Profile: Gratipay

Authors

Rationale

Set in class. Kocsen has researched before (gave lightning talk)

Organizational Details

Is the subject of your profile a corporate entity?

No, they are an Open Company.

What type?

Open Company

When was it founded?

2002

By whom?

Chad Whitacre

Original founder(s) still active?

Yes, very active

Publicly Traded? Since when? Initial Stock Price? Current stock price?

N/A

Has the company made any acquisitions? If yes, which companies, and what were their core products?

N/A

Has the company made any investments in other companies? If yes, which ones.

Nope. It kind of makes logistical investments into the Open Company foundation.

Number of Employees?

5

Where is HQ?

The internet @ gratipay.com

Does it have any other offices or locations?

N/A

Website?

https://gratipay.com/about

Wikipedia?

N/A

Does your organization file any annual reports? Please include links to any relevant document

There is no annual report. But there are expense reports found on their documentation site.

Communications

Social media for Gratipay

Does your subject participate in social media? If yes, please list a URL for each account, and reach within that community.

Communications channels for Gratipay

What communication channels does your subject use to reach their public? Briefly describe and include a URL for each.

Gratipay Conference Participation

Does your subject organize or participate in any conferences? If so, list them here, and provide links to any relevant sessions, keynotes, or content.

It does not as of May 2015.

Community Architecture

The project's IRC Channel

#gratipay

Source Code repository

https://github.com/gratipay

Mail list archive

support@gratipay.com

Documentation

https://github.com/gratipay

Other communication channels

  • Twitter: @gratipay - 1,697 following
  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Gratipay
  • Email: support@gratipay.com

Project Website and/or Blog

https://medium.com/gratipay-blog

Describe the software project, its purpose and goals.

Gratipay is all about open. The company itself is one of the first ones to become an ‘open company’. Everything is open from financials to the source code, which is pretty cool. They have very simple goals in mind and they understand they need rules, so they have those as well.

It is just a simple service to help open people support open and free software by their mean. The payment itself is open by nature and so there is no scamming involved. Just people helping people and using technology to help out.

They have some revenue on a ‘pay what you want’ basis when a user executes a payment to another user.

To preserve the simpleness of the company I will leave the overview simple.

Give brief history of the project. When was the Initial Commit? The latest commit?

JAN 2012 was the initial commit up to 04/15 being the latest. Its pretty active and this all started from Chad Whittacre

Who approves patches? How many people?

Everyone who has repo owner status are shown here. There are about 12 of them

Who has commit access, or has had patches accepted? How many total?

Everyone who has repo owner status and are shown here. There are about 12 of them

Has there been any turnover in the Core Team? (i.e. has the top 20% of contributors stayed the same over time? If not, how has it changed?)

No, Chad is and keeps being at the center of the operation.

Does the project have a BDFL, or Lead Developer? (BDFL == Benevolent Dictator for Life)

Yes, Chad Whitacre is at the core of the operation.

Are the front and back end developers the same people? What is the proportion of each?

Everyone who has repo owner status and are shown here. There are about 12 of them

What have been some of the major bugs/problems/issues that have arisen during development? Who is responsible for quality control and bug repair?

Chad is usually the go-to for fixing major bugs and issues.

How is the project's participation trending and why?

Its in ever-increasing trend. Because the vision is very clean. Help little by little. Not billions, not nothing. Just give out of the heart.

In your opinion, does the project pass "The Raptor Test?" (i.e. Would the project survive if the BDFL, or most active contributor were eaten by a Velociraptor?) Why or why not?

No, Chad Whitacre is at the core of the team. Most accounts and formal legal monetary holdings are only owned by him.

In your opinion, would the project survive if the core team, or most active 20% of contributors, were hit by a bus? Why or why not?

No. Chad Whitacre is at the core of the team. Most accounts and formal legal monetary holdings are only owned by him.

Does the project have an official "on-boarding" process in place? (new contributor guides, quickstarts, communication leads who focus specifically on newbies, etc...)

The on-boarding is simply as easy as following their guide.

Does the project have Documentation available? Is it extensive? Does it include code examples?

It has pretty solid 'wiki' that you can see here.

If you were going to contribute to this project, but ran into trouble or hit blockers, who would you contact, and how?

You would go to the IRC channel or even shoot Chad an email. They would be the ones to help. The codebase isn't to big where it's too much of an issue.

Based on these answers, how would you describe the decision making structure/process of this group? Is it hierarchical, consensus building, ruled by a small group, barely contained chaos, or ruled by a single or pair of individuals?

So mostly its reigned by a small group which is lead by Chad. However the consensus is built as a small community that gratipay has built.

Is this the kind of structure you would enjoy working in? Why, or why not?

It would be beneficial but not the best. Sometimes being too open is more of a hassle then it is productive.

Technology/Product

Section adapted from EFF Worksheet

Who invented, created, or sponsored the technology?

Chad Whitacre

What is the technology designed to do? How is it used?

Transfers small, sustainable payments.

Who would benefit from using this technology?

Anyone with a bank account.

What kinds of companies or organizations (stakeholders) might have been concerned about the development of this technology? Why?

  • Small time artists, hackers and do-ers
  • Banks and credit card companies

Does/Did an aspect of copyright law play a role in controversies about the technology? How?

It did. Once upon a time, Gratipay was on the brink of not existing.

Business and Revenue Model

How was this organization funded originally?

non profit, open initiative company.

How does this organization make revenue?

Only by donations and a 'suggested' cut from the tips you give out on gratipay.

Which specific Open Source Revenue Models are utilized?

Optional Revenue Model

What investments/acquisitions has the organization made?

N/A