File contents

Business
--------
Business Name:        The open co-op llp
Contact Name:         Joerg Baach
Contact Details:      Joerg Baach
                      open co-op
                      c/o The Hub
                      Village Underground
                      54 Holywell Lane
                      London EC2A 3PQ
Borough:              Hackney
Telephone:            +44 207 043 9278
Email:                jhb@open.coop
Website:              http://open.coop/
Company Reg No        OC309357



Company Status
--------------
Company status:       Partnership
Date established:     23. September 2004
Vat registered:       No
How long at current
address:              3 months
Employees:            0 full, 3 part time, 2 Graduates
Trading:              No
Type of Business:     Social
Sector:               Software
SIC Code:             K 72.20
Main Products:        Social Software
Client Base:          Regional/UK/EU
ISO xxxx:             No
Funding received:     none

Company Background
------------------
Brief history

Open co-op llp was founded in 2004 by Gary Alexander, Senior lecturer at the Open University ICT department, 
Tom Salfield, BSc in economics (LSE), Josef Davies-Coates, BSc in social policies (LSE) and Oli Sylvester-Bradley,
BSc in sustainable design (Center for Alternative Technology).
The open coop was setup to support other cooperatives and social enterprises and to create an
international trading network. Intensive research was undertaken, and a community around the website 
(http://open.coop) formed and is maintened up to now.
In 2007 Joerg Baach, freelance technologist for social software, joined the open co-op with the plan for a 
new payment system for the internet.


Technology used

We are fully dedicated to Open Source products, which we use in all aspects
of our work, and also for our outputs. In particular we use Linux,
Ubuntu, Openoffice, Firefox, Python, Zope, Plone, PHP, Apache Mysql etc.


Barriers to growth

The open co-op has not entered the market yet, and growth was not key yet. But as the general need for
social software and in particular online micro payment system is growing, rapid organisational expansion is
expected to take place within the next two years. 

Key Staff


   Name                       Role                 Skills

1. Tom Salfied                Member               Software developer,
                              Founder              Finance,
                                                   Business development
                                                   
2. Oliver Sylvester-Bradley   Member               Design
                              Founder              Project management
                                                   Marketing
                                                    
3. Joerg Baach                Member               Software developer,
                                                   Systems architect
                                                   Trainer

4. Nils Toedtmann             Associate            Cryptographer
                                                   Computer network specialist
                                                   Systems design
                                                   

Products/Services Competition
-----------------------------

Product: opencoin system
Market: Business internal use, community systems, payment providers
Competiton Home: -
Competition Import: peppercoin, e-gold, paypal


Product: online collaboration system
Market: cooperatives, social enterprises
Competiton Home: hubplus, i-genius, unltd
Competition Import: basecamp hq, jotspot

SALES
-----

n/a



Business Operational Analysis
-----------------------------

Operational

Does a business plan exist: no

Is the plan a live document: n/a

What key performance indicators does the business use to measure its success?:

 level of involvement in online community, i.e number of unique visits/registered
 participants


Innovation & Technology:
Does the company culture support innovation and opportunity exploitation: yes
Is innovation driven from the top: no
Is innovation and technology capability seen as a means of gaining competitive edge: yes
Is product and service development innovative: yes
Are imporvements in management processes and systems innovative? yes
Is risk taking encouraged: yes
is the business reliant on one product, service or market for the majority of its profits: no
Are the company's portfolio of products and services:
  innovative: yes
  "me too"  : yes
  mature    : no
  niche:    : yes
Does the business have a good understanding of relevant technologies: yes
Are essential changes in technology fully understood by the business: yes
Does the business regularly monitor technology and competitive activity: yes
Does the business use formal R&D, innovation or project management: no
How does the business acquire new technology or product ideas:
  Suppliers: yes
  Customers: yes
  Trade shows: yes
  Consultants: yes
  Magazines: yes
  In House: yes

People and technology:
Are all staff trained and technically competent: yes
How efficient is the workforce: very
Is there strong team spirit within the business: yes
Are people motivated: yes
Is there a staff turnover/retention problem: no
Does the business experience problems recruiting appropriate staff: no
How does business address R&D, innovation, project managament skills:

  These are the key focus points of open.coop - develop
  tools and models for social change. 

