Proposal for a New Funding and Development Strategy for UNA
In the current model, UNA primarily generates revenue from platform developers paying for premium features and plugins. However, this funding structure can be limiting, especially since each platform developer only contributes a fixed amount. The new approach outlined below introduces User-Driven Donations, which allows UNA to tap into a more sustainable and organic funding stream, while better aligning platform development with user needs.
Key Players and Their Roles:
UNA (Core Platform)
Role: Provides the core infrastructure that powers whitelabeled platforms, offering the tools and modules that UNA Platform Developers use to build their custom platforms.
Revenue: UNA generates income through premium services, licensing, and potentially through the User-Driven Donations model.
UNA Developers (Core Team)
Role: Responsible for maintaining, enhancing, and scaling the UNA platform to ensure it meets the needs of platform developers and users.
Revenue: UNA Developers are paid through UNA's revenue from premium services and donations.
UNA Platform Developers
Role: These are the creators of whitelabeled platforms using UNA’s infrastructure. They customize UNA’s modules to create unique, branded platforms for their own users or clients.
Revenue: They pay for premium features, but in the User-Driven Donations model, they would instead act as facilitators for their users to support UNA's development.
Funding Role: UNA Platform Developers enable platform users to directly contribute to UNA’s ongoing development by donating to fund feature requests, improvements, or new capabilities they’d like to see.
UNA Platform Users
Role: The end users who interact with the platforms created by UNA Platform Developers. They engage with content, features, and the community of a whitelabeled UNA platform.
Revenue: UNA Platform Users do not directly pay UNA but can choose to donate to support "platform development" (Which would go directly to UNA through the platform developer) if they want to see specific features or improvements.
The New Model: User-Driven Donations
The new funding model centers around User-Driven Donations, which allows platform users to directly contribute financially to UNA’s development, bypassing the traditional fixed-payment model from platform developers.
Here’s how it works:
Direct Donations to UNA’s Development
Mechanism: Through the platform, users can donate directly to support the continued development of UNA’s core features. This can be done via one-time donations or subscription-based contributions, with the option for users to leave a personalized message or suggestion for future development.
Flexibility: Platform developers (UNA Platform Developers) provide a mechanism for their users to donate through their platforms. This allows UNA to receive funds from a broader base of users who are engaged with the platform’s evolution.
Platform Developers Act as the Channel
Role of Platform Developers: UNA Platform Developers act as intermediaries, providing their users with the option to donate in support of UNA’s development. The users donate directly to the platform’s development pool, but in doing so, they’re supporting UNA's continued growth as well.
Discretion: UNA Platform Developers can keep the connection with UNA discreet. They can present themselves as the “development team” to their users, giving the impression that they are driving platform growth, while behind the scenes, donations are directly supporting UNA’s core platform development.
More Responsive Feature Development
User-Driven Focus: Since donations are linked to user demand, UNA can more accurately prioritize features and improvements based on which features are getting the most donations. Platforms receiving higher donations likely indicate a stronger user demand for specific features, plugins, or capabilities.
Platform Insights: UNA Developers get real-time feedback on which features and plugins are most in demand by users, helping them prioritize their development efforts and ensuring the platform evolves in a user-driven direction.
Increased Funding Without Fixed Fees
Larger Funding Pool: By allowing donations from users across various platforms, UNA can tap into a larger and more diverse funding pool. Instead of relying on the fixed payments from each platform developer (which may cap funding at a set amount), UNA can scale its revenue based on user contributions.
(Release all plugins for free while allowing more platforms to direct donations to their "Development Team" optionally with perks for UNA Platform Developers and their Platform.)
More Flexible Funding: The model is more flexible for platform developers as well. Instead of paying a fixed premium fee for plugins and services, they can allow their users to contribute, with the option to prioritize certain features or improvements based on user interest.
Benefits of User-Driven Donations:
More Funding Flexibility: UNA receives direct financial support from users, expanding its revenue beyond the fixed fees from platform developers. This creates a more sustainable, user-driven funding model.
Better Alignment with User Needs: Since donations can be associated with specific features or requests, UNA can focus development efforts on areas that users are most passionate about, ensuring that new features are driven by demand.
Discreet Monetization for Platform Developers: UNA Platform Developers can provide value to their users by acting as the channel for donations, helping users feel like they’re part of the platform’s growth while still benefiting from UNA's development without being directly tied to payments themselves.
This model allows UNA to raise more funds for ongoing development while keeping a user-first focus and ensuring that the features users want are given priority. It also creates a more sustainable and scalable revenue model that doesn’t rely on fixed payments from platform developers but rather on a broader, user-driven ecosystem of donations.
This user-driven donation model can also support third-party developers and the plugins they create for the UNA platform. Funding will be allocated based on analytics, such as how many platforms actively use a particular plugin. Plugins with higher engagement and usage will receive more funding, ensuring that the most valuable and widely-used plugins continue to be developed. This approach incentivizes third-party developers to create high-quality plugins that meet the needs of the broader UNA ecosystem.