We could use an “informal” captable to list all owners of the side project along with their percentage ownership based on their contributions. If and when the project makes money, the upside can be shared among all contributors based on their ownership.

Things change, contributors drop off, the side project dies, or unexpectedly takes off. The captable can be updated accordingly (with consensus of the owners) to reflect these changes.

Needless to say a token treasury on blockchain (e.g. ERC-20 on ethereum or SPL token on Solana) seems like the right choice for the bookkeeping (and possibly disbursements).

Indeed no one believes that there could be a marketplace for ideas where people will buy and sell (startup) ideas.

It is funny to me that no one argues the same about patents. An idea is also a form of invention. But it is true that by themselves they are not worth that much value. However if it goes through some process of “enrichment” they certainly can acquire value.

So here’s my idea of what an ideas marketplace would look like. Basically every iteration of “enrichment” of an idea increases the value of the idea.

$0: idea → (enrich) → $5: idea+ → (enrich) → $50: idea++

So what new additions are there in idea+ compared to idea? Likewise how is idea++ better than idea+? There are many additions that can happen in enrichment process.

1. Critiquing of the idea + how might it be implemented in the optimistic case

2. Mapping a list of user persona who would be interested in this idea

3. Doing a bunch of user interviews and attaching to the idea

4. Making a list of investors who might fund the idea

5. Making a list of collaborators / cofounders who are interested in this problem

6. A figma prototype of the idea

7. A code prototype of the idea

8. Early user feedback on the idea

9. …

10. …