Crowdsourcing for Consumer & Professional Electronic Products

New site address: Crowdspirit.org

2006-11-27T09:50:00.000+01:00

Here is the new official Website address : www.CrowdSpirit.org
The Logoden community is now called CrowdSpirit. This blog will not be updated. Please find all the latest news of the project on the new blog address.

best regards
the CrowdSpirit team

2006-11-22T22:40:00.000+01:00

Wesbite launch scheduled for monday 27th of november

10:00 AM @ Paris time
09:00 AM @ London time
03:00 AM @ Toronto time
01:00 AM @ San Francisco
05:00 PM @ Shanghai time
06:00 PM @ Tokyo time
08:00 PM @ Sydney time

I will provide you with the new official website address at this time.
Best regards
Lionel

2006-11-19T20:26:00.000+01:00

Website Launch scheduled for this week
Hello All, this time we can confirm you that the website launch will be this week. So look at the blog regurlay this week and you will be the first one to get the new website address.
best regards
Logoden team

2006-10-18T11:38:00.000+02:00

Postponement by at least one month of the website launch
Hello, unfortunately due to several reasons, we prefer rescheduling the launch of the first version of the website. By the way, here is a description of the scope of this version :

First of all, this website will summarize the overall business model on a "professionnal" way ;-)
It will still allow you to follow the progress on the project as it's still require development. Thanks to our new blog.
You will be able to subcribe to a distribution list for being the first informed about when you can participate to the community platform launch.

That's it

Lionel

2006-10-10T17:35:00.000+02:00

On-going Partnership with an university.
Hello, we're currently in discussion with a great french university from Grenoble. This partnership, if happens, will bring us a lot of expertise especially in the idea management area which is critical in this kind of project. We will keep you informed about the next step of that process.

2006-10-02T18:34:00.000+02:00

New way to finance the product devolpment.
just a short message to let you know that we have reviewed the way that we're going to finance the product development versus what is introduced in this blog. A new profile of people from the community will com board of that project and you can be one of those. Let's keep the secret for the moment but you will have all the details within our new website which is still scheduled to be launched for mid of october. So bookmark this address to know the launch date.

2006-09-25T12:00:00.000+02:00

Example of Innovation that can come from the community:
Here is an example of product than can beeasily imagined by some somebody of the community . This is a very simple and very clever idea : having a battery which is recharged by the USB port of your PB. Look at the detail on the website.

2006-09-22T09:48:00.000+02:00

First Draft of the Website Homepage
Today, Sebastien introduced to the team the web site homepage that he designed. We can tell you that it's beautifull and that we are all impatient about the next steps. Unfortunately for you, we cannot share it with you as this is too early....be patient & wait until mid of october ;-)
Thank for your great job Sebastien.

2006-09-20T13:57:00.000+02:00

May be the first "open-source" initiative within the manufacturing industry
We're currently thinking about a way to implement the "open-source" concept in our business model as it can bring a lot of advantage. This will be a perfect way to address a bigger community and to maintain the attractiveness of our initiative in front of this very demanding people ;-). In fact, we think that people are not only interested by money hopefully for the world and that everybody cannot have an idea of an innovative products whereas our projet must address everybody. So everybody will have his chance to contribute to this very ambitious project.
For all that reasons, the core team is thinking that increasing a little bit ;-) the scope of projet to make it the first the "open-source" initiative on the manufacturing industry is also a good interest for everybody. Within that new feature in our business model, we can really speak about a revolution on the manufacturing industry.

2006-09-15T15:32:00.000+02:00

End of the core team staffing stage for the monent
We have now a well experienced team dedicated to that project. We're currently defining our project management structure (tool, way of communication, Roles and responsibilities, etc ) in order to reach our first milestone of mid of october : the launch of our official website.
In parallel, we have very good signal from the community. A dutch researcher will present our initiative next week (21st of september) to an "innovation" conference closed to Amsterdam. He will potentially write also an article on his book regarding innovation. We have also a very interesting article coming from Hannes Treich an austrian blogger who seems to really love the idea even if I'm not able to translate the german article ;-). Here is an other article on this website (sorry it's also in german)

Other people already got in touch with me in order to get information. Once again,Í'm available for that so do not hesitate.

