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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
Group of ~30 people We’ve got a definition! 196 endorsements And a logo (fancy) And we seem to have
community traction Yay!
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.
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!
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?
Limits to Transparency
Currently, SparkFun becomes opaque in three places:
1. Sparkle
2. The Benjamins
3. Iris Lee
We become more opaque with information that does not intrinsically help our users.
Limits to Transparency: Sparkle
How does SparkFun actually do stuff?
1. ERP = ‘Sparkle’
2. Manufacturing
3. Kitting
4. Shipping
5. Customer service
6. Tech support
7. 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.
Limits to Transparency: Process ERP
Lemme just geek out for a minute: Sparkle ERP
1. Ecommerce
2. Inventory
3. Purchasing projections
4. Build schedule
Limits to Transparency: Process ERP
Lemme just geek out for a minute: Sparkle ERP
1. Ecommerce
2. Inventory
3. Purchasing projections
4. Build schedule
Limits to Transparency: Process ERP
Lemme just geek out for a minute: Sparkle ERP
1. Ecommerce
2. Inventory
3. Purchasing projections
4. Build schedule
Limits to Transparency: The Benjamins
Finance
1. Top line revenue
2. No margin
3. No profit
4. No salaries
5. No nitty gritty details
Limits to Transparency: The Benjamins
Finance
1. Top line revenue: (18.4M in 2010, up 75% over 2009)
2. No margin
3. No profit
4. No salaries
5. No nitty gritty details
Limits to Transparency: The Benjamins
Finance
1. Top line revenue: (18.4M in 2010, up 75% over 2009)
2. No margin: (we’re right in line with standard retail)
3. No profit
4. No salaries
5. No nitty gritty details
Limits to Transparency: The Benjamins
Finance
1. Top line revenue: (18.4M in 2010, up 75% over 2009)
2. No margin: (we’re right in line with standard retail)
3. No profit: (we’re in the black)
4. No salaries
5. No nitty gritty details
Limits to Transparency: The Benjamins
Finance
1. Top line revenue: (18.4M in 2010, up 75% over 2009)
2. No margin: (we’re right in line with standard retail)
3. No profit: (we’re in the black)
4. No salaries: (payroll ~$400k per month?!)
5. No nitty gritty details
Limits to Transparency: The Benjamins
Finance
1. Top line revenue: (18.4M in 2010, up 75% over 2009)
2. No margin: (we’re right in line with standard retail)
3. No profit: (we’re in the black)
4. No salaries: (payroll ~$400k per month?!)
5. No nitty gritty details: Acct 60-1401: Janitorial Expense - $41,524Acct 60-1013: Bad Debt, Customer - $303Acct 60-1603: Reconciliation Discrepancies - $0
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Limits to Transparency
Opacity begins with:
1. Process (but we’re opening up!)
2. Finance (we’re sharing more, especially with employees)
3. Contacts (some held closely, but datasheets get posted)
We become more opaque with information that does not
intrinsically help our users.
Questions!
What else can I share?