SOMA – Social Makerspace

This a great and innovative idea. From a business perspective, the concept is well though of by expanding Makerspace and combining its delivery with features of airbnb. I appreciate that your considered the insurance and safety component of such a risk for a potential host. This inventory of space seems to be limitless. How would you manage the wide range of 'makerspace' options. What is considered suitable and what is not? As the target audience is K-12 students, will the host be required to complete criminal record checks? or other background checks before delivering/renting out the space to the group. Who will be accountable for the children. I agree with Albert that the 10% commission seems a tad high. His suggestion of buying shares may be something to consider and keep us EVA accountable and collaborative with the SOMA concept. I would be more comfortable if this venture was more narrowed to begin with, in order to ensure the safety and security of our K-12 students in the initial stage of implementation.

REVIEW: I really love this idea and believe that it falls into the "when" category rather than the "if" category of future enterprises. When reading your initial statistics on the number of maker spaces to population, it got me thinking that these would all be in big cities, and, therefore, only servicing the larger population centres, rather than small towns and rural areas. Your idea, however, addressed this concern in an awesome way by having Hosts included 'regular' people who have invested in their hobby/creations and want to share their space/tools with others. As Ryan Dorey pointed out, this helps to connect people in every place and might encourage more people to invest in higher end tools, as they can get a return on their investment to off-set some of the costs. The idea of having a video and insurance to off-set some of the concerns about damage is a good idea, however, there may need to be a little more clarity around training of users so that they are aware of safe and proper usages, perhaps inspections of the spaces to ensure there are clear instructions and safe working conditions, and clearly outlined prices/costs to damage, plus a damage versus accident resolution versus normal wear and tear resolution dispute resolution process. On the financial side, the 10% commission seems a tad high. On the website Board Game Geeks, a database of board game reviews, comments and related information (almost all user-generated), their commission structure for connecting game sellers and buyers is 3% (and they also have advertising revenue). Keeping individual costs as low as possible drives traffic to the site and means greater advertising revenue, so keeping all barriers to participation low is a good thing. On the idea of a Kickstarter, I am always pro-crowdfunding, but you may be better served by an alternative crowd-funding approach. Perhaps you could sell "shares" in the company so that investors are also quasi-owners (not official shares on a stock exchange, more like cooperative shares). I was thinking that if the Hosts were also investors then they would see even larger returns on their participation (they get clients and they get dividends - perhaps lower commission rates), and if Users were investors, with a different tier of shares that gave perks rather than monetary dividends (perhaps some free usages or lower insurance deductibles) then they would have a greater incentive to both promote the site, greater sense of ownership, and may respect the facilities more. On the idea of school participation, there would probably be large hurdles with traditional schools, mostly due to insurance concerns and 'safety' concerns, however, private schools would be a great place to begin working with as they often have very high end equipment, are looking for untapped revenue streams, have a lot of empty space in the summer and would be ideal 'learner' spaces. Overall, I think this is the most interesting idea that I have seen so far and would love to be a part of this if it moves forward, initially as a user investor, but ideally as a host investor in the future. I could even see it evolve into simply being a way for people to meet up in small group to work on a project where they all bring resources, ideas, etc. to the meeting - you may want to think about a 'free' section for meet-ups and creative projects that may or may not lead to a 'creation' phases where they use the 'pay' maker spaces at a later date. The more users you can get using the site the better. Having a 'free' area where someone offers their home and others bring materials and equipment and then a 'pay' area where some offers their space for others to use their equipment or training at a price would make the site easy to jump into (free) and then would lead many to the next level of paid spaces.

Hi Jakin, Combining Social Networking with MakerSpace availability! What a wonderful idea. I also like the idea of a camera to make sure that equipment is cared for, this might give added assurance to “space providers and users” as it would insure personal safety for both parties. Will initial investors get return on their investment after the 3rd Year? What % of the profits would they receive each year? A possible example of advertising may have added to the Venture Pitch.

Hi, it is a very well thought and delivered in a very impressive way. I must say I just had only one observation: are you sure that schools can be open to such venture? I mean here the plethora of regulations that effectively restricts access to the school buildings at all times. Plus some of the activities might require more regulated places than makerspaces (e.g. kitchens for cooking). So before investing I would like to see that you have looked into this.

