hold an "Open" House event

[chadwhitacre]

Save the Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2013, starting at 6:30 pm

Location: Balanced HQ 965 Mission St. STE 425 San Francisco, CA 94103

Schedule:

6:30 - 7:00 Drinks, warmup 7:00 - 8:15 Moderated panel discussion on "Open Business" 8:15 - ???? Drinks

Moderator: Diane Bisgeier, Program Manager, Mozilla WebFWD

Panelists:

• Chase Adam, Co-Founder/Vision, Watsi
• Jaisen Mathai, Founder, Trovebox
• Matin Tamizi, Co-Founder and CEO, Balanced
• Chad Whitacre, Founder, Gittip

Topic: "Open Business"

In his landmark book The Cathedral and the Bazaar, Eric Raymond concludes:

I expect the open-source movement to have essentially won its point about software within three to five years (that is, by 2003–2005). Once that is accomplished, and the results have been manifest for a while, they will become part of the background culture of non-programmers. At that point it will become more appropriate to try to leverage open-source insights in wider domains.

He was basically right, and projects such as Wikipedia and PLoS ONE have amply demonstrated by now that "open-source insights" can indeed be applied beyond software. Just how far can these insights extend into the products we build? Can these insights extend even further than our products into our business models themselves?

[jkwade]

Does anyone have a budget to order food/drinks. Balanced is happy to contribute, but I was hoping we could share the cost for refreshments.

[chadwhitacre]

Does anyone have a budget to order food/drinks.

I can contribute $100 easily.

[jmathai]

Does anyone have a budget to order food/drinks.

Trovebox can contribute as well. If the funds can come out of corporate accounts I say we leave personal accounts alone :).

[chadwhitacre]

If the funds can come out of corporate accounts I say we leave personal accounts alone :).

Yeah, Gittip is ... weird like that. ;-)

[jkwade]

Blog post is live.

@dmdj03, Balanced's designer, is working on the flier. Will have it done by EOD.

I've got to call a client now, but will jump back on later to create the Eventbrite link. Feel free to start sending out the blog post as soon as you'd like. Balanced will start promoting tomorrow. Will try to get it on HN.

[gitbiz]

Awesome! I will promote once Eventbrite is live -- it may be counterproductive to promote before there is a way for people to RSVP (though I guess many ppl do NOT RSVP :p )

Suggestion: include links to the bios for each panelist.

Question: shall I float sample questions for the panel by in this format or via email? OPenness is nice but it may be nice to have a small degree of surprise but fine either way. :)

[jkwade]

I wonder what Balanced's office occupancy capacity is? Hopefully we find out next Wednesday.

@gitbiz panelist bios are a great idea. I'll add them.

Eventbrite link is baking now

[jkwade]

@gitbiz I suggest we take a page from the Un-conference model and ask any followers here the questions they'd like asked of the panel.

[gitbiz]

that works for me! Let me know what I can do as moderator beyond facilitate (I can do that! ;=)

[jkwade]

Eventbrite link is live and linked to blog post.

Panelist and moderator bios added.

Waiting on the flier, but I think we can all start promoting.

[gitbiz]

You rock!

[tmblweed]

And the Eventbrite link words, I just signed up, awesome!

• The curious stranger in this group!

[jkwade]

@tmblweed happy to have you here. any questions you'd like to hear @gitbiz ask the panel?

[gitbiz]

btw, I vote to include this bit in your blog post + the Eventbrite - from the very top of this thread - it sets up the conversation. I love it!:

In his landmark book The Cathedral and the Bazaar, Eric Raymond concludes:

I expect the open-source movement to have essentially won its point about software within three to five years (that is, by 2003–2005). Once that is accomplished, and the results have been manifest for a while, they will become part of the background culture of non-programmers. At that point it will become more appropriate to try to leverage open-source insights in wider domains.

He was basically right, and projects such as Wikipedia and PLoS ONE have amply demonstrated by now that "open-source insights" can indeed be applied beyond software. Just how far can these insights extend into the products we build? Can these insights extend even further than our products into our business models themselves?

[chadwhitacre]

!m @jkwade

[tmblweed]

YES PLEASE! I'd like to hear how Balanced payments system work (I'll be happy with a rough drawing of system interactions) How Watsi is going to scale and some of the problems they have with being able to apply the donated funds and if there are any regulations How all 4 of the panelists will get traction and word out there about their products and create a user base. I'll add a bit more to my wishlist next week :)

[chadwhitacre]

@gitbiz @jkwade PR: https://github.com/balanced/balanced.github.com/pull/25

[jkwade]

@gitbiz noted. @whit537 thanks for the PR, but already made the changes to the blog

[gitbiz]

yep @tmblweed this is great - I'll keep a running list and organize them all. Thanks for getting us started!

[jkwade]

Discussing logistics with Tim (Balanced's ops/GC).

1. We don't have enough chairs for everyone. Suppose we could rent some. Thoughts?
2. How many ppl are we expecting, and therefore how much beer, drink, and snacks do we need, and how much will that cost?

[timnguyen]

Another followup, what do people want to see for refreshments? I can do a refreshments run to stock stuff if we've got a budget set. I'll save the receipts and we can figure out how to divvy the stuff up later (Groupme Split, maybe?).

