The platform seems to have been inspired by the growing penetration of gig economy projects, something the author wholeheartedly supports. Critics of the gig economy argue that this emerging business model is just a way to ‘exploit’ workers by not having to offer them full benefits or long-term salary. Of course, this is pure bullshit.
FundRequest has generated a lot of excitement in the open source community. It has been featured in leading publications, such as Entrepreneur, and bantered about in the ICO world quite favorably. Simply stated, its value proposition is the ability to fund open issues (i.e., bugfix requests) on any project, in virtually any programming language.
The gig economy allows professionals to offer their services while maintaining their independence, freedom and creative expression. It may not be for everyone, but it is certainly opening doors to many people who want to escape the mundane of typical 9-to-5 employment.
FundRequest: An
FundRequest offers common ground for developers, businesses and communities to receive the funding and rewards they need for open source projects. Here’s the cool part: the platform essentially allows you to find a bugfix request or create one yourself, add your contribution to the reward fund and pay out the developer or entity that comes up with the best solution.
Basically, if you need your codes improved, you can create a smart contract for every job and post it to FundRequest. Then a bad-ass developer will do the work and will be paid accordingly. Developers will also be able to see any smart contract associated with a particular bugfix request.
Is this, dare I say, the start of a merit-based economy?
The folks at FundRequest are quite articulate in explaining the impetus for their project. Just take a look at this amazingly precise opening paragraph from the Nov. 1 whitepaper:
“Today, open source software is a vital component in the functioning of governments, large and small companies, and non-profit organisations all around the world. Open source software refers to software that is released to the general public, effectively allowing developers to access the source code, modify it, and redistribute again. Soaring interest in open source development has however unearthed growing pains. A lack of incentives for developers to work on open source projects renders many inactive projects.”
At last check, and until the team can confirm otherwise, FundRequest is still finalizing its technology stack. What we do know is that the platform will support MetaMask, which allows users to access their Ethereum accounts independently of ether nodes. Through MetaMask, FundRequest will allow users to fund smart contracts – essentially from their browser.
If you have 2:40 to spare, check out the company’s GitHub Integration Demo on YouTube. It’s one year old, but still conveys the general precepts of the project.
Token
FundRequest will issue a FND token to catalyze the platform’s development and user experience. The utility token essentially allows the company to maintain fair play. The integration of a utility token also ensures that FundRequest does not rely on a third-party token for its operation.
The token sale is scheduled for Nov. 20 and will be restricted to whitelisted participants who have passed KYC compliance. If this isn’t you, be prepared to meet more and more KYC/AML standards in the future.
The token raise will faciliate FundRequest’s development, operations and marketing costs and also factor into its contingency budget. The full breakdown is provided below, courtesy of the company whitepaper.
The FundRequest platform will also feature the so-called SkillToken, which is a skill-specific, non-transferable token that is rewarded after developers complete a request from the SkillToken Factory. This is the decentralized system that manages SkillTokens, which are dispensed to developers with proven track records. According to the company, “The fees awarded to the SkillToken Factory are paid in FND tokens and will be burned.”
Team
The open source project is surrounded by a talented team of technical Belgians led by Karel Striegel. The founder and CEO of FundRequest is the main architect of the project. He has 12 years of experience in DevOps and systems engineering, including plenty of entrepreneurial experience. Striegel retains a team of five core staff, including a CTO, business analyst, product manager, ethical hacker and core developers.
The advisory team has been recruited for their expertise in token launch economics, financial and marketing expertise.
Although the team may not be as well known as other ICO projects, it is made up of consummate professionals with full LinkedIn profiles.
Verdict
It’s difficult not to paint a rosy outlook for FundRequest. They are capitalizing on one of the biggest developments in the technology industry – open source – and making it extremely easy to do so. I.T. professionals, who do not include the author, may be able to offer a more critical read of the company’s technical requirements. However, we haven’t found much criticism concerning FundRequest’s tech specs.
Risks
- Open source development is becoming increasingly competitive, with the likes of Apple and Microsoft offering their own developer community. We like FundRequest because it is based on the blockchain, but one also has to bear in mind that others are also raising to develop a common platform for developers and business. This certainly isn’t an inherent handicap for FundRequest, but it’s something that must be fully understood. -2
- As a new company, FundRequest doesn’t appear to have generated any sales. Although the company is getting plenty of buzz from the investment community, implementation remains a question mark. The question of implementation certainly isn’t unique to this project, but it’s an important consideration for would-be investors. This is especially true given that 60% of the funds raised via ICO will be allocated to budget. -2
Growth Potential
- Open source is the hottest thing since slice bread. Creating a platform that enables the funding, claiming and issuing of open source contributions could be a major hit. To demonstrate, GitHub is one of the world’s largest open source platforms, having grown to 24 million users from less than three million five years ago. By monetizing the process, FundRequest has the potential to make waves.+5
- FundRequest will enable funding with stable fiat currencies, such as USD, EUR and GBP, as well as other tokens. This will allow it to support other blockchain projects. The company is already thinking long-term. +4
- By most accounts, FundRequest will be a successful ICO. The company is getting plenty of good PR and investors are generally excited about what it can do. To cut a long story short, the company is very likely to generate the funds it needs for development and marketing starting Nov. 20. +2
Disposition
FundRequest may still be in the early development phase, but its business model is a potential hit. The growth of open source projects, combined with the need for on-demand solutions, make FundRequest a worthwhile consideration for ICO investors. There are some question marks about implementation, scale and ROI, so investors should carefully temper their excitement with a dose of reality about what they hope to achieve financially.
All things being considered, FundRequest is one of the most exciting projects we’ve seen in a long time. This, combined with the benefits discussed above, warrants a 7 out of 10.
Investment Details
- Type: Crowdsale
- Symbol: FND
- Opening Sale: Nov. 20, 2017
- End Date; Dec. 1, 2017
- Platform: Ethereum
- Conversion Ratio: 1,800 FND/1 ETH
- Maximum ICO Market Cap: 50,000 ETH
- Total Supply: 85 million FND