Lionel David, Logoden Community founder

N.B. I won't be available this week-end as I'm travelling to Munich (Germany) to the the world's largest fair...I will let you guess what is it ? details here

2006-09-13T19:33:00.000+02:00

Very good Trend !!
This time, we are reaching an other stage as we have now the official sponsor of the french "gourou" of web 2.0. Top secret for the moment, you will have further details once the official website will be launched, so bookmark this blog for getting the address
Lionel, Logoden Community Founder

2006-09-13T14:06:00.000+02:00

Good trend ;-)
just a short message for informing you that the web site audience is on a very good trend. In parallel, we have received the support of very interesting ressources...this is the crowdsourcing effect ;-)
Lionel

2006-09-12T09:27:00.000+02:00

Description of the Management Team,
one other great milestone reached today as a very important sponsor joined the project management team. Here is a summary of the management team of this project:

The sponsor who is the french "gourou" of web 2.0...top secret for the moment ;-)
Sebastien : project manager in charge of web site design and web marketing
Raphael : project manager in charge of web content and back-end management
Lionel : project manager in charge of supply chain, ODM & Distributors management
Craig : responsible of communication strategy

Best regards
Lionel, Logoden Community Founder

2006-09-11T08:41:00.000+02:00

Seeking for Investors
as it becomes more and more critical to allocate the right amount of investment in that project for getting the proper level of audience, we're currently seeking for different kind of investors. So in order to better introduce our business model, we're currently formalizing a business plan for potential investors. So if you'e interested for investing money in a new promising "start-up", we could be one alternative for you ;-)

2006-09-08T11:42:00.000+02:00

New big step on the project
A very important milestone has been reached yesterday in this project as a new very important ressource has joined the project. Sebastien, who is currently a projet manager in charge of web design and marketing, will participate to the launch of a totally new website by mid of october.
This step is a very good oppportunity to change a little bit the strategy of the project. This blog will remain active until the final go-live of the new website which will encompass a blog as well but it will be more focus on keeping you informed about the progress of that project.

2006-09-06T18:17:00.000+02:00

How Crowdsourcing can generate innovative products
The perfect and very helpfull source of information, is as usual, wikipedia ;-). I found the Wikipedia definition of innovation very interesting. Let me try to summarize the highlights of the article which are interesting for the project.

Extract of the article
"Sources of innovation
There are two main sources of innovation. The traditionally recognized source is manufacturer innovation. This is where an agent (person or business) innovates in order to sell the innovation. The other source of innovation, only now becoming widely recognized, is end-user innovation. This is where an agent (person or company) develops an innovation for their own (personal or in-house) use because existing products do not meet their needs. Eric von Hippel has identified end-user innovation as, by far, the most important and critical in his classic book on the subject, Sources of Innovation.

->Innovation by businesses is achieved in many ways, with much attention now given to formal research and development for "breakthrough innovations." But innovations may be developed by less formal on-the-job modifications of practice, through exchange and combination of professional experience and by many other routes. The more radical and revolutionary innovations tend to emerge from R&D, while more incremental innovations may emerge from practice - but there are many exceptions to each of these trends.

->Regarding user innovation, rarely user innovators may become entrepreneurs, selling their product, or more often they may choose to trade their innovation in exchange for other innovations. Nowadays, they may also choose to freely reveal their innovations, using methods like open source. In such networks of innovation the creativity of the users or communities of users can further develop technologies and their use."

Hey, but this "user innovation", isn't our Crowdsourcing concept ? ;-)

Lionel, Logoden Community Founder

2006-09-01T17:04:00.000+02:00

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Let us try to answer all the questions that you can have:
Hey, I Have an Idea!

I already have a product; will you market it for me?
The short answer is cleary yes. Our focus is finding new innovative electronic products

How do I know you guys aren't going to steal my idea?
Because if we did that, no one would submit their ideas to us. In all seriousness, it is in our best interest to make submitting your idea as rewarding as possible, and our legal position supports inventor rights.