SME innovation support program business diagnostic
--------------------------------------------------

Finance:
How is the business financed: 
 Owners own funds: yes
 3rd party: no
 Bank: no
 VC: no
 Angle: no
 R&D grants: no

Key Assets
  Property: no
  Stock: no
  Order book: no
  Owners fund: no
  IP: no
  Other: people, ideas, network

Does the business need finance in short to medium term?
  Yes: yes
  Approx: 60k short term, 500 k medium term (2 years perspective)

Financial performance for businesses trading over 3 years: n/a

Marketing and distribution:
Does the business research its competitors and its markets: yes
Does the business survey its exisitng and potential cutomers to identify wants and needs: yes
Is a marketing plan used to manage marketing activities: no
How would you describe the business's market:
  growing: yes
How is marketing currently undertaken?
  Sales team: no
  Agents: yes
  Advertising: no
  Trade shows: no
  Web: yes

How does the company penetrate new markets:

 Through the web and networking

What new markets have been penetraded in the past 3 years: - 

  Online collaberation

How does the company launch new products / processes:

  iterative, agile development inspired customer driven development

R&D Innovation & Technology
---------------------------
R&D Spend: n/a
Capital Investments: n/a
Rate of new product/process introduction over past 3 years: 1 p.a.
R&D/NPD Facilities: community knowledge system, irc channels, collaborative document management system
Specialist Systems/Technology: as above
IPR & Know how: all open source

Assessment of current R & D:
  Proof of concept: yes

Assessment of level of innovation in products, processes, services, systems:
   Very good

Perception of Current Technology:
   Cutting edge knowledge

Limits of Existing Technologies:
   
   double spending problem in the context of electronic cash, which needs to be solved
   by extension of the underlying cryptographic protocols.

Opportunities for Current Developments:
   
   opencoin will be a leading product in micropayments, selling to microfinance institutions
   and election systems.

What are the Drivers for Innovation:
   
  Strong will to be the first mover in the above mentioned markets

R&D, Innovation, Technology, Product Development
------------------------------------------------

Table with 8 columns

Product/Services: opencoin
Details: deployment of a payment solution (prototyped by Deutsche Bank)
Source of Idea: David Chaum (see http://www.chaum.com/articles/list_of_articles.htm)
Anticipated competition: peppercoin, paypal
Potential sales: microfinance institutions, banks, online communities
IPR: open source
Technical/Commercial Issues: creating a reliable and provably secure implementation.

Product/Services: open.coop website
Details: online community for social entrepreneurs
Source of Idea: Gary Alexander: egaia
Anticipated competition: hubplus, unltd world, i-genius
Potential sales: other social enterprise networks
IPR: open source
Technical/Commercial Issues: change of technical framework to a more component based
                             system.


Environmental
-------------
Does the business have a written env. policy: no
Has b. undertaken an environmental review: no
Is there an environmental action plan: no
Has the company signed up to the Mayor's Procurment Policy: No
Comment on Company Performance with respect to:

Energy Management
n/a
Waste Manag.
n/a
Recycling
n/a
Emissions
n/a
Green Travel
trains and bike used whenever possible
Materials Sourcing
n/a
End of live product assessment
n/a
Implementation of an Environmental Action Plan:
n/a

SWOT Analysis: (Company, management, funding, products, process, technology, skills R&D)

Strengths:

  Firm grounding in technological cutting edge development communities
  Solid understanding of finance, economics and money theory
  Years of experience in user interface design and technology development

Weakness:

  not yet traded as this company 


Opportunities:

  Being a leader in online micropayments solutions
  Strong consulting business around payment and voting security
  Strong consulting business around collaborative processes
  

Threats:

  Time to market, under-capitalization


External Contacts & Relationships
---------------------------------

HEI/FEIs:
  
  Gary Alexander, Open University ICT department

Use of Graduates/Students

  Nils Toedtmann, University of Bielefeld, Germany

Consultancy

  n/a

Research Assoc.

  n/a

Tade Assoc.

  n/a

National/Regional Organisations:

  n/a

LDA

  Kingsley Nudo

BL4L

  n/a

DTI

  n/a

Chamber of Commerce

  n/a

Grants

  n/a

Other

  n/a

Key Business Performance Indicators
-----------------------------------
Not trading


Key Issues Summary
------------------

Three columns:

Issues                       Description                                              Suggested Action

Business Strategy            Getting product to market                                Funding for development 
Management                   n/a
Culture                      n/a
Costs                        Start paying developers                                  Funding for development
Finance                      n/a
Products                     Getting product to market                                Funding for development
Markets                      Getting product to market                                Funding for development
Premises                     n/a
Location                     n/a
Staff                        n/a
Technology Needs             n/a
Innovation Readiness         n/a
Opportunity identification   n/a
HEI linkages                 Need for an academic partner for ongoing product dev     Funding for academic partner
Mentoring                    n/a


Priority Actions/Next Steps

1.

Seek funding for development

2.

Feedback for developed product in scientific and security community

3.

Market test prototype