Meeting 3 minutes

Location: Muddy’s
Members present: Beth, Rob, Chris, Ben
Time meeting commenced: 11/01/2007 8:00pm

1. Discussed direction of company. Talked about whether it should be a non-profit or a for profit. If it were to be a for profit, how would it be organized?

After 30 minutes of discussions, we concluded that it will be a for profit. Ben will research the options and choose the best fit.

2. After a few other discussions about rules and proceedures, we discussed the mission statement. After 30-40 minutes of discussions, we decided it would be this:

To provide an affordable collaborative space with equipment, education and services that fosters open communication between hand-selected creative members and the public.

3. Finally, a priority list was defined and homework assigned.

The priority list:

1. Research LLC vs. Corp

2. Name of company

3. Board

4. Rules

5. Group guidelines

6. Membership guidelines

7. Incorporate

8. Fundraisers

9. Find space – price and location can be determined beforehand.

10. List of potential interest

11. Price breakdowns

12. Website

13. Build and move in

14. Produce.

Homework:

1. Rules, name ideas (Exponent 21, or “^21″?), and fundraiser ideas

2. Ben will research LLC vs. Corp. with Catarina on Sunday

3. Katie, Beth, Chris will independently research space and how to obtain in the city.

Next meeting: Sunday, 6pm, at Ben’s house at 450 S Van Ness Ave., Apt. 1

Meeting adjourned: 9:45pm

Meeting 3

Date: 10/1/2007
Time: 8pm
Location: Muddy Waters Cafe, 24th and Valencia

Agenda:

1. Discuss whether we should proceed professionally, or socially (501(c)(3) or just a group of friends). Proposal side is 501(c)(3). If we decide 501(c)(3) or LLC:

1. Finalize Mission Statement.
2. Discuss what group guidelines are
3. Devise initial groups
4. Vote on first board (Chris, Ben, and Beth view this as utmost importance)

2. If we decide to proceed socially:

1. Who puts in money for deposit
2. How to make payments every month
3. How to attract members.
4. Finding space A.S.A.P.
5. Form governing body who will make decisions and take care of organizing finances.

Unless other people are against this idea: Ben will lead the meeting and make sure we all stick to the agenda. All proposals for discussion shall be sent to him before the meeting. There is an open discussion at the end of the meeting, but we will get to forming a board or governing body for this group at this meeting if we’re all in it together.

community workspace open house today

stop on by the hat factory today before 7pm for their open house!

801 Minnesota St at 20th St. #08.

check their site for more info and directions…

“The Hat Factory is community office space for geeks and media hackers. We’re a group of open sourcers, video bloggers, Drupal developers, and more who are tired of working from coffee shops and home every day.”
-hatfactory.net

Minutes: Meeting 2

Meeting started at 7:25 pm at Sugarlump Coffee Shop on 24th and Bryant

Members present: Chris M, Pat L, Katie B, Ben H, Zach R, Beth W, Arrow, Rob

Members not present: Rob (fab, design)

I. Introductions

Arrow and Rob were new. Arrow is a media genius. Rob is a hacker/videographer.

II. Voting Procedures

1. 2/3 quorum.
2. Timed proposal delivered (proposals have to be defined and scheduled before a board meeting)
3. Timed rebuttal delivered if someone doesn’t agree, let them speak for a certain amount of time.
4. 2/3 majority voting to pass (the disagreeing party shall have an option to request to re-discuss at a later date even if it’s been passed. This can happen only once for each proposal. The disagreeing party can also be an absent board member who reads the minutes and disagrees with a decision that was made.)
5. If there is still a disagreement after the second vote, the mission statement and bylaws will be referenced to make ultimate decision.

III. Personal Research

Katie: 6th street — get money, requirements are having a storefront and not being a non-profit. Has contact information for 6th gentrification. Hat Factory is having an open house tomorrow. Has clear picture of what and who would be involved. Lots of backgrounds and skill sets involved. Have an interview board for members.
Chris: block out time to teach kids, required time per member per week. 3 Degrees – sustainable and green coop. Very focused on sustainable and green. Reflections — be intelligent and objective.
Zach: Split up into groups, or work individually?
Beth: sponsorship and voting for new members. Where do new members fit into the hierarchy?

