#46 - SHIT WILL HIT THE FAN

ISSUE #46

Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it. - Albert Einstein

BUILDING IN PUBLIC

I am building IkoCiti in public. The content I publish is the testimony of the thinking that goes on behind the closed doors of my mind. There are 50+ chapters of the book (to be); 40-50 posts in The Dispatch; the IkoCiti Weekly, the Notion pages, the websites, and the Pitch presentations. Together they amount to 500.000+ words. (I take my shit seriously.) The reality – of course – is that nobody else gives a shit about 500.000+ words. The tragedy of the non-technical solopreneur is that - all you can do - is try to make people see what you see.

IkoCiti is a city-like (digital) platform with 20 districts hosting 50 zones responsible for producing specific outputs (services).

So how do you organize all this?

In the previous post, I decided that a Rendanheyi-inspired model combined with DAO/blockchain features was the way to go. Such an organizational structure is better suited to scale and bring people (expertise) together in a coherent framework The Rendanheyi model is inspiring but only a few companies in the world have followed in Haiers’ footsteps. Our advantage is that we can design the model from scratch. The stakes are high. The organizational structure must yield operational excellence that allows Maveriqs to produce higher quality Peoples' Impact (a better Barrio) which must be followed by more money flowing in quicker. In other words, our version of Rendanheyi must tomahawk the ball.

RENDANHEYI-INSPIRED

Rendanheyi inspires us but we cannot build a Haier copy. In Haiers’ world, the customer is the beneficiary. In our world, the customer and the beneficiary are two separate groups. Governments c.s. are our primary customers. The beneficiaries are the people living in the barrios. Governments use our platform to invest (!!) in the barrio collaborating directly with ambitious citizens. Ultimately, the government’s investments will boost economic activities in the barrio which benefits the whole of society. Trickle-up economics translates into a stronger and more balanced society.

Who is IkoCiti’s real customer?

The answer is a bit abstract. IkoCiti fosters a symbiotic relationship between three sides:

• the Impact Buyer (government/philanthropist/investor)

• the Impact Producer (Maveriqs supported by Mavericks & Barrionistas)

• the Beneficiary (the barrio/society).

This symbiotic partnership between the three groups is the true customer of the platform. Only if all three groups are happy, then we have a path to profitable success.

IkoCiti is divided into 20 districts: Activism, Barrio, Business, eCommerce, Ecosystem, FinTech, Franchise, Impact Buying, Infrastructure, Innovation, Leadership, HR, Manufacture, PI Philosophy, Operations Start-Up, Skills & Mindset, Sales & Marketing, and Scale/Growth.

SQUADS

Each district will be represented by an independent macro-venture that runs the District. Each macro-venture recruits a network (swarm) of micro-ventures. These micro-ventures or squads execute paid micro-tasks, tasks, and projects. Each district has one or more marketplaces that match the supply and demand side. The platform offers work while the squads compete to execute the jobs on a non-exclusive basis.

Still, bidding for freelance work is the mundane side of the squads. We want more from them. They need to come up with concepts that innovate/improve the platform. In this way, the squads become more like co-creators. They take on more risks because their proposals can be accepted or rejected. Of course, the rewards higher too. Improving the platform is big but there is something even more important.

Our aspiration for the squads (independent micro-ventures) is that they go beyond the freelance or cocreator’s role. We want them to be true (social) entrepreneurs. We want them to be active in the barrio. We want them to launch services and products in collaboration with the Maveriqs. The objective is to raise the level of economic activity in the barrio. In other words, our squads are encouraged to raise the GDP of the barrio while offering more employment opportunities.

NETWORKS OF NETWORKS

Macro ventures run the districts. They encourage the squads to go the extra mile. For some that might be limited to the freelancer or co-creator role. Yet the real Muhammad Ali punch must come from the entrepreneur squads. Yet their output is not guaranteed nor is the quality. The macro-ventures cannot command the squads. They must encourage and coordinate them. To do so effectively, they need resources. The global leadership team is the ultimate giver of resources but there is a limit to everything.

IkoCiti might be a global platform but the real action happens locally. So local macro ventures recruit local squads. In this decentralized structure, the global macro ventures support the local macro ventures. Now imagine a scenario in which we are active in Kingston, Curacao, Kinshasa, Cartagena, New Orleans, San Francisco, Grenada, Bahia, and 25 other cities and urban regions.

A shitload of global and local interactions are happening on a hourly basis. A swarm of global/local, macro/micro ventures are active. Barrios bubbling with expectations. We need to produce. We need to learn. We need to be Activists because nothing is given. We compete, collaborate, communicate, and innovate. We build and rebuild complicated places.

The Ball Of Crystal is clear. Certainty is in the air. The fat lady starts singing. And shit will hit the fan.

THE END