I'm guessing that we have a $300 budget split evenly 4 ways with about 100 people as an optimistic upper bound of people showing up. Am I close?

Also can I assume that we're going to spend 90% of this budget on beer and hummus?

[jmathai]

@dmdj03 Looks great. Can you list me as Co-founder? @jkwade same for the EventBright page?

[jkwade]

@jmathai you got it.

@dmdj03 can you put a "hosted by" above our logo. Right now it seems strange that we get some brand-love and no one else does.

[jkwade]

@dmdj03 also, we're branding this thing as an "Open" House, could we use that as the header, or "Open Business 'Open' House" instead of just "Open Business"?

In the description. the discussion will be about "Open Business" not the "open source" movement.

[dmdj03]

Actually, I kind of second that point made by @jmathai. "Open house" does sound like a office-warming party. How about putting open house in the description?

[jkwade]

@dmdj03 fair. I like the play on words, but agree with @jmathai's point, so have been using "Open Business 'Open' House" to be more specific. Can we also be clear in the description that this event will be a moderated panel discussion with some unstructured mingling time afterward?

[jkwade]

Nice. the pdf version will link to the eventbrite link. I'll post to the blog and tweet tomorrow morning.

[dmdj03]

[jkwade]

Updated the blog post with this png. PDF on it's way.

Signing off the for the night. Good work today everyone!

[chadwhitacre]

What do you need from me for this, @jkwade? I'm planning to be available on Wednesday afternoon.

[jkwade]

UPDATE:

The event is 1 day away. 43 people have signed up so far. Can all panelists/moderators please come to the Balanced HQ at 6pm. I'll take care of food/drinks, and will settle with you later.

[jmathai]

@jkwade Sounds good.

[gitbiz]

sure deal 6pm! Here is the list of questions I've compiled thus far (some are mine, some came from The Crowd):

1. All: Please share your 1-2 minute "elevator pitch" - what are you doing and why should we care?
2. All: What is your definition of open business?
3. All: What challenges have you had being 'open'? What benefits?
4. All: What advice would you give to others regarding being open?
5. All: How will you get traction and the word out about your products and create a user base?
6. Balanced: How does the Balanced payments system work?
7. Watsi: How is Watsi going to scale? Have you encountered any problems with being able to apply the donated funds or particular regulations?

[chadwhitacre]

@jkwade Aye, cap'n! P-)

[jkwade]

Ah, one thing I just remembered is that Balanced doesn't have enough chairs for all these ppl. I'll look into renting some tonight. Any other suggestions?

[jkwade]

@gitbiz that list of questions looks great. I was quizzed by a former co-worked about Balanced's open business approach a few weeks and he specifically asked questions 2-4

[gitbiz]

@jkwade : awesome! Curious - if I came by earlier tomorrow can I camp out and get work done? Otherwise NP - I will be there at 6 ;)

[chadwhitacre]

I have the same question. :)

[jkwade]

@gitbiz I'll likely be running around up until 6pm trying to get everything organized for the event. I've recuited @whit537 to help me out. What time were you hoping to stop by?

[jmathai]

I can be there between 4 and 5.

On Wednesday, March 20, 2013, Jareau Wade wrote:

@gitbiz https://github.com/gitbiz I'll likely be running around up until 6pm trying to get everything organized for the event. I've recuited @whit537 https://github.com/whit537 to help me out. What time were you hoping to stop by?

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/balanced/balanced.github.com/issues/18#issuecomment-15200095 .

-- Snet form my mobl phoone

[gitbiz]

ah no worries - don't let me mess this up - let's do the 6pm rendezvous as planned. I will find a spot to squat no problem (I do it all the time ;)

[jkwade]

50 chairs will be delivered to Balanced HQ around 5pm tonight. Is that too many, too few? Going to get food & drink figured out next. Any suggestions? Was planning to pick up some:

• beer
• wine
• soda
• water
• pita, hummus
• ???

[gitbiz]

My only request: sparkling water please (wasn't that in my rider? ;) - thanks a bunch!

[jmathai]

@jkwade Do you need another hand or do you and @whit537 have everything covered for setup?

[jkwade]

Closing this issue after a very successful Open House.

Thanks @gitbiz for moderating. You did an incredible job.

@jmathai @whit537 @matin & Chase, thanks so much for agreeing to be on the panel. I know you're all very busy, so spending a rainy evening on a panel is much appreciated. I think everyone who attended enjoyed the event.

We had about 45 ppl at the event by my estimate -- not bad. I'm not sure about all of you, but I did very little promotion for the event. I'd love if we could continue the conversation about Openness into the future. Please call on this group if any of you have interesting events or conversations you'd like to share in the future. @gitbiz looking forward to your write-up.

Finally, here are some pictures from the event:

[chadwhitacre]

@jkwade Send us the bill, ya?

[aisipos]

Great that this happened, sad I didn't make it. Are there any notes / transcripts / blogposts / (dareisayit) videos of the event?

[gitbiz]

hi there @aisipos > I wrote up my summary here: http://diane.bz/being-open-about-being-open

Thanks for the interest and here's to being open! :) Diane