FEEDBACK Hi Jakin, I really like the venture concept you have presented. You have outlined the pain point well, and I love the ideas you have for new makerspaces and using the sharing economy. As an EVA I do have a couple of questions about your venture before I invest. I see you are using AIG insurance to safeguard tools and investments. My worry would be about people injuring themselves on equipment they may not know how to operate or may not be old enough to operate without supervision. I think this issue may lead to hesitation from corporate or institutional makerspaces. My second thought is about the target market K-12. I think you may be missing out some market share in not including adults. It could be me, but I have just watched some friends and colleagues enter retirement, and all were looking for new activities and projects for retirement. Many were combing the internet looking for new hobbies, and as I understand it your venture will put together a resource to find and engage with makerspaces in the community and around the world. In terms of the pitch, I would want to know more about any potential competition ( i.e.. meetup groups) and also more about you. A photo of the CEO helps EVA's connect and engage with the pitch. I think you have a really solid idea and great timing with the market, it's just those few things I would need to know before I invested in the venture.

Hello Jakin, Thank you for sharing your venture. I think that Makerspce is a great idea to start with. I enjoyed your elevator, It caught my attention as a teacher, so I thought it is a very good idea for students. However, when I start reading your Venture Pitch thinking as an investor I was looking to know about "who are you today as Soma in the world" and I was also looking at "How it works" giving that all the Makerspaces that you have mentioned in your Pitch were in one or two cities in North America, one in Europe and one in China. I am very happy to invest in your pitch because as an educator I was always looking to involve my students in projects but I never found a place that can be shared or tools that can satisfy all the students need. So, as an investor, I would ask the following question: Do you have some technological platform to get connected between Makerspaces in the same city or the same country? Are there any possibilities for a potential franchise for SOMA, so investors will look into the maximizing revenues? Therefore, the idea is a great idea that would contribute a great deal to education. I can see a great potential growth in this Pitch in the future due to the expansion of SOMA in the future. Great Job. G.

First, I am not sure if you did it on purpose or not, but SOMA is not a name I associate with education, for anyone who has read Huxley's Brave New World, it is the drug passed around that keeps the masses dulled and under control... this could give many a bad impression from the start. That said, your elevator pitch was engaging, but it felt much more directed at customers over investors, I want to learn a little about why it is a good investment in one of these pitches. I also do not feel that your numbers really add up all that much, how are you expecting 800,000 hosts by year four, when your own numbers show that there are just not that many makerspaces around. From the stats you suggest there are an average of 2 makerspaces per million people. That means that there are only about 14,000 makerspaces in the world at the moment, do you really think that this number will be able to increase so fast? I do not think that I could invest in this venture, I just do not feel that the numbers add up.

Hey Jakin, I really do love the idea you have presented here. I find much to be interested and intrigued by. You mention in your post that there are a few social spaces like these out but I quite like the gap you discussed. I would have loved to have seen more pointers on the dollars and cents, but I think I have the basic idea out. I wonder how partnering with other companies will hurt the returns for potential investors in your company, or how that would work out for me. These are some questions that I think are quite important to ask. I also wished your actual pitch was more detailed. It felt slightly bare bones. I wonder if a potential investor would be ''impressed'' by it. But nevertheless, great job on the idea.

Great work Jakin, This venture pitch has polish and panache. Your elevator pitch had me very interested from the start. I was excited to see that you were inspired by our OER on maker spaces. The sharing economy has so much potential growth that any way to build a business off the concept of sharing what we own is compelling. My advice would be to look at where maker spaces are popping up and focus on areas that do not have close access to such a facility. I am up north in Ontario, and although there are many places that own the type of machinery I would like to have access to, there are no makerspaces available and this makes your service really essential. Unlike an apartment that you stay at for a night, a makerspace must be a safe environment and the liability of high risk machinery may be a concern. I would also be a little concerned with the same problems that air BnB has faced like pop-up rave parties and illegal ventures getting access to a location they can use but can’t be tracked to. Someone setting up a temporary Meth Lab in my makerspace would have me a bit nervous. I think your NEST partnership helps to make this a moot point. Your venture pitch is simple and cleanly laid out Jakin. I would recommend your venture as an EVA. Great job.

REVIEW: This is a fantastic pitch, Jakin. Taking the opportunities presented by the growing makerspaces market, and applying it to the contexts of the sharing-economy is a viable and exciting prospect for a venture. The complete lack of competition makes your pitch instantly stand-out among other educational ventures, and your projected revenue looks extremely attractive in terms of return on initial investment. The explosive growth of similar sharing-economy platforms like AirBnB and Uber make the growth potential seem very viable. I think partnering with companies who develop Maker technology like MakerBot (3D printing) or MakeMedia (magazine/community) would also be a great idea; these companies could offer discounts on equipment / media subscriptions to users of Soma, in exchange for greater market penetration of their products: a win-win for your venture! My first concern was the liability issues with dangerous equipment causing safety or damages, however you have foreseen this challenge by partnering with Nest and AIG. As a self-professed supporter of the Maker-Movement, and as an EVA who is passionate about spreading these ideals, I would definitely recommend an investment in your venture.