Funding the next generation of Makers
Announcing the first round of Maker Fund recipients
Explore this post as an interactive Coda doc here.
At our October Block Party event, we announced the Coda Maker Fund. With this pledge, we’re investing $1 million dollars in the next generation of makers.
Why are we investing in makers?
Making, whether it’s a product roadmap or a to-do list, takes time and energy — two resources so many of us are short on. So we created the Maker Fund in hopes of empowering makers with flexibility that affords them the resources they need to build and promote finished solutions on Coda. Whether they need supplementary income to complete an existing project, distribution to take their solution to the masses, or professional mentorship to launch their first side project, we designed the Maker Fund to accommodate applicants of all needs.
Today, I am excited to announce the first round of Maker Fund recipients.
The Maker Fund criteria
While the solutions are as unique as the makers themselves, they each have a common thread. By sharing their creations with the world, each recipient’s solution demonstrates the ability to create authentic, elegant processes within Coda.
We kept three primary criteria for the Maker Fund. Each recipient and their respective solution satisfied each of the following requirements:
Effective solution
The idea successfully solves a pain point for a role / community / market. We’re looking for ideas that have a clear target audience and a complete solution to the problems they often face.
Product-maker fit
The Maker is the right person to deliver this solution, demonstrated through experience, expertise, passion for the market / solution, etc.
Sustainability
Both product and Maker have the roadmap and ambition to sustain their creation, whether as a side hustle or growing into a multi-million dollar company.
If these requirements seem open-ended, it’s because they are! We decided to keep the criteria for the Maker Fund unrestrictive in order to truly jumpstart an ecosystem of dynamic, maker-created docs and Packs. We know that we can’t conceive — much less make — a solution for every problem that can be solved through Coda. But by keeping our criteria flexible and fundamental, we’re empowering makers to invest in areas they see fit for disruption.
Meet the makers
I’ve had the pleasure of managing the application process for the Maker Fund, and I think I speak for all of my fellow Codans when I say that we are blown away by the creativity and ambition of all those who applied.
To inspire what you might create with support from the Maker Fund, I want to highlight three of our first recipients, who embody the entrepreneurial spirit and diverse applications of the Maker Fund.
- Mykola Bilokonski is a developer at Mode Analytics who is using the Maker Fund to create the world’s largest public dataset of neurodivergent traits and author supportive essays for the neurodivergent community. You can find more on Myk and what he’e building by visiting his Neurodiversity Support Center doc and by following him on Twitter @mykola.
- As an Executive Assistant at Bungalow, Ariana Alvarez is building templates for all things executive support — from onboarding new leaders, to managing travel, expenses, and more.
- Blossom is building a Pack to develop Coda into the all-in-one research platform that the entire team can rally around to make better product decisions. You can learn more about how Blossom empowers teams to “research together” at tryblossom.io and by following them on Twitter @tryblossom.
Apply to the Maker Fund
I hope these examples from Myk, Ariana, and the Blossom team inspire you to follow suit and build through the Maker Fund as well.
You could build a Pack that adds new powers to Coda. Create templates that model innovative ways of working. Or publish a doc that solves a problem for an underserved audience. Whatever you decide to build, we want to support you and your vision.
To submit your idea to the Maker Fund, fill out this application, and we’ll be in touch shortly.