What happens after I submit my idea?
If your idea meets our requirements, we will park it for the moment until the launch of our community-based ranking system. which will happen in the coming weeks You'll be in competition with other ideas and if yours ranks favorably, it becomes a candidate for a market test.

Why did you turn down my idea?
Just because we turned down this idea doesn't mean that it's a bad one. This idea may have been turned down for one a few reasons. Most commonly, they are:
+ We can't understand the idea. Sometimes we misunderstand ideas.
+ This idea isn't an electronic product idea. It may be a great idea as an invention, but we currently aren't able to crowdsource ideas of that nature.
+ Your idea is spam or an ad. We just don 't do that.

Who builds my idea?
The Logoden community does in addition to the central Logoden Company ressources.

Why should I give you my ideas as opposed to developing them myself?
There's a difference between developping a product and taking care of marketing, sales, support, customers, maintenance, accounting as well as raising capital and dealing with venture risk.

How will Logoden protect my idea from being stolen and developed by someone else?
Well we will try as much as possib le to avoid protecting ideas as it's extremely time-consuming and it delays a lot the project. We can't read minds nor concretely say that an idea was ripped from our site or if it was a similar idea that someone developed elsewhere. Furthermore, we're not afraid of competition – it is a validation that we're on the right track. Finally, we trust our community to outperform any competitor. If we evaluate a major potential on an idea, we will thinkg about protecting this idea.

How long does this process take?
It depends. look at this page to get further detail.

Can I get help build my own idea?
Actually, we love it when inventors are also contributors. Creating a commercial product requires a lot of thing but most importantly it requires vision. It's your choice whether to be hands off or hands on, but as the inventor of the idea you have the clearest concept of the finished product and we want to capitalize on that clarity.

I think my employer owns my ideas. Can I still submit?
It depends. You will need to check the agreement you signed when you got on board with your current company. Some do legally own the intellectual property of their employees, and that would bar you from submitting ideas.

I have lots of ideas – how do I know which are worth submitting?
Well, we have some basic guidelines. A Logoden product must:
• Target a mass market
• Be simple to use
• Have a compelling set of features that can be built in a short cycle But if you're not sure, we encourage you to send it in.

I am under 18. Can I still submit?
No. But, kid genius, you might be able to talk your parents into submitting ideas for you.

What if someone submits the same idea as me?
We're handling ideas on a first-come, first-served basis. In the event two parties submit very similar ideas in a close time frame, we will ensure both parties are handled fairly.

Making Money
When and how do I get paid?
All payment is handled via the share of gross margin system. Once an idea is commercialized into a product and there is gross profit, you will receive your share.

How do you decide how many points my contributions are worth?
Inventors earn up to 10% of an idea's. The point weight given to task will depend on a number of factors, like level of effort, difficulty of task, and quality of work. You'll be able to see the estimated point value of a task before choosing to complete it.

What is Gross Margin ?
Look at the share of gross margin system.

Do my share of Gross Margin ever run out?
No. Share of Gross Margin pay out as long as the product is still generating revenue. Points become active after 30 days in the system. See the "ipod" business case for dreaming a little bit ;-)

How is this different than contracting?
Way different! You get to pick the work that interests you. You own a piece of whatever you work on. And the success of your efforts is directly tied to your reward.

Can I transfer or sell my share of Gross Margin ?
No, you cannot.

How many Share of Gross Margin are allocated per project?
All products start with 100%. If the product is so successful that all the points are distributed, additional % will be added to represent development of new features.

How often do I get paid?
Monthly.

In what currency?
Euro

Can I get cash instead of Share of Gross Margin?
Share of Gross Margin are equivalent to cash, but they're tied to gross profit. Once the product starts making money, so do you.

Does Logoden deduct taxes?
No. Global tax laws are outside our area of expertise, so we don't deduct taxes.

