Just finished watching LTT podcast where they discussed how to keep Framework as a company alive.
Other than ordering your laptop and spreading the word. What can we, as community members who really wish to see this take off, do to help Framework succeed??
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While I am a LTT fan, I was actually quite annoyed by the WAN show this week. The worst thing you could possibly do for frame.work at the moment is to suggest their company would not be long term viable without angel investment. This could scare away potential customers worried about the long term viability of the product.
It should have been extremely obvious that the conflict of interest would be too high an issue and he talked about it on the WAN show before even talking with his own staff about it.
He should have taken some queues from this guy: I need to buy AMD stock. Now. - Ryzen 3rd Gen News - YouTube
“… because holding PC stocks would be an enormous conflict on interest for me”
/rant
While I am a LTT fan, I was actually quite annoyed by the WAN show this week.
@Brendan_Seabrook Sorry, as a coincidence, I just did put the link on another thread before seeing your comment here just to share the info. Great Review from LTT! - #18 by junaruga
About a week ago I was actually in the process of creating a topic about potential investments by this community in the company. I scrapped the draft because I figured that if Framework thought they needed money, they would have already opened up that possibility or pursued another one (like VCs).
But hearing Linus talk about it my idea might not have been that bad: Why not sell shares (or whatever financial product fits best)? That way the people who ordered a laptop are able to help Framework survive without ironically needing to buy parts they don’t need. And the people who want to support the company, but don’t want to/can’t buy a laptop at the moment or with these specs can do so too.
@Jason_Hottelet Not sure about that. The implication of selling “shares” to customers waiting out for cheaper or different Framework laptop models might look suspicious to those hearing about Framework for the first time, so I’m with @Brendan_Seabrook on this one. If the product is really that good (which it is) the best thing to do is to just keep talking about it like how @junaruga is saying Fairphone did it.
I would have to disagree strongly with the whole “selling shares to investors”.
Look at what happens to companies that do that early on in their existence. They end up just chasing quarterly balance sheets at the expense of their products and their customer base. They run the company into the ground thanks to bean counters.
Develop a QUALITY product, then market it to certain segments where there is a possible market.
I think one area that Framework could look at is schools, especially middle and high schools. Talk to their computer science teachers and shop teachers. Get them to teach kids HOW a computer works, not just how to code. The shop teachers could teach how to work with CNC and 3d printing equipment with Framework add-on modules.
I remember how I learned about computers back in the mid 80’s. Our teacher opened up an Apple 2E and an early IBM PC ( I think it was an XT 8088, had two 5 1/4" floppy drives next to a 10" monitor built into the case), and actually explained each components function to us.
If they don’t understand the hardware, they will never develop new hardware in the future.
First things first, FrameWork has to prove that their product is viable to gain traction. When you get your laptop, review it in as many ways as you can, to as many people as you can. Suggest that other “influencers” in the same vein review it. Linus and Louis have reviewed it. What about the other multitude of movers and shakers whose opinion means life or death for some of these laptops? Honest reviews and organic word of mouth. That’s what it’s all about.
I would just echo all of the anti-sentiment towards investment shares, etc. If a ball and chain is not necessary than Framework should do what they can to avoid one.
Simply the best thing you can do for Framework is word of mouth. Tell your family, friends, and neighbors. Use your internet presence to talk about and encourage it.
Every sale is another customer that has bought into the change; that now has a tangible commitment to it. They will either buy upgrades or spare parts, or they will continue to use their laptop for much longer than a traditional laptop they might have bought instead.
This is how Framework is successful. All the talk and buzz in the world doesn’t amount to much if sales don’t happen.
If you want parts and stuff to be available for decades then sales must happen.
Nothing kills a GREAT idea like the lack of sales.
Fortunately, Framework seems to be doing great in this department!
That all said, I think getting official support from Linux distros would be pretty big. Fedora and Ubuntu should publicly endorse and certify the Framework laptop.
It is encouraging seeing Elementary OS on these forums essentially doing that very thing.
While I wholeheartedly agree about sharing the product and boosting sales, I will state that any burgeoning company can’t survive without money. I agree that lots of companies fail after chasing shareholder profits, but there are a million more other reasons why companies fail. Plenty of companies with heavy investor engagement don’t fail as well. So far what I’ve seen of the framework team is that their direction for the product bucks investor and even some customer pressures, just look at the “AMD Please” threads, and the fact they’re bringing a repairable consumer laptop to market… It seems to me they have a clear idea of the scope of their product (respectable performance, high repairability/upgradeability/modularity, cheap enough to make a profit, and enough spare parts inventory to move a high volume of replacement components [cough cough AMD CPUs].
So long as the team keeps listening to its engineers and customers, and stays faithful to its vision, I don’t see a couple extra investors hurting things. This is by no means me saying it can’t fail due to what you described, I just mean they get to play the balance between making more money and having fewer external pressures. They’ll be closer to the problem at hand. We don’t get to see their pocketbooks, so it’s easy for us to make that value judgment on their behalf.
It’s really just waiting on the marketplace to launch. Once you can get some fancy cards and accessories then you can start supporting them that way. I’d be willing to wager that’s where most of their margins are coming from.
Just wait for now I suppose
I second this 100%
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