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<blockquote data-quote="Phil Graham" data-source="post: 47468" data-attributes="member: 430"><p>Re: Donations, costs, and the future</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>John,</p><p></p><p>Its fine to ask about cost. <em>Every dollar is a big deal to sfn right now, and something like $50 is a very meaningful donation.</em></p><p></p><p>Here's some background on costs, and how they will likely expand as the community expands:</p><p></p><p>Our current cost basis, which includes <em>only</em> the VPS and amortized software cost is under $100/month. We are cutting multiple corners to get there: <ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">We are using the limited, free variant of Cloudflare</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">We are using the limited, free variant of Google Apps for MX services and document collaboration</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">We are using the limited, free variant of Pingdom from uptime management</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">We are donating the use of another VPS for backups</li> </ol><p>We are currently relying on the freemium models of several key pieces of infrastructure, and are donating the backup hardware. Neither of these things are a long term way to guarantee reliability. Freemium cost models can change at any moment, and SFN should have all its own hardware and software.</p><p></p><p>With over a dozen companies already interested in advertising on the site, adding a single, industry specific rotating advertising banner will provide SFN with enough revenue to insure that we can implement a sustainable SFN. As traffic grows, so does the point where bringing on advertisers will be appropriate.</p><p></p><p>Once SFN has the traffic base to start advertising, Bennett and I discussed the following: <ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The community will generate more revenue than our infrastructure cost basis.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The money generated won't be enough to pay for any employees, or pay myself, David, Jeff, or Bennett.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">We'll use the additional revenue to help support the expenses of an annual SFN user's meeting/tradeshow.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The expenditures for the event would clear out the books and insure that SFN has no tax burden.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">People's ongoing donations would come back to the community in a clear, defined way every year.</li> </ol><p>An annual event would support the community, hopefully get blurbed in the press to grow the user base, be transparent for advertisers, and keep the finances simple.</p><p></p><p>A more inclusive, longer term cost basis that allows sustained growth would include the following things: <ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Two mirrored servers on two continents, each with two cpus and two memory blocks</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Pay for Google, Pingdom, Cloudflare</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Pay Clicky, a Cloudflare partner, for real-time analytics services</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Pay for a Vbulletin accelerator</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Pay for a Vbulletin ad-placement platform</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Pay Amazon S3 or Rackspace to store our backup history in their cloud</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Pay mailchimp to allow us a branded email newsletter</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Setup an LLC for SFN, and pay a registered agent service to support it</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Pay lessaccounting.com (or similar) to have some book-keeping ability</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Setup worldwide payment taking services with Paypal, Braintree, or Saasy (The only 3 options, currently)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Purchase time from a virtual assistant to handle booking new advertisements and tracking money.</li> </ol><p>To implement the first 10 things above would bring SFN's cost basis to about $500 per month for hardware, software, and LLC overhead. Expense would then grow depending on the amount of time we would need to purchase from a virtual assistant. Obviously it would be a lot more expensive if we were charging for our time.</p><p></p><p>Hopefully that answers your question, and gives you an idea of what we have been thinking about for the next steps. Donations are <em>very meaningful</em> right now! Your donations sustain the community's growth towards a point where we can transition to the next phase.</p><p></p><p>-P, D, J, and B</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Phil Graham, post: 47468, member: 430"] Re: Donations, costs, and the future John, Its fine to ask about cost. [I]Every dollar is a big deal to sfn right now, and something like $50 is a very meaningful donation.[/I] Here's some background on costs, and how they will likely expand as the community expands: Our current cost basis, which includes [I]only[/I] the VPS and amortized software cost is under $100/month. We are cutting multiple corners to get there:[LIST=1] [*]We are using the limited, free variant of Cloudflare [*]We are using the limited, free variant of Google Apps for MX services and document collaboration [*]We are using the limited, free variant of Pingdom from uptime management [*]We are donating the use of another VPS for backups [/LIST]We are currently relying on the freemium models of several key pieces of infrastructure, and are donating the backup hardware. Neither of these things are a long term way to guarantee reliability. Freemium cost models can change at any moment, and SFN should have all its own hardware and software. With over a dozen companies already interested in advertising on the site, adding a single, industry specific rotating advertising banner will provide SFN with enough revenue to insure that we can implement a sustainable SFN. As traffic grows, so does the point where bringing on advertisers will be appropriate. Once SFN has the traffic base to start advertising, Bennett and I discussed the following:[LIST=1] [*]The community will generate more revenue than our infrastructure cost basis. [*]The money generated won't be enough to pay for any employees, or pay myself, David, Jeff, or Bennett. [*]We'll use the additional revenue to help support the expenses of an annual SFN user's meeting/tradeshow. [*]The expenditures for the event would clear out the books and insure that SFN has no tax burden. [*]People's ongoing donations would come back to the community in a clear, defined way every year. [/LIST]An annual event would support the community, hopefully get blurbed in the press to grow the user base, be transparent for advertisers, and keep the finances simple. A more inclusive, longer term cost basis that allows sustained growth would include the following things:[LIST=1] [*]Two mirrored servers on two continents, each with two cpus and two memory blocks [*]Pay for Google, Pingdom, Cloudflare [*]Pay Clicky, a Cloudflare partner, for real-time analytics services [*]Pay for a Vbulletin accelerator [*]Pay for a Vbulletin ad-placement platform [*]Pay Amazon S3 or Rackspace to store our backup history in their cloud [*]Pay mailchimp to allow us a branded email newsletter [*]Setup an LLC for SFN, and pay a registered agent service to support it [*]Pay lessaccounting.com (or similar) to have some book-keeping ability [*]Setup worldwide payment taking services with Paypal, Braintree, or Saasy (The only 3 options, currently) [*]Purchase time from a virtual assistant to handle booking new advertisements and tracking money. [/LIST]To implement the first 10 things above would bring SFN's cost basis to about $500 per month for hardware, software, and LLC overhead. Expense would then grow depending on the amount of time we would need to purchase from a virtual assistant. Obviously it would be a lot more expensive if we were charging for our time. Hopefully that answers your question, and gives you an idea of what we have been thinking about for the next steps. Donations are [I]very meaningful[/I] right now! Your donations sustain the community's growth towards a point where we can transition to the next phase. -P, D, J, and B [/QUOTE]
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