The Mark Cuban Stimulus Plan (Open Source Funding)

Love him or hate him, he knows how to stir the pot.

Mark Cuban has made an offer to fund companies of his chosing that post their business plan publicly on his website. He provides 13 rules that the company must comply with. The Number One  requirements is Not Advertising Supported.  The toughest criteria are;  3. It MUST BE CASH FLOW BREAK EVEN within 60 days and 4. It must be profitable within 90 days.

With such a short runway, it would be very hard to go from an idea to profitable in 90 days.  I cannot think of any company that got off the ground that quickly. Maybe Plentyoffish, but they would not qualify as it is 100% advertising supported.

So it seems that to get this funding, realistically,  the company should already have a product ready and have a sound marketing and sales plan.

So far there are 150 some comments/company submissions. They range from Night Clubs to Reefer Distributors along with the expected web companies.

A lot of the comments are about the open source mode of the project and the reluctance of people to post their ideas for everyone to see. It seems the idea people don't want to release their super secret, no one has ever thought of this idea into the ether.

In any case, if you fit the criteria and already have a product ready, I don't see how trying for this funding can hurt.  I bet the companies that garner  an investment will reap PR benefits well in excess of the monthly stipend.

It will be interesting to follow this story and learn which companies are chosen and hear the founders tell of the experience over the next year. Hopefully some Boston area companies will give it a try.  Mr. Cuban has already invested in the local company CitySquares so it will be convenient for him to visit several companies in the area when he is in town.

Yes, there are a lot of unanswered questions regarding his plan, like the terms and preferences etc..   But let's face it, this is a blog post people. Where else could you realistically receive significant investment juice just by commenting on a blog.  It is off the cuff, it is outrageous,  it is for outliers, but it is real.