Folks: where’s the alternative to the trillion-dollar surveillance capitalists you’re working on? Why isn’t it ready yet?

Also folks: Here’s your €457/mo war chest… don’t spend it all in one place now!

(I can’t express how grateful I am to our patrons over the years but how the fuck do we compete when we live in a world where some random techbro raises $2.6M to build a people farming social network where you can only say “Yo!“ while we struggle to pay the rent?)

https://small-tech.org/fund-us

Fund Small Technology Foundation

We’re a tiny team of two funded by individuals like you. Your patronage goes towards keeping a roof over our heads as we build a better future for the Internet.

^{Fund Small Technology Foundation}

“We’re so glad you exist.” is a phrase I hear often.

Say what you will about Silicon Valley and venture capitalists but when they say “we’re so glad you exist” to the latest people-farming startup, they back it up with, on average, $5M in cash.

When MEPS, etc., tell me they’re so glad we exist, they back it up with perhaps an invitation to talk for free at their next event.

(We’ve had exactly €0 in EU funding but I’ve spoken twice at the parliament so yay, I guess.)

https://small-tech.org/fund-us/

Fund Small Technology Foundation

We’re a tiny team of two funded by individuals like you. Your patronage goes towards keeping a roof over our heads as we build a better future for the Internet.

^{Fund Small Technology Foundation}

So, yeah, regardless of whether we receive any funding or not I’m going to keep doing the only thing I can, which is to keep working on making the Small Web exist (https://ar.al/2020/08/07/what-is-the-small-web/).

And the goal is that once we get to the point where we (and anyone else who wants to) can host Small Web places, that will hopefully make us sustainable (because clearly we can’t depend on public funding).

But it sure as hell would be nicer if we didn’t have to keep living a precarious existence until then.

What is the Small Web?

Updated June 19th, 2023 Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos. But that doesn’t mean you can’t watch it! You can download Small Is Beautiful #23 directly, and watch it with your favourite video player.

^{Aral Balkan}