What happens if the final product gets acquired by another company?
The full legalese is in the terms and conditions, but here's the short version: if a company acquires a Logoden product, they have two options. Either they can continue honoring the Share of Gross Margin agreement, or they can buy out the agreement by making lump sum payments to contributors. Community means everything to us, so if a product does get bought out the likelihood of getting back more than your rightful Share of Gross Margin is pretty good.

2006-09-01T08:59:00.000+02:00

How Crowdsourcing can bring value to the logistic Supply Chain
Sorry to bother you with a technical subject ;-), but as I'm supply chain project manager, I'd like to explain my vision how Crowdsourcing can bring a huge value to the supply chain and so finaly the end-customer for getting more competitive Products : less expensive and better in line with customers expectations:

Download the powerpoint package and do not hesitate to distribute it ;-) you can also look at the communication package to get further details.

Lionel
Logoden community Founder

2006-08-30T20:54:00.000+02:00

One Slide Summary of the Project
If there was one slide, this will be this one for summarizing the project !!
Download the Powerpoint Slide to be able to click on the hyperlink ;-)

Look at this page to get further details.

2006-08-30T15:30:00.000+02:00

Interesting Business Case : how much you can earn with the "Ipod Case"
Let's dream a little bit. You will find below a concrete example of what you can eventually earn if you propose an idea similar to the Apple iPod or actively contribute to the community for this idea (c.f. finance Model overview for futher detail)

source : Wikipedia article

By looking at the Ipod sales and by taking a very pessismist assumption that the gross margin of Apple is only $5 per product (If you don't think that this is true, I will be more than happy to receive comments). You can have a rough idea how much money the community will earn. Let focus only on the yellow row to be realistic :

Idea Iniatitor: you will earn in this quarter $480,000 and more that $352 Millions in total !!
Logoden Central Staff will earn $960,000 for this quarter and more that $704 Millions in total !!. Note that this amount will be shared with several ressources.
Local Salers will earn $1.6 M for this quarter and more that $1.2 Billions in total !!. Note that this amount will be shared with several ressources.
General Managers in charge of region sale will earn $1.6 M for this quarter and more that $1.2 Billions in total !!. Note that this amount will be shared with several ressources

I hope that this good example is a good motivation for you to join the community once it will be possible. So bookmark this blog address and wait until the official new website launch scheduled for the mid of october ;-)

2006-08-30T11:17:00.000+02:00

Explanation about the Electronic product Market
you'll find an extract of the communication package that will provide you with more background about the electronic product market in order to better understand all the concept explain within that blog.

Let's start first by an explanation of simple definition of the electronic market

2006-08-30T00:09:00.000+02:00

Official Communication Package available
You'll find with this hyperlink the way to download a package which will explain further in detail what is the Logoden community. Do not hesitate to distribute this package around you.

2006-08-29T16:03:00.000+02:00

Here is the beautifull logo of the community ;-)

2006-08-28T15:23:00.000+02:00

Finance Model / Share of Revenus
look a this part if you'd like to understand how the revenus will be shared between all the differents crowdsourcing ressources. For instance you will earn 10% of the generated Gross Margin if your idea is selected.

The Gross Margin = Overall Sale Revenus - All costs (supplier acquistion price, distributor & retailler fee, logoden fee)
The Gross Margin will be shared by using the following principle:

c.f. the following hyperlink for further details about the ressources

10% of the GM will be earned by the person who has proposed an idea selected by the crowdsourcing community
20% of the GM will be earned by several central ressources who will be either permanent or temporay ressources from Logoden company
35% of the GM will be earned by several permanent local ressources from Logoden company. These General Manger will be in charged of the local sale coordination of Logoden products. They will take care also about Global and Medium account management (biggest retaillers).
35% of the GM will be earned local salers who are supporting GMs for saling the products to small shop. They will take care about the smallest account but the biggest in terms of quantity.

All those ressources are ressources from the crowdsourcing community. So it can be you !!!

Keep in mind that the Central ressources will earn a % of the overall GM generated by all the retaillers whereas local ressources will earn of % of the GM by the retaillers in their scope (Ex: only for a specific country). So it means that 10% of the idea initiator will represent much more than the 35% of a local sale who has only one smal shop in scope.

