amcjen wrote: β11 Jun 2019
What I'm not confident on is how to make this a sustainable project. Lots and lots of projects like this are unsuccessful, and it's usually due to not thinking through from the start on how to make an ambitious undertaking able to support itself. Doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be wildly expensive or profitable even--but it does need to a) inspire those individuals who design, build, and maintain the product, b) able to pay for things like support, a little marketing, and other feedback loops necessary for a product to evolve, and c) serve a large enough market that it's not asking a ridiculous price from a tiny few--we call this Total Addressable Market (TAM) in the startup world. Very small TAMs require very wealthy customers--and exclude the product from the majority of people who may want to use it.
So, given these constraints on making this project sustainable--and I say sustainable, because I'm personally not interested in profitability, per se--more I'm interested in making this project stand on its own legs and a community and ecosystem to evolve around it--built and supported by a cadre of passionate individuals who use this platform to better express their creative outlets.
If we make this project open-source, we solve (c) above, no margin needed, sell at cost, but (b) is then not addressed. I'm sure some of you have dealt with the challenge of some open-source projects in getting support and updates in a reasonable time. I've crowdfunded open-source hardware in my past--it certainly comes at a cost somewhere. For us with that project, we bore the costs and paid for it with raising traditional venture money. So open-source isn't free, if you want to do it well IMO.
If we make this project a for-profit product, then (b) is addressed, but (c) gets tricky, because it will likely be too expensive for some people, and indirectly will be unaffordable/unvailable to those in (a). That sucks.
This is why I'm really leaning towards the modular approach. Not because it's necessarily more affordable. It isn't, and is in fact much more expensive long-term than an all-in-one solution b/c of all the interconnect support needed between modules. If you don't believe me, compare modular synth prices vs an all-in-ones. Dollar for dollar the standalone synths will crush the modulars. But here's the kicker--you can start your modular journey with just a couple hundred bucks (a chassis and an oscillator to start, for instance). Sure, it doesn't do much, but you can buy a new module every month when you get paid, and begin to evolve it as your creative endeavors mature.
This is the way forward I believe--not because modularity is more efficient--it's not. But you know what else isn't efficient? Evolution. Yet that's how we all got here today to be able to collaborate together on an internet forum about music making, and that's what it's all about after all.
This project is something I still would like to see happen. It's evolving, and that takes time. I hit a roadblock with the above dilemma for the past year or so--not certain that Propellerheads would add the needed features to Remote anytime soon--not sure the Reason TAM was big enough to sustain, and not sure I wanted to make it open-source for the concerns listed above.
But several of you on here (and my dear friend Holly) have convinced me that this effort is still worthwhile to attempt--only because I do fundamentally believe it has the ability to bring a new dimension to our music making. Hands-on is so visceral--why should we treat our mixing any differently than we treat our guitars or keyboards or drums or accordions?
I am expecting some additional time to allocate to getting the first prototype done the second half of this year. I would also like to do some customer validation (things around appetite for purchasing, desired modules, price sensitivity, etc) as well to ensure this project will be sustainable. I would love your help with those asks--likely to be done through surveys and/or informal interviews with me via phone or video. This customer discovery validation and product/market fit are essential to maximize the success of this project.
A long post for sure, but I believe it's warranted given the continued interest in this project and my extended absence.
Let's get this party started