Next Steps

by unstash team on May 9, 2011

Hey friends,

A week ago we asked all of you to vote for us in the pepsi refresh everything contest, but we’re waving the white flag on this one and need to call it quits.  While we aren’t doing terrible, and plenty of people behind us are still pushing hard, I don’t think pressing forward on this would be a good use of your time or mine at this point.

Thank you so much for your every vote and effort.

- Thank you for the thoughtful comments, questions, and conversations that has ensued.

- Extra special thanks for those of you who have offered your resources, networks, and even personal financial commitments!

Our team has been greatly encouraged by all of you and we will continue working hard to get this venture going.
Here’s how we would love for you to continue with us on this journey

- Keep the conversations going with our team and amongst your friends – are there different ways of living, consuming, & sharing?

- Right now we’re exploring crowdfunding options (kickstarter’s not available in canada) but if you know of options or alternatives please let me know

- Help us scout for talent – ‘ruby on rails’ and iOS/Android developers as well as community advocates for collaborative consumption

Like our facebook page at http://facebook.com/unstash , subscribe to our blog for the latest at http://blog.unstash.com and follow our twitter at http://twitter.com/unstash

Again, thank you to every one of you!  Now the next stage of our journey begins.

5 comments

{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

Marg Stadey May 16, 2011 at 12:09 pm

Hello: Thank you for this. We also entered the pepsi challenge this round. It is a real education in politics and human nature. Though I see the same issues you do we will stay to the end. Why, … I’m not sure but maybe to stand for integrity. I will NOT vote for a cause because someone pressures me to. … and if you look at our Pepsi site we’ve had some of that. If we sold out to win $10K we would not only be fools for thinking these groups are loyal to us … for what?? … we would have sold out our beliefs for love of money. If we do that we may as well fold up our tents … or whatever.
You are so right on the # of votes. It is easy to throw votes at a project in the rear for a time to get them to vote in return. It doesn’t take many to make a difference and then the great benefactor swoops in for the kill – you owe me. But I have been voting for causes I can with integrity support from the beginning – Barriere being one, I see they are stuck so how many votes does it take to move a position at the top?
I think Pepsi has a good idea but will have to revamp it to acheive their goals. I am a life pepsi consumer – not addicted but a casual consumer and I can see the level of competitiveness bitting not only Pepsi but the participating organizations. On the positive, maybe its time that the wolves in sheeps clothing were exposed. Thanks again would be glad to converse. Take care Marg of the Veggie People

unstash May 18, 2011 at 2:11 pm

Hey Marg, thanks so much for the comment. Glad to know there were others struggling along side of us.

We weren’t able to crack 19th spot and felt we had to switch gears.

I posted some additional thoughts/frustrations on the contest here as well – http://solarcrash.com/2011/05/thoughts-on-the-pepsi-refresh-contest/

Just voted for you btw, I think it’s a great idea! I think a big value regardless of winning is in simply the exposure as everyone’s intentionally getting the word out.

Tim May 23, 2011 at 10:59 pm

Kickstarter is not available in Canada? I see project’s for Toronto listed on their website though (http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/cities/toronto-can). I wonder if you can sort of do your own fundraising event thing. Keep up the hard work. I’m reading more about collaborative consumption now after hearing it from you guys.

unstash team June 1, 2011 at 3:26 pm

Hey Tim, sorry just noticed your comment here. Kickstarter is somewhat available in canada, with a number of loopholes we’re not prepared to jump through at the moment (you need a u.s. address, u.s. bank account, and u.s. driver’s license all in the same name). we’ll be sure to pursure some other funding opportunities out there.

Thanks so much for tracking with us, there’s a huge future in collaborative consumption!

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