2006-08-23T15:09:00.000+02:00

You can contribute to this community
You will be able very soon to join the community once we will officially launch our new website by the mid of october. Anyway, if you're interesting or if you have a question, do not hesitate to send your question. We're fully available for answering.

1-Idea initiator

We're looking for all kind of new innovative Ideas regarding electronics products whatever is for consumer or professional market. Example: create a bluetooth headset which can connect to skype, etc..

Do not underevaluate the potential of your idea, we'll review it and send it for approval to the community. If it's the valuable idea, the community will see efficiently the potential of it.

If your idea is selected and the product is officially launched, you'll get paid for your contribution (% of the gross margin, I will provide the detail latter on).

2-Ressources

we're looking for 2 kind of ressources permanent and temporary ressources. The main difference between this kind of ressources is their level of contribution to the project.

The Permament ressources will provide a continuous support to the project and will be financially awarded based on their contribution. This kind of ressources will be selected by using a standard recruitment process depending on their background and their willingness to work on that project. We're looking for several kind of profile : Research and development, Marketing, Sales, Administration, Legal, etc.. Ex: A Country Manager responsible of the Sales adminstratrion of its country. These ressources will have a contract with the core company and will be assimilated to employee.
The temporary ressources can provide the same support to the project as the permament ressources but on a case by case basis like a consultant. They will be awarded also on their contribution based either on an one shot basis (ex: for only one product) or on a local market basis (ex: promotion of the products to a small retailer).

So bookmark the blog address to get the new website address by the mid of october to join the community for either sending ideas or even providing support as a ressource.

2006-08-23T14:35:00.000+02:00

Idea Life Cycle
Let us introduce you how it will work once you will submit an idea to the "Logoden" community. This functionnality is not yet proposed. Bookmark this blog address and wait until end of october to know the way to send your idea ;-)

Idea Sourcing: The community send ideas
Product Qualification: Based on the proposed ideas, a product is developped with the suppliers (ODM : Original Desing Manufacturer) in accordance with community ideas (could be more than one). Some specific ressources from the communitry can be required (R&D, etc..) at this stage
Sale of "pre-serie": Once the product design is froozen (not yet produced) a sale of an "option" for getting the first products, once really produced, is organized in order to finance the development cost and the production of the first products. If the Sale is succesfull, the launch of the real production/prototyping can be launched.
Prototyping: Launch of the production of the first products at ODM site
Early Adopter Validation: The first products are sent to the first buyers for getting feedbacks about the product quality. If the expected quality is sufficient, the product can be officially launched only at this stage.

2006-08-23T14:16:00.000+02:00

Concept of Virtual Global Company
Let me explain you how I see this interesting concept that I invented based on the Web 2.0 or Crowdsourcing capabilities. Someone will say that it's a crazy idea, I'd prefer using the world ambitious :

Firstly, for launching a company in the "normal world", you need an idea (a new service, a new product, etc..). You need then to make sure that a business is really existing which can generate sufficient cash for financing and so generating profit for your company: this is the market research stage. Only at this step, you can start thinking about investing time and money for launching your company. The risks are very dependant to the business assumptions made during the market analysis. The requested cash flow before being able to get the first incomes can be extremely important which increase a lot the risks. Moreover, the people that you will have to engage will have a level of motivation proportional to their linkage to the expected profit of the company (that's why stock options are existing ;-) ).

Secondly, once your company is launched, you need to find new market and so customers for being able to sell your products. The purchasing capacity of your familly and friends will be very be soon very limited ;-). You need to drive the sale increase of your company by addressing a lot of new markets. Unfortunately, you do not speak all these funny foreign langages and your level of knowledge is even worst when looking at the legal environment of all these countries. You do not have really the choice, you need to invest a lot of money in order to be able to sell your product in these new areas which represent a very important risks.

