Sacramento Open Shop – Let’s get STARTED!!

MAKERS! CREATORS! INVENTORS! ARTISTS! AND PATRONS OF THOSE TYPES!

Join us to create Sacramento’s first Maker Space!

Imagine New Opportunities
America has one intrinsic value: we innovate better than anyone else. Our freedom allows us to think any way we wish… and imagine anything. It seems like such a small advantage, yet it is the key to everything.

• Imagination creates new products.
• Teamwork and collaboration gets them to market.
• Selling products creates jobs and gets the money flowing.

Sacramento Open Shop (SOS)
What are we?
We are a non-profit corporation which originated in a Meetup group: ‘People Who REALLY Build Things!’ Our mission is to create a space in which to build things! Most groups can meet in a restaurant, a park or someone’s house; but we need a shop and tools.
Many of us are lucky enough to already have a shop or workspace at home. What we need is the inspiration and feedback from other inventors. We also need to collaborate on complex projects, because very few people know EVERY branch of engineering. Also, we can contribute to buy equipment together that we might not be able to afford as individuals.
This is not a unique idea, there are hundreds of spaces like this in the world, at least 5 in the San Francisco bay area: http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hacker_Spaces

Open Source Hardware
We will save time in our projects by utilizing Open Source hardware and software.

For many reasons, it has become difficult to protect your ideas and inventions. People have started working openly on projects. That is, you create something new and publish every single detail on the Internet (but there is no need to publish until AFTER you have put your product on the market). Other people grab your plans, modify them and then they publish every single detail of their improvement on the Internet.
Suddenly you have 100 engineers working on your project for free. The problem is, you haven’t made any money…
But not everyone wants to make that product themselves. So you start manufacturing and selling the best possible version of your product. You use the Internet as your sales and distribution channel, avoiding the expenses and problems of brick-and-mortar marketing.

But how do you make your product? You can do the first short run in our shop. Other members will help you build it. Then, when you are ready to get started, we will give you advice, and possibly put you in touch with potential investors.

Other Benefits
If we use this current opportunity, we will also have access to a complete commercial welding shop with a CNC plasma cutter, mill, lathes, benders, and every tool you might need for working with metal.
There will be some time on this equipment free with membership, but some costs and priorities will be set with extended use. Scout will be teaching classes on how to use this equipment.
There is also some equipment for ceramics and glass.
There will be electronic equipment such as oscilloscope, voltmeters, Arduinos, Basic Stamps, and power supplies.
People are donating more supplies and equipment on a regular basis.
We WILL catch the attention of high-tech corporations. Do not be surprised to find someone from Intel, HP, or Apple looking over your shoulder one day.

What I want From YOU!
It takes quite a bit of money to rent a shop space. Unless someone gives us such a space for free, or drops a pallet of money on our doorstep, we have to raise the funds ourselves. The only possible solution is membership fees.
I am reaching out to everyone that I know with this information. I am hoping that many of you will pass this link along to your friends, because there are really not that many inventor types in the Sacramento area. We want at least 30 inventors or artists, and they are a very rare commodity.
The minimal budget we need to start our shop is $1500 a month. We are hoping that each inventor can afford $50 a month for membership to this group.
If you are not an inventor, perhaps you can afford to help sponsor an inventor? Maybe even just $10 a month? You tell us what to do with your money.
We are also looking for people who can put in effort instead of money. Maybe you can find sponsors or members, help organize fundraisers, etc.
Some creative people really don’t have any extra money. They are not usually the type to go get a job flipping burgers, they are too busy tearing stuff apart to see how it works. Some of these people will go on to form companies. A sponsor will find it very easy to acquire early stock in those companies. So rather than investing $200,000 in real estate that might go down another $20,000, why not invest a little in a creative person and his start-up company?

How can you actually help?
If you are interested in this radical new thing, contact:
Scout Handford-  (scout@dreamworksmetal.com)
and
William Betz- (WildZBill@hotmail.com)
and tell us how much you can get involved!
Do it now, because this is happening now, not next year. This window of opportunity is very narrow.

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