Arrow: it’s a spine for artists and creative types to handle legal and financial. Provides a social situation. Share projects and be intelligent about it. Small number of interns for whole company, do menial tasks, form relationships with members. Has good experience with sponsorship for new members. Standards for users, quality of product, quality of teams, etc. Necessary to present the company.
Ben: Free lawyer (Catarina), free accountant (Alex). Cata will set us up with the legal stuff of the 501(c)(3), as well as write the bylaws (not rules which we have been discussing).

IV. Mission Statement

Max 21 members. Groups are made up of members. Possible groups: financial, technical, design, art, engineering, fabrication, membership, internal management, events, internships and public service. Groups have to conform to guidelines. Group leader in board. Board consists of president, treasurer, secretary and group leaders. These two groups are mutually exclusive, meaning, for example, the president can also be a group leader.

The secretary will take meeting minutes, and write agendas for the next meetings (and make sure all proposals fit in time slots). The treasurer will be responsible for making sure decisions fall within the budget that the financial group have agreed to. The board president makes sure the meetings run smoothly, by keeping time for proposals, rebuttals, and voting, as well as making sure discussions are directed by the agenda. The president can work with the secretary to devise an agenda for the next meeting. These three board members do not have to be group members or group leaders.

Board members will be voted for every year by the members in the group. Board members can serve for more than one year.

No one had any objections to these ideas, so we decided that what we’re all talking about conforms to these basic principles.

Group decisions regarding direction of the company in regards to creating a mission statement:

1. Multiple and varied creative skills
2. Sell services and goods to public
3. provide educational services
4. shared space
5. standard of quality in people, skills, and works

V. Next meeting

1. Finalize Mission Statement.
2. Discuss what group guidelines are
3. Devise initial groups
4. Vote on first board

VI. Concerns

Please submit concerns. Unless anyone submits concerns, let’s have it on 10/29 or on 11/8 at Muddy Waters (on 24th and Valencia) at 7pm sharp. The meeting will start with or without you. I will post an agenda once we have a date.

Meeting 2

Meeting 2 will be at 450 S VanNess Ave, Apt.1 (Ben and Pat’s place) at 7pm, and we will have the following agenda:

1.) Introductions for new people (if applicable)
2.) discuss procedure of voting for this and future meetings.
3.) discuss procedure for discussion for this and future meetings.
4.) Go over personal research with the group
5.) discuss title of company
6.) discuss mission statement
7.) discuss forming a board of directors
8.) discuss rules/bylaws/what we don’t want
9.) discuss what to do for the next meeting and when the next meeting is.
10.) open floor for discussions.

Please feel free to edit this list if I missed something, or if you want to be less or more organized.

Thanks!
Benry

Meeting Minutes 10/17/2007

Members (projected) present: Beth, Zach, Pat, Katie, Chris, Rob, Ben
Next Meeting: October 24, 2007 @ 7pm, Location: TBA

For Next Week
Everyone:

• Make a mission statement. “The mission statement is a concise expression that covers in one or two sentences who the organization is, what it does, for whom and where.
• Come up with a title of your own choosing or one that came up in the meeting.
• List rules that you would like others to follow, as well as things not to do. Included in this list should be your needs for space, and your wants as far as services, equipment, etc goes. We talked about a lot of different ideas.
  
• Check out newstoday.com’s rules (Chris’ suggestion)
• Find set of rules on other co-op sites (http://www.nasco.coop/ is Pat’s suggestion) (* holy shit, a .coop domain name. Slap my ass and call me stupid (in naked drawing class of course)).
  

Our goal next week should be to solidify the three things we’re all going to be coming up with on our own and move forward with a business plan.

Specific people (research by contacting these people):

• Ben: lawyer(s)/websites that can guide you into a 501(c)(3) land.
• Rob: Cellspace
• Chris: 3 Degrees Inc (funding), and reflection on the failures in Dallas’ Cured Collab
• Katie: Hat Factory
• Beth: Alex’s boyfriend and specific grant writers
• Zack: art facilities

You all had specific ideas, so just go with those if I’m incorrect on these. I think Pat is a great resource since he has experience with at least a couple co-operative groups, and his research is done.

