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Nathan Seidle Where does transparency end?

Nathan Seidle Where does transparency end?. Who? What?. 2004 Univ. of Colorado @ Boulder BS in Electrical Engineering Rower on CU Club Team RA in Dorms Worked 2002 Olympics Twenty Nine Oklahoma No other family business. What is it we do here?. The current state of OSHW.

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Nathan Seidle Where does transparency end?

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  1. Nathan Seidle Where does transparency end?

  2. Who? What? • 2004 Univ. of Colorado @ Boulder • BS in Electrical Engineering • Rower on CU Club Team • RA in Dorms • Worked 2002 Olympics • Twenty Nine • Oklahoma • No other family business

  3. What is it we do here?

  4. The current state of OSHW • Group of ~30 people • We’ve got a definition! • 196 endorsements • And a logo (fancy) • And we seem to have community traction • Yay!

  5. OSHW Definition v1.0 • OSHW ‘plans’ must: • Contain editable source files • Allow for modification • No discrimination: groups/tech • No –NC limitations • Free rein + attribution You can stand on my shoulders and even make money at it.

  6. OSHW Definition v1.0 • OSHW ‘plans’ must: • Contain editable source files • Allow for modification • No discrimination: groups/tech • No –NC limitations • Free rein + attribution You can stand on my shoulders and even make money at it. Yay!

  7. OSHW Definition v1.0 • OSHW ‘plans’ must: • Contain editable source files • Allow for modification • No discrimination: groups/tech • No –NC limitations • Free rein + attribution You can stand on my shoulders and even make money at it. Yay! But when do the hugs end?

  8. Limits to Transparency Currently, SparkFun becomes opaque in three places: Sparkle The Benjamins Iris Lee We become more opaque with information that does not intrinsically help our users.

  9. Limits to Transparency: Sparkle How does SparkFun actually do stuff? ERP = ‘Sparkle’ Manufacturing Kitting Shipping Customer service Tech support Engineering How does disclosing our internal process help our end user? Not a lot. We want to share it but there is not a big driving force, yet.

  10. Limits to Transparency: Process ERP Lemme just geek out for a minute: Sparkle ERP Ecommerce Inventory Purchasing projections Build schedule

  11. Limits to Transparency: Process ERP Lemme just geek out for a minute: Sparkle ERP Ecommerce Inventory Purchasing projections Build schedule

  12. Limits to Transparency: Process ERP Lemme just geek out for a minute: Sparkle ERP Ecommerce Inventory Purchasing projections Build schedule

  13. Limits to Transparency: The Benjamins Finance Top line revenue No margin No profit No salaries No nittygritty details

  14. Limits to Transparency: The Benjamins Finance Top line revenue: (18.4M in 2010, up 75% over 2009) No margin No profit No salaries No nittygritty details

  15. Limits to Transparency: The Benjamins Finance Top line revenue: (18.4M in 2010, up 75% over 2009) No margin: (we’re right in line with standard retail) No profit No salaries No nittygritty details

  16. Limits to Transparency: The Benjamins Finance Top line revenue: (18.4M in 2010, up 75% over 2009) No margin: (we’re right in line with standard retail) No profit: (we’re in the black) No salaries No nittygritty details

  17. Limits to Transparency: The Benjamins Finance Top line revenue: (18.4M in 2010, up 75% over 2009) No margin: (we’re right in line with standard retail) No profit: (we’re in the black) No salaries: (payroll ~$400k per month?!) No nittygritty details

  18. Limits to Transparency: The Benjamins Finance Top line revenue: (18.4M in 2010, up 75% over 2009) No margin: (we’re right in line with standard retail) No profit: (we’re in the black) No salaries: (payroll ~$400k per month?!) No nittygritty details: Acct 60-1401: Janitorial Expense - $41,524Acct 60-1013: Bad Debt, Customer - $303Acct 60-1603: Reconciliation Discrepancies - $0

  19. Limits to Transparency: The Benjamins Finance How does disclosing our internal financials help our end user? Not really at all. And it makes us a serious target for VC/Investor spam. We like being private.

  20. Limits to Transparency: Iris Lee Iris is the contact at one of our suppliers. She speaks very good English, is prompt, and over the past 2 years has begun to "understand" SparkFun.

  21. Limits to Transparency: Iris Lee Iris is the contact at one of our suppliers. She speaks very good English, is prompt, and over the past 2 years has begun to "understand" SparkFun. We’ve had lunch.

  22. Limits to Transparency: Iris Lee Iris is the contact at one of our suppliers. She speaks very good English, is prompt, and over the past 2 years has begun to "understand" SparkFun. We’ve had lunch. They are many suppliers available, but Iris is awesome. And only Merry knows how to kit LEDs. Allen will get me any kind of screw. We really don’t want to give up their email address. Why? Because we had to gamble and lose on many suppliers before we found people like Iris, Merry, and Allen.

  23. Limits to Transparency: Iris Lee Iris is the contact at one of our suppliers. She speaks very good English, is prompt, and over the past 2 years has begun to "understand" SparkFun. We’ve had lunch. They are many suppliers available, but Iris is awesome. And only Merry knows how to kit LEDs. Allen will get me any kind of screw. We really don’t want to give up their email address. Why? Because we had to gamble and lose on many suppliers before we found people like Iris, Merry, and Allen. How does disclosing our suppliers' contact info help our end user? Not much. Most of our suppliers are reluctant to deal with our ‘small’ 10k pcs purchases. It will probably only help our competitors.

  24. Limits to Transparency Opacity begins with: Process (but we’re opening up!) Finance (we’re sharing more, especially with employees) Contacts (some held closely, but datasheets get posted) We become more opaque with information that does not intrinsically help our users.

  25. Questions! What else can I share?

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