Being not too much pessismist, I will not speak about the case where products are impossible to sale, which is the worst situation ;-)

Creating a Virtual Global Company should limit a lot all these risks for the following reasons:

The idea will come from a huge worlwide community and will be validated by this community to make sure that the idea is a good one and not a wrong "gut feeling" of an entrepreneur ;-)
The potential market of that product inspired from the idea will be carefully validated by launching a sale of a "pre-series" in order to finance also the development cost.
The company will extend its worlwide coverage (subsidiary) based on extemely motivated ressources with a strong "entrepreneurial mindset" from the crowdsourcing community all around the world in order to progessively address all the markets.
The costs for launching the global coverage of the company and so the risks will be shared between all the parties as the expected profit are shared as well.
The company all along its life will be supported by the ressources from that community (idea, R&D, sales, lobbying, etc) to make sure that the company always fits to market requirements and there is no risk of deviation as it happens very often with "start-up".

On other words, all the steps for creating an innovative product will be carefully validated with the community in order to minimize the risks. The crowdsourcing community will then support the company for progressively extending its coverage to a worlwide one with a limited financial exposure making this company a real Global Company ;-)

Hope you do understand my concept and do not hesitate to ask question

loot at this part of the blog to get further details how ressources can contribute to this project.
Lionel,

Logoden Community Founder

2006-08-08T21:49:00.000+02:00

Business Model Overview
Here is brief overview about the "Logoden" business model. Look at this message on regular basis as it will be updated it frequently.

Source : this is an extract of the communication package.

look at this blog further in details to get a better idea how you can contribute this community and if you want to dream a little bit ;-) look at the "ipod" business case, we're sure that it will interest you.

2006-08-08T21:15:00.000+02:00

Launch of the project
Hello All,

Have you already wondered how it was possible to design stupid products. If you're fed up with products which are designed only by manufacturers for manufacturers without taking into account user expectations. If you're fed up of products which are totally useless. If you're not able to find the products that you're looking for month even at your favorite electronic retailer. This initiative is clearly for you ;-)

So it's with a great pleasure that we'd like to announce the launch of the first Crowdsourcing initiative around the Consumer & Professional Electronic products. End-user will have the power for the first time in the manufacturing history to be actively involved in the selection and the design of products which are really innovative on an end-user perspective and no more not only on a manufacturer standpoint. You'll see within this blog an overview about the business model and how it will works. The project is extremely ambitious and also based on a concept leveraged from the crowdsourcing opportunities. This concept is called : "Virtual Global Company".

We're looking for Ideas from the community, but also for ressources who will help mainly for designing, marketing and performing the sales administration in every country for these new innovative electronic products. The potential revenus for the community can be extremely significant.

The project is currently on a design phase and on a very promising trend !!. We''ll keep you informed about all the steps of that process. Look the below hyperlinks to get further details.

Talk to you very soon and bookmark this address as we will officially communicate the launch of a new beautifull website by mid of october. You will be able to join the community at this stage ;-)

Thank you in advance

Lionel
Logoden Community Founder

Hyperlinks:
What is Crowdsourcing ?
Look at the one Summary Slide of the projet or the full communication package.
Description of the business model
How crowdsourcing can generate innovative products
How the revenus will be shared. If you want to dream, look at the Ipod Business Case.
How can you contribute to this community
Project management team
Concept of virtual global company

Here is a non exhaustive list about the electronic products in scope of that project :

Peripherals
Computer Cables & Connectors
Digital Photography
Drives & Storage Devices
Earphone & Headphone
Joysticks & Game Controllers
Keyboards
Modems
Monitors & Displays
Mouse
Multimedia Speakers
PC Camera
Printers & Scanners

Audio & Video Equipment
Amplifier
Cassette Recorder & Player
CD Player
Digital Photography
Digital Voice Recorder
DVD, VCD Player
Earphone & Headphone
Home Theatre System
Karaoke Player
Language Repeater
Microphone
MP3 Players
MP4 Players
Radio
Speakers & Speaker Parts
Television
VCR Player

Auto Electronics
Car Audio
Car Video
Communications
Navigation & GPS
Radar Detector