Entrepreneur in Residence

Basic Concept

EIRs are individuals who pursue enterprise development by a subsidy from running another Distributive Enterprise (DE) which has already been developed. This assumes that a certain distributive enterprise is already available and proven for the EIR to run. The intended outcome is that the EIR spends at least half of their time in developing a new distributive enterprise, while spending the remaining time in running an established DE. Because OSE is interested in systems-changing work, a subsidy is desirable while a novel enterprise idea is being developed.

The strategy involved in selecting new DEs is to select those open source products which are already the most developed. This means that working prototypes with at least 100 hours of run time are being taken to the product level - or productization. The time frame for such development should be around 6 month to develop a complete enterprise around a proven machine. The intent is that during the last 2 months of the EIR program, the machine is being field-tested intensively to reach a minimum of 1000 hours of run time under demanding conditions.

For agriculture enterprises, the time period may be 6-12 months, depending on the nature of the enterprise, where crop establishment can take the first 6 months in itself. The longer time period for agriculture is intended to take such establishment into account.

Process and Rationale

• Proposal and Selection. The EIR writes a proposal for developing a Distributive Enterprise (DE). The EIR presents a clear enterprise concept for a DE to OSE. Prospective candidates are chosen from individuals who have some form of existing working relationship with OSE, or are accepted by referral from trusted OSE contributors.

• Rationale: Proper expectation management is key to innovative work, and begins with clarity and basic feasibility analysis to determine whether an enterprise concept could be viable. At this level, back-of-the-envelope calculations are sufficient before a full proposal is outlined. To help mitigate the risk inherent to establishing new relationships, OSE likes to work with people who already have a positive track record with OSE, and is a good initial filter because OSE has demanding selection criteria.

• Bootstrapping. The EIR uses an existing enterprise (currently the 3D Printer enterprise, under development -MJ, Feb 2016) to fund the development of further enterprises.

• Rationale: enterprise development requires time and money. One persistent issue that OSE is trying to resolve is how to fund visionary work that requires significant development time, thereby allowing the work of OSE to scale to meet its current Roadmap goals. To this end, the EIR Program is creating a collection of openly accessible Distributive Enterprises which we test and use ourselves to fund development work. At the same time, we are encouraging any other social entrepreneurs to use the same enterprises for their own needs. There are no strings attached, and we welcome collaborations on developing new DEs. We are applying the open source concept not only to hardware, but also to the enterprise level, based on the concept of Economic Time-Binding, and all of our designs are Open Source For Ever. The bootstrapping approach is infinitely scalable, thus consistent with OSE's longer-term Roadmap.

• Revenue-Sharing. A revenue-sharing arrangement of 50/50 of net revenue is established between the EIR and OSE, based on the EIR's participation in a DE. The basic goals for OSE are to cover costs and generate additional revenue for further R&D. The basic goals for the EIR are to cover their living expenses and startup costs. Any new tools, materials, or infrastructure improvements are covered by the EIR, thus the EIR must operate with a lean startup strategy. Minimal monthly revenue goals are a share of $1000 going to each side.

• Rationale: Enterprise startup is risky. Revenue share is a way to share risk in an enterprise. OSE is investing staff time and infrastructure for use by the EIR. Accommodations, working infrastructure, tools, and a workshop are provided in the EIR program. The EIR provides their R&D effort, and bootstrap funding from the EIR's efforts within an existing DE covers the EIR's startup costs and living expenses. The revenue also pays OSE for its investment of time and infrastructure.

• Continuity. In order for operations to continue once an existing EIR leaves the program, a new EIR will typically be recruited by OSE. For this reason, the EIR program has a well-defined duration, and clear goals and timelines must be set. The EIR's goal must be clear for their duration of stay, such that OSE has ample time and clarity in recruiting the next EIR. For the reason of continuity, all improvements and tools that the EIR acquires are to remain with OSE.
• EIR's Investment. The EIR has full control over their share of revenue, and can invest as much or as little into infrastructure as needed. OSE keeps all infrastructure improvements for reasons of continuity.

Basic Program and Positioning

The EIR program is the "home of open enterprise", and "home of distributive enterprise." When people work on Distributive Enterprise in general - they are called Distributive Enterpise Fellows - and they can be remote or on-site at the global headquarters of OSE - in which case they are called Entrepreneurs-in-Residence.

EIRs develop a distributive enterprise every 6 months via a focused effort, at which point, new EIRs may be recruited for replication testing. If infrastructure for the EIR's program is lacking, such infrastructure may be built as part of the EIR program - consistent with our 'civilization under construction' approach. The infrastructure is used for further training purposes, such that the EIR receives an immersion, lifestyle investment experience that fosters responsibility and authenticity of their development. The first three months are in training, and infrastructure building, time-binding the previous EIR's learnings.

Values and Expectations

• Focus. The single and unequivocal focus of the EIR Program is to create Distributive Enterprises.
• Topics. Distributive Enterprises should focus on the 50 GVCS Machines and related enterprises. Related enterprises should cover topics that help OSE move forward on the OSE Roadmap.
• Values and Goals. OSE expects that a candidate's values are aligned with the greater goal of OSE, as painted most broadly at the Roadmap page.
• Priorities and Sequencing. OSE expects that EIRs plug into the program of OSE, and that they apply only if their interests overlap with those of OSE. As such, EIRs are expected to piggyback on the current work of OSE which is enabled by OSE's infrastructure. This is also a strategic approach that allows startup costs to be lowered by using the infrastructure that already exists. EIRs who would like choose projects that are not current priorities or which are not on the Roadmap would be able to do so only if they have a compelling case for how their work strengthens the current priorities, sequencing, and overall roadmap of OSE.
• Bootstrapping. The baseline expectation is that EIRs architect a program that can be supported by an existing DE until revenue begins flowing from the new enterprise that is being created. As such, the EIRs can phase out the initial DE, and replace their financial sustainability with the new DE. The EIR should attain profitability on the new DE that is being developed within 6 months (or 12 months), with reference to all the startup costs incurred by the EIR and by OSE. A replicable revenue model should published after 6 months. We are assuming that the EIR is able to function in a lean environment, where infrastructure and results are improved gradually. This further implies that the candidate understand the concept of Economic Time Binding. The rationale for this is that such a bootstrapping model is infinitely scalable, pending proper management - thus being consistent with the creation of a new economic system worldwide.

Guidelines Document

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H8FTWn3DjR3M4UVNzxoppeLht4tZ2voSPw-CZaWIY-E/edit#heading=h.suxubltcb8bg

Candidates

• Alec Higgins - Initial Agreement - [1]
• Torbjorn Ludvigsen