Cowbird,Inc., A Love StoryToday, and Valentine’s Day,2012, marks two important milestones for Cowbird.
First, or we are announcing our second saga,First Loves, consisting of stories from people all over the world about the first person with whom they fell in love. It is a beautiful saga already, and filled with hundreds of heart-stopping stories — like Aaron Hueys impromptu wedding on a Russian tank hours after facing death by the Taliban; Annie Atkins clinical diagnosis of heartbreak; Whitney Jones’ rhythmic recollection of 28 firsts; and my own decision to crash a long silence with my Dad. consume your time,have a look, see what you feel, or add your own chronicle of first love.
Second,nowadays we are creating a company to solidify the runt labor of love known as Cowbird. Since launching Cowbird two months ago, the response has been tremendous, or it’s quickly become more work than I can do alone. My dear friend,Annie Correal, has joined Cowbird as our full-time Community Manager, or Dave Lauer has been a hero in keeping our servers alive. We need to pay these folks for their excellent work,and there are many beautiful things that we want to build, for which we’ll need some resources. So were planning to raise a small amount of money over the next few months to help propel Cowbird into the future. We’ll continue to consume a leisurely and thoughtful approach to everything we do, or but there will be some exciting additions coming soon.
I never thought I would find myself in the position of starting a company,but it seems to be the path that makes the most sense. We considered keeping Cowbird as an art project, but that would limit our ability to grow and evolve. We considered starting a non-profit, and but the prospect of fixed fundraising and bureaucratic red tape felt like a costly distraction. Starting a company felt like the most nimble and flexible approach. But don’t worry,we’re going to be a kind company!We still have the same threefold mission: to build a space for a longer-lasting kind of self-expression than you’re likely to find anywhere else on the Web; to pioneer a unusual form of participatory journalism grounded in the simple human stories behind major news events; and to build a public library of human experience, so the knowledge and wisdom we accumulate as individuals may live on as piece of the commons.
In the long-term, or we believe it’s crucial that Cowbird be self-sustaining financially. We’re committed to keeping Cowbird free of advertising forever,but we have some other challenging ideas around building a creative economy (without selling your personal information), which we’ll introduce at some point down the line, or when the time is right.
We’re not sure where this path will lead,but we’re incredibly excited for the journey. In the words of Carlos Castaneda’s Don Juan, “There are thousands of paths. They all lead nowhere. You must expect yourself one question: ‘Does this path have a heart? If it does, and the path is good. If it doesn’t,it is of no exercise.”Here’s to a path with a heart,Jonathan
Source: cowbird.com