OSV: The Foco, and Starting an Open Source Venture

Here's a quick update on picture this, the open source venture we are trying to build.  

We've been working on it for a couple of months now, and have learned some valuable lessons.  The most important lesson is that starting an open source venture is just like starting an open source insurgency.  You need a foco and an example (that provides a plausible promise).  

A foco is small team, a vanguard if you will, that initiates the effort.  In this case, since we are building a company that generates revenue, the foco is a group of people that can write the business plan and do the initial exploration of the venture space (both technical and business sectors).  

An example is something that ignites the imagination.  In conflict, the example is an attack (Iraq, Nigeria, etc.) or protest (Tunisia, Egypt, or Libya) that ignites the imagination.  It says: we can do this.  In business ventures, its a business plan and a demo/mock-up of the product.  It shows that this venture can be built.  

Here's one way the foco and example combine to start an open source venture:

1. The foco launches the effort by publicly announcing the effort.  The business plan is released (wikified?).  Call for volunteers/entrepreneurs is made.  Release of technical demonstration of the product (if technical/etc.).
2. The foco raises money for the project via crowd-funding vehicles.  
3. A people bank is created for the project.  Skills/availability/area of interest.  
4. A project bank is created for the project -- both internal and external.  Internal projects are those help move forward the main objective of the venture.  External projects are those that create/move forward complimentary ventures.
5. The business plan serves as a living document that provides structure to the venture.  It demarcates the ways complimentary ventures can interact with it (it's business/technical API).  

For those that have been involved with the picture this venture to date, it's obvious that we fell short of the mark in our early efforts.  That's being corrected through the development of the "picture this" business plan (it's looking very slick and doable).