Goals (tentative except for the last one)
11/1/2008: have a business plan ready to go ahead with a 501(c)(3) legally. Have a board solidified.
11/15/2008: Bank account, talk to banks about credit options.
12/1/2007: Have a direction and know what space we want, as well as what credit product we will get.
1/1/2008: Acquire space.

Discussion
After introductions, we went around the room and talked about what each of us expected going into this. My notes are listed below and may not be accurate.

Ben: Electrical Hardware and computer lab.

Beth: artspace – lockers, place ot let things dry, drafting tables, natural lighting is very important. classes for donations and art shows (gallery shows) for selling art and space. Bulletin boards and whiteboards (kiosk or paper based?) meeting space is private and common space is public (and not just for members). Central calendar for common and private areas (i.e. media room). Cleaning service might be in building. Low income space.

Pat: success to groups like this is regular events with mixed media (bring in a band to an art show for example). Coop experience: income sources – rent to outside and available to members. Delegating jobs – cyclical based.

Zach: Getting kids for non-profits will help with grants. Mix artists and computers because he’s right in the middle as a designer.

Chris: (Has way too many ideas to write down. In very beginning, though,) wants a space with servers, internet, people working together and singularly for each other or for themselves. Is democratic and is ok with using CuredCollaborative’s name for the non-profit. Wants OC3, is talking about printing and scanning options. Brought up interns and helping kids who wouldn’t get the experience otherwise (I agree with this idea to get the non-profit static and more grants). Wants to hold classes to teach. More…

Rob: Set of rules for commercial or light industrial. Talk to Marty about liquor and beer serving. Insurance, workshop/tools, rules about manufacturing. Rapid prototyping tools – 3d printer, CNC, router, hand tools, laser cutter. Revenue – grants, other forms (discuss). Limitations of grants. Contacts – Cellspace.

Katie: Stick to tech and design and not a hippy art commune. Will talk with HatFactory.

List of things to obtain

1. scanner(s)
2. plotter(s)
3. software (design and programming)
4. drafting tables
5. art supplies (recurring, come up with plans for obtaining these)
6. printers
7. Internet options (OC3 is too expensive to start, as well as unnecessary unless we start another Craigslist)
8. kitchen?
9. OUTLETS close to shoulder level when we sit down.
10. 3-D printer
11. CNC machines
12. lathe
13. tables/desks
14. chairs
15. natural light
16. plants
17. the kitchen sink

references:
Cured Collaborative
http://www.wikihow.com/Start-a-501c3-Nonprofit-Organization
http://www.nasco.coop
http://hatfactory.net/
http://www.cellspace.org/
http://www.collab.net/index.html
SF Coworking labs

Meeting 1

Our first meeting to discuss the finer details of the beginning stages of Cured Collaborative will be held at 1151 York Street, SF tentatively at 9pm this Wednesday, October 17th. I’m excited about the future, and we will stick to the agenda that I laid out in the email. For those of you who haven’t seen the email, the agenda is posted below:

On the agenda:
- Space, layout, adaptability of fundamentals (e.g. kitchen, shared
space, lockers, tables, computers, etc).
- volunteered 24/7, or trust based (or security systems?)
- financial planning, marketing (website, open houses, art exhibits),
what to charge, where the money goes, how to plan for big expenses,
how and when to pay off initial loan, etc.
- services (phone, printers, cleaning, computers, private
offices/conference rooms, internet, television/media center, dark
room)
- initiation and applicant filtering. How do we decide who’s in? How
do we say no to people that started it if they don’t pay?
- Contract for shared use, etc.
- incorporate? non-profit? or anarchy?
- website and other marketing tools for initial member base

Since this meeting will include some key leaders, we have to all make an extra special effort to respect others opinions. Nothing we’re talking about is static, so if anyone is non constructive, I will give them a weird look and ask them to shut the fuck up or leave. I used to call this “Silently Judging” until I realized that the silent part didn’t work so well.

