Sunday, August 30, 2009

The Race to Raise Cash

While Team Phoenicia has been very successful in relative terms for getting in-kind sponsorships - that is to say a vendor contributing their product in exchange for promoting them - we have had a lot of tough times getting enough outright cash. We've had some help via paypal, but the vast majority of cash expenditures have been out of the team leader's own pocket.

Team Phoenicia hasn't exactly been on the shoestring, but we've also emphatically not been swimming in cash. Each purchase has had to be weighed and carefully. A lot of times, 'good enough' - or so we think - components have been substituted for the ones we want.

This year the X Prize Foundation raised the bar for how much it costs to get into the LLC. They had pretty good reasons and its kept a lot of people out that have been working on the shoestring. However, it may be that it'll keep us out. No matter what, we'll fly. Our goal is to demonstrate the capability so we can get backing for the Google Lunar X Prize. And immortality.

However, we of Team Phoenicia are a tenacious lot. We're not ready to give up on getting into the LLC. To that end, in order to raise the cash to participate in the LLC, we are offering individuals or groups that wish to see their name on the rockets. Namely, we are offering up the center RP-1 tanks - one per rocket - to get tank tattoos by anyone for any logo or wording or picture or even just their name.

We do reserve the right to exercise a discretionary veto. However, we're pretty flexible folks and most messages will probably be acceptable. Anyone that buys the tank tattoo will get their money back if we veto what they want to say.

We had about 7850 square centimeters up for sale. We have already sold 11 sq cm of that. We are charging $10/sq cm. There are additional charges for more optimal placing. Otherwise, it will be a first come, first serve ad-cloud.

To get this, just hit the donate button on the side. If all you want is your name, you do not have to do anything more. If you wish to have a specific message within your space, a company logo, or a picture, you will have to do the above, but you will also need to email contact at team phoenicia dt org: if you don't contribute, you won't get noticed for a special request. We get a silly amount of spam there and if we are not looking for you, we will regard your message with suspicion.

First pix are coming nex week. Assuming the Team Leader's Baby doesn't first.

That said, we'd like to thank Carlos Yu, Lisa Geoffrion, Tom Palmer, and Marilee Layman for their purchases.

Wordle: Team P wordcloud 1

(it'll be clearer than that, promise, the sections will be distinct)

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