Smartup Zero

The experiment

You can join Smartup Zero now and help become Onlive the best version it can become. If you do, than you should be aware you are becoming part of an experiment.

A Smartup is a company for a world where we all get a chance to be part of a solution. It’s creating and maintaining sustainable solutions that help us fight to protect our planet. Smartup Zero is the world’s first Smartup and lays the groundwork for many more Smartups to come.

Smartup Definition

In a Smartup we can own, create and govern our technologies and operate completely autonomously, independently and be self-sustained. It creates and markets, like any other company, a product or service, while providing jobs for people. However, a Smartup is run as a democratic society where people decide together what we make, how we make it and, above all, why we should make it.

What makes a Smartup Smart?

It's science based!

It creates a solution, following the scientific method, for a set of problems our scientific community proves to be a problem for the health of our nature or culture.

It's collective IQ driven!

The solution is created and sustained in an environment where groups of people are using their collective IQ (combined IQ) to create the solutions

It's a democracy!

A Smartup is like a society. People own, create and govern the technology together. The people of a Smartup can work, vote and perform oversight.

The 4 phases of creation

Like any other startup, it starts with an idea that has a certain shape. Most often a visualization and theorization of why and what the idea comprehends. This is the Official Smartup Business Plan (OSBP). It can be as simple as a powerpoint presentation or a one-pager and can be as evolved as a prototype or Proof of Concept. The product will be ready to market if it successfully goes through the 4 phases of creation. The phases are Validation, Design, Production, and Organization. Every layer has clear deliverables and thresholds that enable the next layer. The final ‘Go’ to go to the next layer always takes place with a vote in the General Forum. There has to be a majority that approves the ‘Go’.

Validation

You are presenting your case on a crowdfunding website and raise money by selling co-ownership in the Smartup. Your co-owners get organized in teams to show that they are ready to build and govern the solution together.

design

You are designing the solution through a structured process of creative, democratic and scientific deliberation among co-owners.

Production

You are developing the solution through a structured process of creative, democratic and scientific deliberation.

Organization

You launch the solution through a structured process of marketing, democratic and scientific deliberation

Smartup Zero modus operandi

Obviously, we need a platform that allows us to work together in a structured fashion. We don’t have to invent the wheel for that. We can use existing platforms for collaboration:

Slack

Slack is our Smartup Zero home. Here we can own, work and govern.

Google Drive

Google Drive keeps all our files together and allows us to collaborate on them.

Trello

With Trello we create an overview over all activities in Smartup Zero

Gitlab

On Gitlab we keep our code.

The three pillars

Collective Ownwership

Technology ownership is typically limited to founders and shareholders based on their initial financial contributions. However, Smartup Zero is testing a different approach. We distribute ownership equally to all those involved in building and governing the idea together, prioritizing contribution and collaboration over financial investments. This shift changes ownership from a focus on profits to one on responsibility. By joining a Smartup, you can contribute your time, skills and network towards building solutions that aligns with the United Nations sustainability goals.

Collective Governorship

In Smartup Zero, everyone has the right and obligation to participate in governance, acting as caretakers and fulfilling their responsibility as owners. The two fundamental principles of governance in a Smartup are deliberation and oversight. Deliberation involves informed discussions leading to decision-making, often through voting. Oversight is performed through a transparent structure that is implemented at every level of the organization. To actively participate in deliberation and oversight, it is essential to be well-informed, engaged, and critically aware of what is happening within the Smartup. This is what all co-owners can do in the general forum. Being the democratic heart of every Smartup.

Collective workmanship

A Smartup is a company where people work on developing a product or service, with a significant amount of effort required. The organizational structure encourages owners to also be workers, achieved through the simple and clear rule that the only way to earn money in a Smartup is by becoming a member of the workplace and contributing to tasks.

All funds raised through crowdfunding are utilized to support collective craftsmanship, enabling the workplace to undertake crucial work to develop a marketable and sustainable technology that helps communities become more resilient.

Become an owner

Join the first Smartup in the world!

Your membership fee is required one time. Your money will become part of the Smartup Zero Workplace budget. Together with the money of other Smartup Zero members and of generous sponsors we have a budget to work on the challenging tasks.