The Open Capitalist Project
The goal of Open Capitalist is to provide a framework for the creation of socially responsible companies. Furthermore, we want to provide a place where individuals can contribute to projects they believe in and earn a profit doing what they enjoy.
Traditionally someone starting a company would require a substantial capital investment to pay for the services and equipment that the start-up requires. We want to drastically reduce this start-up capital requirement by providing a way for contributors to supply the required services in exchange for compensation. Due to the nature of these companies, compensation will vary greatly, and can be provided in various ways. But the form of compensation will be clearly stated. The purpose of this is to make it very visible if someone is merely trying to make a huge profit based on the labor of others.
In the interest of full disclosure, the projects will also clearly state the intended distribution of profits. There is not a set limitation on where these profits can go. You can state that you will take all profits, and offer zero compensation to the contributors that help get your start-up going. What would be expected though, is that you would not receive much help from contributors; therefore, this would be the regulating factor. The end result is that the community determines what is a fair amount of profit taking.
In order to create a self-sufficient system, some consideration should be given back to other projects that are in the formative development stages. For example, I have posted a project describing a web-based remote machining company. This company makes a profit by charging an hourly fee for the use of the machines to prototype their designs. One of the stated distributions of profit is back to other Open Capitalist Projects in the form of free prototyping services. If there is a Project that is designing a mechanical product, free prototyping would be a huge benefit, making them all the more likely to succeed.
Lastly, this is very much in beta, have a look around and see if there is something that is of interest to you, with your help we can turn an idea into something that benefits all of us.
Regards,
Darren Vandervort