@benwerd First thank you to and Erin for building a tool. You have contributed to what is a renaissance in open in education. I just got back from #mo
In reply to http://werd.io/2015/open-issues-lessons-learned-building-an-open-source-business
@benwerd First thank you to and Erin for building a tool. You have contributed to what is a renaissance in open in education.
I just got back from #mozfest. My session was on Open Source Tools for online learning. Everyone loved @withknown and other tools like Federated Wiki.
We need to keep you around. Known is part of the #indieweb that is flowing into #indieEd. Maybe we need a Patreon for developers. I pay $10 a month to have nobody use Discourse (forums are lame) and I subscribe to Convoy. I still do ThinkUp not so much for the tool but as a way of paying my #GinaTax.
I subscribe to Convoy not because I need it but because I want to pay you and Erin. I actually want to pay you more but there is no channel to do so. Maybe a Patreon for developers is something that needs to come out of #indieweb. Give us a chance to pay you. It may not be much but it could be.
Do not underestimate the commitment educators have to supporting the open Web.
I have tried to work Known into grants, and will continue to do so. I just have struck out to date. Encourage this among the community. This way you can sell and develop and we can try to raise the funds.
I also tried to use Known as the backbone for the app I am launching in a couple days. You two spent hours drafting proposals and meeting with me only to have our team go in another direction. That is alot of hours chasing down leads that are not going to bring in revenue. Not sure freelance is the answer for you.
Create a tool that is open but not included in the full version. My thinking would be a classroom control panel, the rss reader (once comments have an rss feed..pretty please) or other stuff directed at your key markets. Make money on the APIs and specialized products.
Look to the students who are using the platform in class. Most of my students choose Known over wordpress or Tumblr. Try a campaign each December and May to convert them to their own domain. Reach out through email or on their Known sites. I have thought about having you and Erin join my class to speak (video) about benefits of owning your domain, but thought it might cross an ethical line. I wonder if an email campaign might convert some users.
Hope this helps. Just some random thoughts as I am stuck on a plane coming back from #mozfest (by the way you give Mozilla too much credit. We are spread just as thin, but on a much larger scale).
