to be commercial.

>	h.  Does a beginning business plan exist, and if not, who will
>write (or make sure it gets written)?

Formal business plan does not exist and, in the absence of anyone else, 
I'll be making sure it gets written if it becomes a requirement for funding.

>	i.  What physical area should the organization be based?  (e.g. UK, US, 
other?)

For Kendra Foundation I've only thought of incorporating in the UK as 
that's where I'm based. For Kendra Initiative not sure as it hasn't really 
been discussed. Does it make any difference? All discussion is web based so 
really there is no requirement on physical area, is there? This is a global 
project.

>2.  Market
>	a.  Who are the major users of Kendra?

Everybody in the content value chain. There are MAJOR users and there are 
major USERS - as in large corporations and large groups of individuals 
respectively. Both need to be considered. And the ones in between.

>	b.  How big of a marketplace are we talking about?  (In terms of
>users and $$$/£££)

It's BIG but I don't have any figures.

>	c.  What markets and organizations will be identified as the early adopters?

Hopefully these will identify themselves. As long as we keep putting out 
the message that we are here then the early adopters will come along.

	How do we create relationships with these folks?

Every participant could play their part in drawing new people in. This 
happens naturally already but we could encourage it. Simon Hossell of 
emissaire.net, at an informal Kendra gathering in a New York bar, came up 
with the idea of Kendra Buddies - groups of 5 ish people looking out for 
each other in the Kendra maze. Perhaps these ideas could work together.

>	d.  What functionality do these early adopters need in order to
>use the technology?

Very importation question. By example quite a few CDNs have said they would 
go onto the Kendra Network Trial but they need to have it more integrated 
with the way they work. I have asked them to supply more details for us to 
modify the system but have heard nothing yet. How could we make it easier 
for them or provide them with more incentive to divulge their requirements 
to enable them to participate?

>	e.  Are there existing products/movements that are similar?

There are many products that have similar end-to-end aims - see all the top 
3 streaming software providers for starters. I've been looking for other 
similar movements but haven't found them yet.

>	f.  What market research can we draw from?

That depends what the goal of your market research is. The aim of Kendra is 
set so there's no need to find out if there's a market for that. Gordon 
Ross put me right to my "why do market research?" question, he said "If you 
can undertake research to define where the market is and where it is likely 
to be going, it is easier to influence the direction it takes. Done it 
before and it always works out very well! That way you are working with the 
key trends, not against them!" He convinced me!

>3.  Technology
>	a.  What technology has already been developed?

All that you see on the website - see the 'Develop' page. Remember that 
Kendra is not just a technology project and can't be judged on how much 
code it produces or if it produces any code at all! The aim is to see the 
system built and that may mean nothing more than coaxing the relevant 
developers to build this open system. In practice, however, it seems we 
*do* have to build something in order to raise the possibility that this is 
all actually achievable, to gain the support from consumers and content 
owners, to show there is a market, to convince the developers to build more 
and on and on we go.

>	b.  What does the development process look like?  Does anything
>need to be changed so that it can be the most efficient?

Up till now it's been me saying what I want to happen based on my own 
understanding of the project's needs and from what people are saying at 
meetings and on lists. I think the process needs to be a lot more 
transparent, everything needs to be documented online, it needs to be 
easier to state one's requirements for the system, and also have a more 
consensus driven way of deciding what requirements need to get fulfilled in 
the trials (the embryo of system).

>	c.  Is there an architecture already built?  Who is going to build it?

Again, see the website as that's all we have.

>	d.  What is the 'blue sky' for future development?

We build the system to fit people's requirements. I can only see this being 
an iterative process (though Pat Gratton would disagree with me here) where 
we get requirements from as many people as we can and then build to those. 
Then, as more people join, we get more requirements from more people and 
build to those. And so on.

>	e.  What is the initial prioritized set of functionality?

There's enough on the website to get a big list together.

>	f.  What sets of tools/standards/processes are we going to
>adhere to?  (e.g.  Rose or Erwin Diagrams, XML Metadata Standards,
>ISO9001 or FDA processes)

Not familiar with the guts of those processes but I'd say whatever works 
for us.

>	g.  What existing products can we leverage (e.g.  Linux, Apache,
>JBoss, Lucene, Divx, Darwin)

All, I hope.

>4.  Partnerships
>	a.  Hardware (e.g. EMC, Sun, IBM, Dell, Cisco)
>	b.  Software (e.g. Linux, Apache, MySQL, Darwin?, Digital Envoy,
>Paypal, Divx, Ogg Vorbis, MP3, MPEG-4, etc.)
>	c.  Infrastructure/ISP's (e.g. Exodus, Globix, UUNet, etc.)

As many as we can.

>5.  Marketing
>	a.  How are we going to attract users to Kendra?

We will attract content owners by showing them that they can sell their 
content (or give it away if they wish) to an unified Internet audience.

We will attract content consumers by showing them that they can buy their 
content (or have it for free if its being given away) from a global unified 
catalogue.

We will attract service providers by showing them that they can have a cut 
of the revenue flowing between the content owners and consumers.

The question is then how do you "show them they can..." and the answer is 
that you show them a small bit of how they can (the trials) and show them 
what things we all have to do in order to turn the trials into the system. 
And hope they bite. Have you all bitten?

>	b.  How are we going to attract partners to Kendra?

Not sure what you mean by partner here specifically. What is their 
function? You attract them the same way as users.

>	c.  How are we going to attract developers/testers/volunteers to Kendra?

Have lots of MaxCola, Pizza and rooms where the sun don't shine! ;-) In 
many cases these will be sponsored by their own companies to work on the 
project. But mostly because this is a funky project with funky content. 
Hey! Where's that funky content?!?!

>	d.  How do we handle PR?

We keep talking and spreading the word...

Cheers Daniel