The open source movement has been lauded for driving software innovation by welcoming all interested parties to the table. But the time and skills of software developers are valuable things, so expediting the process of bringing together the ideal candidates for specific jobs, and giving them the ability to benefit from the fruits of their labor, can be pretty great as well.
To address all of the above, a company called Assembly has opened for business.
Armed with $2.9 million in funding from Box Group, Collaborative Fund, Union Square Ventures, and some angels, Assembly has introduced a platform through which developers and other makers can pitch projects, collaborate on efforts, and receive remuneration – tracked in a crytocurrency called App Coins – for their contributions.
Gig Radio is among the products in which Assembly played a role. It’s an app that lets you listen to music by artists who will soon be playing in your area.
Assembly, according to TechCrunch, has to date brought together 4 million users who have completed a total of five projects using the platform. The article says some people on the platform are making more than $1,000 per month for their work related to efforts on Assembly.
A Nov. 11 blog by Assembly core team member Andrew Barisser talks about how the company recently made some improvements to how contributors are credited for their work.
“Early contributors are awarded proportionally more than later ones, reflecting the increased value of the product,” he writes.
For products that are profitable, he adds, Assembly takes the average income per month in the product’s history and extrapolates to average yearly profits, and then out of five suggested increments it normalizes the middle increment to a reasonable dollar per year value.
Edited by
Stefania Viscusi