Anyway. There are two trains of thought to meet the same objective. The simple objective is shared workspace. The differences of the specifics are…just that. One says to expand, providing a centralized resource for project management. The “working alone together” idea. The second is just a way for some poor artists to not have to paint in their tiny apartments. Both opinions will obviously be heard, and there’s no reason to try and combine the two if the differences are too vast. This meeting will be a way for all parties (regardless of what happens) to have an idea on how to get going. The agenda is very clear, and action items will be generated. These actions will be delegated if the decision is to move forward with this plan and we have enough interest. If anyone doesn’t want me to lead this meeting, they will have to tell me and suggest an alternative. Business etiquette is expected although this is informal. I have no problem finding new people who will work with me to meet my goals.

So. That said, let’s get this thing going! I’m fucking excited about finding space and getting things to work!

-Ben

AIR App For CuredCollab

If anyone has a project we can add it to a “wish list” for dev/art/production/idea help. As you load your small flex based AIR app that allows to create “job” or “idea” postings.

A job would be a gig that actually has a budget and has some room for people to be brought in at a later decided rate. A idea is something that a collaborater has and would love help with, hopefully the golden rule can kick in and collaboraters will excel at taking on “ideas” from fellow collab members as they see that their really is an equal and opposite reaction to every action.

If a collab member could simply see and idea in a AIR app it would kill all the pitch time between members. The team could generate singular brainstorm sessions that would later save time when the first meeting about the job or idea finally happens. With an AIR app running all of this would happen as easy as gmail. They would just appear at your desktop waiting for you to have a free second. Hopefully we will kill the pressure of having to respond to a direct email or the pressure of “not doing your part” if you never have time for idea’s and can only actively seek Jobs.

The interface would be a simple cloud based concept the ideas are at the base(_y = 0)of your desktop(e-wall) as they appear on the server the longer they are on the server the higher _y property is. This will allow for a new idea to not be a top level need or annoyance. As an idea or job is formed it’s base level creation will be represented by the place on screen. We all know that we build on great ideas and they become amazing ideas… we then take those amazing ideas and hopefully with the right level of collab interaction will develop something revolutionary.

The team/members is what drive this application. A member would have to actively take ideas and jobs no matter what the scale is directly to the AIR app b/c with a team of involvement we will always have a larger collaborative effect. The fear of you idea being to lame or the job not paying enough is exactly what we have to steer clear of.

The Z axis can be combined to show activity of the community. The more hits the idea gets and the more activity it recieves the closer to the screen it appears. If an idea is never touched it will be back in the background waiting for someone to realize it has been almost forgotten.

cured collab benefits
For out of towners. you get a space to work with fast macs and a raid of fonts photos video audio and collaborative code librarys

OS code would be published on monday mornings giving the public a look at what the collab has been up to. saturday and sunday would be code revision and project validation days. lt will start out as the end of the week uploading of iniitial products for the website between initial collaboraters as it builds it will be a rating day(s) for projects fromt that week that should be displayed inside of the collab site.

Collaboraters will all recieve:
a) user profile
b) an email address at curedcollaborative.com
c)hosting for their site and sites
d)the web app that will control all of this from the desktop as well as display all collaborations that are not public yet or possibly even ever.

Pay options are as follows:
a) Space in a collaboration location
1. may just be meeting and communal space for the initial 30 a month fee. Thats an Meeting office and a kitchen in tokyo dallas san francisco new york and LA For a dollar a day.
2. a minimal 10×10 office for work of your chosing for 300 a month a 10x exponential growth from your initial introduction of 30 a month.
3. a 10×10 space added to your location of chosing for an additional 100 a month.

b) Maintenance of ongoing task
1.Shipping management
2. Accounting
3. Secratarial Services
4. Mailing list and Mail collection (Snail and Ground) Email digitiing for all incoming snail mail documents.
5. Growth of servers and Backups

This shit is banana’s

Here we go. ben is finally on board like whoa. Today ben sent out an email starting my ass on this blog. He seems excited about what is about to happen. Its nice to finally have someone on board.

The idea is simple. Make a place for everyone to work alone together.

It should work if the right team is assembled. Who knows maybe we can really go worldwide like i dream of. We’ll see.

-Christopher Martin