[OC] I built this platform to help CrowdFund developers like us

12    07 Sep 2015 00:06 by u/dpg

This is a cross post from gaming but it applies here as well,

I'm Dan! I got fed up enough to quit my job and build a platform to help creative developers/engineers/etc take pledges to help them build awesome stuff. I would love your thoughts because I'm pouring my blood, sweat, and tears into this -- and all my money.

It's called Baqqer: https://baqqer.com

It's super new, might have some bugs, but I'm really reaching out and honestly trying to provide something valuable. If you're a developer, engineer, maker, creative, whatever -- it would in theory help you quit your job to work on your passions full time. Try it out, give me your thoughts, and I promise to make this beautiful together.

I'm here and happy to answer or help out. Thanks for taking a look. :)

15 comments

2 u/Xenoprimate 07 Sep 2015 00:21

So this is kind of like crowd-funded investing?

0 u/dpg [OP] 07 Sep 2015 00:43

It will be yes, right now people can take pledges.

0 u/dpg [OP] 07 Sep 2015 00:44

You can also run micro-campaigns, so while you're building, if something new comes up, you can run a smaller one-off campaign.

2 u/Codewow 07 Sep 2015 00:50

Some questions, actually. I remember seeing an idea of something exactly like this pop up in some comments somewhere.

  1. Legality. how are you ensuring everything runs smoothly on the legal front? These types of things often times run into trouble somewhere.
  2. How is money sent, retrieved, and held? Do backers instantly send money through Stripe? How do campaigns receive the money?
1 u/dpg [OP] 07 Sep 2015 01:20
  1. Great lawyers
  2. a.) It's all sent securely through our payment processor. Since it's continuous crowdfunding (subscription-based model) backers are charged monthly, and creators bank deposits once a month as well.
  3. b.) Instant transfers do happen inside of "mini-campaigns" creators can make. These are typically used for one-off tool/material requests that aren't in the current budget.
2 u/Codewow 07 Sep 2015 05:27

What happens when a backer charges back or payment fails?

The website is essentially selling virtual stock.you added that it's the obligation of the campaign runner to provide what they owe. Do you plan on adding a section where it explains what the % of product owned actually is?

0 u/dpg [OP] 07 Sep 2015 08:15

You can still get pledges. This is a super early beta. I do plan on providing all the copy thoroughly explaining how all of this works.

I'm working on issuing variable ownership SAFE warrants until an equity event occurs. (you build a product and take it to market, etc) It's all optional at this point (or will be). Converting participation/pledges into warrants probably will be limited to friends/family until the SEC/FINRA finalizes their rules on Title III of the JOBS act. This should happen sometime before/beginning 2016.

0 u/dpg [OP] 08 Sep 2015 07:49

I thought I answered this last night, but it must not have posted.

What happens when a backer charges back or payment fails?

Back charges suck for everyone. They can be disputed but it's a pain and costs real money if you lose the dispute.

The website is essentially selling virtual stock. You can accept regular pledges without the option for participating in variable equity SAFE warrants. I'm going to have to change the rules on participation until some rules are passed by the SEC in the next couple of months.

you added that it's the obligation of the campaign runner to provide what they owe. Do you plan on adding a section where it explains what the % of product owned actually is?

Can you clarify this?

1 u/Codewow 08 Sep 2015 17:31

You answered it in your reply, actually.

0 u/moister 08 Sep 2015 00:02

Would you be willing to allow someone like Fred from 8ch.net who has mobs of people that get offended by the users of the site he runs of which he develops the software for?

0 u/FFX01 09 Sep 2015 05:54

I have a couple ideas I'm working on, but they're not even in alpha yet. However, I would be interested in helping you develop the site. No offense, but it could use some help. Is it open source?

Looks like you're hosting on Amazon web services. What is the backend?

0 u/dpg [OP] 21 Sep 2015 16:11

Just noticed this! It's Rails on Heroku. What's your stack?

0 u/FFX01 27 Sep 2015 20:03

I usually go with Django. I haven't hosted anything production at this point, just building pet projects. Though, I'm currently working on a resume website with cms capabilities and comments. I don't have the code hosted on a repo yet, but it's fully functional. I need to pretty it up a bit and fix some minor bugs.

0 u/dpg [OP] 29 Sep 2015 13:16

Nice. You going to launch it for anyone to use?

0 u/FFX01 01 Oct 2015 07:24

I'm open source all the way. It'll be available on my github just like everything else I make. Software should be shared.