$25K investment for side projects from South Park Commons | Hacker News Reader

$25K investment for side projects from South Park Commons

blog.southparkcommons.com

52 pointsstaranjeet31 comments

Read the terms carefully. This is an equity investment, not free money (which is what "grant" usually implies).

I’m glad you pointed this out since this is not clear in the web site.

> FAQ What do grant recipients get? A $25,000 investment with a no cap, no discount, MFN SAFE

Those are very generous terms.

It also seems like "side project" is a stretch, as they appear to want you to have all other commitments wrapped up. The side project has to be your main project.

  "To that end, all SPC members have wrapped up their jobs or previous commitments ahead of their onboarding sessions."

In general, yes, we do expect members to have wrapped up previous commitments and be dedicated to what we call the -1 to 0 phase. This includes grant recipients. In that sense, the grant is funding to help make your side project your main project. There are always exceptions, but we think members get the most out of their time in the community when they don't have a full-time job (though many members take on part-time contracting work).

Ok, we've changed the title to say investment. Thanks!

Correct, the money is awarded as an investment through a no cap, no discount, MFN SAFE. However, we think "grant" best captures the spirit of the experiment since we don't limit eligibility to potentially commercial projects and don't require recipients to raise additional funding. A central premise of SPC is that a community with only founders isn't as interesting (or helpful) as one that also includes researchers and domain experts. We see the grant as a way to bring in people working on the most interesting projects regardless of what they plan to do after.

I'm an alum of the community (though not of this specific grant). Unlike members of other communities I've been part of, most at SPC have quit their jobs and are all-in to whatever their goal is (research, side projects, or building a startup). Everyone's curious, talented, and want you to succeed. The in person element (if you're located in SF or NYC) helps a ton.

Happy to answer any questions about SPC as a community.

Hey how far along are the side projects when ppl apply to SP? Is there a penalty if people are too far along?

I'm not a recipient of the grant but I just pinged a staff member to reply to your question.

It can be something you haven't yet started, something you're currently working on, or something you want to finish. The main requirement is you should be able to produce some kind of output (a demo, a paper, etc.) within ~3-6 months.

ok that's helpful thank you. Is there someone in your office whom I may contact for more questions? Perhaps over a call.

My project is to diversify the SPC community spaces by adding one in Virginia, that totally embodies the permission slip concept, primarily in the makerspace dept. The location is on commercial roadfront property that I hold the deed to, so it will never be killed by needing to pay rent, etc. The property is 150m from 5g tower, has fiber, etc. Area 26 Kthx

Also anyone interested @mroldpro on telegram. The site is currently a bit lush, so machete is required for access. Yes, you must hack in to visit currently :)

Are there any other communities and grants like this, specifically targeting side projects and the exploration/early stage?

This is a tech accelerator live-in community/apartments that you pay monthly rent for?

They offer shared workspaces for you to mingle with other tenants/technologist/doers? Maybe hold events and mixers too?

SPC does not charge any membership dues or rent for members to be part of the community.

We do have two community spaces, one in the South Park neighborhood of San Francisco and the other in the Soho neighborhood in New York City. All members are welcome to use the spaces to work, mingle, and collaborate, and we regularly host speaker and builder events for both members and guests. We also have members who participate remotely.

Ah ok and cool it sounds like a great opportunity.

  I was hoping it was residential complex where 20 to 100 fellow techies and inventors get to reside, mingle, connect, learn and create together.

Still sounds great as I've gotten the itch to invent again especially for Apples upcoming smart glasses.

What is "the -1 to 0 stage"? They mention it several times.

Come on down to South Park

It took me way longer than it should've to figure out this wasn't affiliated with the show.

Agreed; I was expecting to see some kind of incubator for producers of animated content.

Perhaps there's a lesson here about naming your organization when there's already something with a similar name in the zeitgeist. The Santa Cruz Operation is another one; my teenage brain automatically associated it with skateboards!

For a while there was the Open Software Foundation in the same city as the Free Software Foundation.

LOL

Looks like it’s named after the street where their office is? Still, it takes some chutzpah to give your brand the same name as a pre-existing huge thing.

The little park in the middle is South Park, it’s well known locally and has a bunch of tech/VC offices nearby

South Park is a very small neighborhood in SF well known as a hub for the tech scene. It’s full of VC offices and startups. The neighborhood’s eponymous small park and central street are all named “South Park”. https://goo.gl/maps/PNVg2DQVcffSPRwHA

More like SF or NYC... "Desire to participate actively in the community, particularly in our SF or NYC in-person hubs"

Ample parking day or night?

Loooool they wish!

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