So I am sitting here at the Overall Company, one of the coolest coffee shops on the entire planet and am about 60 minutes out from my next workshop session with a group of local start-up founders. So what is the point of my musing in such a digital fashion? The point is that it is nothing less than a small miracle that I am sitting here adding my first post to this blog. 8^)
For a few years now, especially over the last 18 months, I have been crisscrossing the nation presenting at tech conferences such as the Open Source Conference (OSCON) as well as at conferences similar to the last held RISE Week Austin about the virtues of how entrepreneurs, especially those of a tech, maker, creative, and foodie orient, should leverage a start-up concept called the Money Machine. I have talked, shared, and explained this concept to such a degree that someone a few months back suggested that I begin “informally” documenting my thoughts on this particular business ideology. The small miracle that is now occurring is that on this day, to the shock of many, I am taking this individual up on his suggestion.
The question may be asked, “What in the heck is a ‘Money Machine?” Simply defined
money machine – a very small scale tech, maker, craft/creative based, or food start-up or business that provides occupation for no more than three individuals.
The key words here are “very small scale.” We live in a world that is enamored and stupidly fascinated with being bigger, stronger, and faster, especially in the realm of occupation, business and entrepreneurship. I have often simply asked, “Why?” We applaud an academically and intellectually gifted young lady who is hurried through her academic career so that she can finish medical school by the time she is 18 years of age but why? This particular accomplishment often only means that she will be employed within the current workforce ten years longer than her peers and contemporaries.
We applaud the fast growing tech companies of the world and their gazillionaire founders who are worth more dollars than one can count. This in and of itself is superly, cool beans and on the surface, is great subject matter for a passing conversation but how many standards of living are there between an individual having a net worth of $10 billion dollars and this same individual having nothing? The science behind the Money Machine concept simply explores the other side of the coin. What if the business operational purpose and posture of an individual or two or three who have created some superly cool tech is that they simply desire that the business operation be self serving, ie a vehicle for them to do “whatever in the heck” that it is in life that they desire to do? Now this is a major reason and purpose of creating and operating a Money Machine. I look forward to our exploring the intricacies of its science with you, the reader, through the content of this blog.
With all of this being said some may be asking, “Who in the world are you sir?” I am glad that you asked. I am simply what many may refer to as a money maching hacker (mmhacker). Now when I use the term “hacker” I do so paying tribute to its original meaning which was formally documented by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) over 20 years ago through RFC 1392 and later RFC 1983, namely
hacker – a person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the
internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in
particular. The term is often misused in a pejorative context,
where “cracker” would be the correct term. See also: cracker.
while within that same document a cracker is defined as
cracker – a cracker is an individual who attempts to access computer systems
without authorization. These individuals are often malicious, as
opposed to hackers, and have many means at their disposal for
breaking into a system. See also: hacker, Computer Emergency
Response Team, Trojan Horse, virus, worm.
A great overview of the confusion in the usage of these two terms can be found here. Now having provided this tad-bit of clarity on these particular terms, I find myself constantly attempting to gain a more intimate understanding of the internal workings of 1-3 person shop whose business operations revolve around the activities of techies, makers, crafters/creatives and the creations of the foodie community. Through this particular blogging platform I hope to share additional insights and findings as together we work towards “hacking” the intricacies of that most wonderful entrepreneurial vehicle called the Money Machine.
Until next time…
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