Appsterdam Mission Statement

[judykitteh]

We need some materials to use when an organization (government, corporation, etc) asks "How can we support Appsterdam?" This is a clear and concise overview of our mission and the "ask." We want to give them something really concrete that they can agree to support and take action. Imagine a pitch at StartupWeekend, where you present the team, your goals, and what you could accomplish if you received X resources.

This should be a 1-page document which contains:

• Appsterdam Vision / Mission in 3-5 sentences
• Track record (100 WWLLs, 20 Gurus Sessions, x podcasts, X Pitch clubs, "Open For Business" initiative, etc)
• Current Organization / team?
• What we could accomplish in the next 2 years if we had funding (or other non-monetary resources). How would we organize ourselves to accomplish it? Some ideas would be: hire a central team so it's not just volunteers; pay Gurus for Guru sessions; provide innovation coaching; provide legal / residency support, etc.

The document is in our GitHub resources. Please feel free to contribute to it. This thread will be used for discussing what to add/edit from the document.

[tross6]

Sorry for the delay. I will look at this and contribute early next week.

[tross6]

Here's an updated version of the mission statement:

Appsterdam is a global non-profit organization that empowers established and aspiring app makers through knowledge-sharing, community, and skill building. We bring together app makers of every age, background, area of interest, and level of experience. We help our community employ best practices in innovation, craftsmanship, quality, diversity, cooperation, and professionalism. We cooperate with private, public and cultural parties to build an ecosystem that improves the economic and creative opportunities for app makers.

[tross6]

And a rough brainstorm list of what we could accomplish with funding:

Better connect people looking for work with people who have work
Expand our global network
More events, larger events
Connect with the corporate world more
Do research
Fund learning projects, such as long-term bootcamps and hands-on coding projects
Better develop and capitalize on our strong brand
Provide assistance for talent wanting to relocate to the Netherlands
Enhance speaker’s bureau with great speakers for more conferences and events on a wide variety of topics
Better online video content of talks and workshops
Development of revenue streams
Ability to better connect with and bring high-level leaders and personalities to Amsterdam
Provide support for government agencies for business and creative development efforts in NL
Implement “Appsterdam approved” quality rating system
Create a website that is a living, well-known, relevant resource for the industry
Create more global embassies, and better manage the ones we have
Help increase the number of success stories coming out of Amsterdam

[tross6]

More updates to our mission/vision draft. Feel free to give comments/suggestions (and apologies--can't seem to get the numbering and formatting to work in here. Any help on that would be appreciated!):

Appsterdam Mission
Appsterdam is a global non-profit organization that unites established and aspiring app makers through knowledge-sharing, community, and skill building.We chose Amsterdam as the world capital of apps, to establish a center of gravity for our industry, to provide a place where all app makers can gather, and to create a framework for our members to support the ecosystem.
We bring together app makers of every age, background, area of interest, and level of experience.We help the entire creative and business community employ best practices in innovation, craftsmanship, quality, cooperation, and professionalism.We collaborate with private, public and cultural parties to build an environment that PHONE promotes creative and economic growth.Through our strong community, we also
activate and foster the app-making spirit throughout the Amsterdam region, its organizations, and people.

Summary for Appsterdam 2.0
Appsterdam is in a new phase of life. For the first 3 years, we have built our brand and community from scratch. Now, with our strong brand and global community in place, we want to reach out to activate, push, and help the app-making spirit flourish throughout the Amsterdam region, its organizations, and people.We will challenge our community to go out and contribute to the ecosystem, and give them a structure to do so.We also want to be a key driver in attracting top talent to the region, and to help build fast-growing technology companies.
In order to fulfill our mission,Appsterdam has five main initiatives planned for 2014 and beyond:

1. Appsterdam Office Hours for Corporates and Startups. During the Office Hours, people from corporations and startups can come ask questions and learn from the knowledge and expertise of our community.Topics will range from strategic (how to attract tech talent to your company, how to organize an effective hackathon, app strategy), to practical (operating systems, UX,APIs, implementing ideas, open data etc.)

Through these events we will promote a business-like spirit, create business connections between app-makers and companies, build app-making capacity for corporates and start-ups, and foster innovation.

The sessions would be free for participants, and we will have different sponsors to provide an amount for the organizing costs.

We will aim to implement a business model for this pillar.

2. Appsterdam Hour of Code for Amsterdam schools.“Coding is the New Literacy”, and Appsterdam will help Amsterdam schools to teach students how to code, and ignite their passion for the subject. In November 2014, our volunteers will provide 2 hours of coding instruction for schools in the region, and sponsor each school with a cash donation.This is an innovative way to activate future talent and help kids learn an essential skill for the future.

We have the expertise, but we will need funding for coordination and documentation for this initiative.

1. Meetups and Events. We will continue with our successful line-up of regular Meetups and special events.

We hold an average of 16+ events per month, providing valuable services to the community. Our events attract a wide range of people, and we see new faces at every event.We also regularly cooperate with other tech, design, and startup- related organizations to combine efforts, creating an even larger ecosystem.

These events are the core of Appsterdam, and allow us to be a strong, skilled and creative community--which benefits the app makers, and well as fostering business and app-making spirit in the Amsterdam region and beyond.We like to say that Appsterdam is like experiencing the energy and inspiration you get when you’re at a conference...all the time. This pillar also includes supporting the activities of our embassies around the world.

For Appsterdam 2.0, we want to add more international-scale hackathons/codefests to further attract talent and innovation to the region.We aim to coordinate at least 4 hackathons per year.

1. Back Office Support for Appsterdamers. Many of our members are freelancers or small business owners.They need to be able to focus on what they do best--building apps.We find that people need support for back-office and administrative tasks, such as contracts.VAR statements, terms and conditions, insurance, project proposals, document templates, setting up business websites and blogs, SEO, and marketing.

Appsterdam as an organization can provide these services to app makers for a discounted rate by centralizing the activities, and looking for bulk discounts on these services.
This pillar would eventually provide an income stream for Appsterdam, as well as help our members be more productive and successful in their business.

Our goal is to provide services to at least 20 app makers in 2014, and grow the program from there.We are looking for seed investment to get the program off the ground.

1. Support for the City of Amsterdam in promoting the region. We will continue to partner with and support the city in attracting and acquiring talent and innovative companies to locate here in the Amsterdam region.This is important to our mission as it helps to build the ecosystem and provide opportunities for our community members.

Activities include:
• Meeting with prospective companies with city representatives,
• Viral campaigns for attracting tech talent to the region
• Attending trade shows and conferences recommended by the city with an
Appsterdam booth to tell our story and attract talent
• Providing tools, information and a“soft landing” for app makers looking to
relocate to the Netherlands.

[mxsasha]

First time I hear about the "Appsterdam Hour of Code for Amsterdam schools". One of the organisers of the Amsterdam PyLadies has also been doing things in teaching groups the basics of programming, and she has a collection of Raspberry PI's along with screens, that she uses for these courses. She mentioned others doing something similar might be able to use this kit, as long as it relates specifically to Amsterdam Oost, as they paid for it, if I remember correctly. If anyone's interested to see if this can be used for Hour of Code, I can put you in touch.

[tross6]

Thanks @erikr . Yes, once we get to the details, it would be great to check out the materials! It would be good in general, too, to chat with Amsterdam PyLadies about what they are doing, so feel free to do an introduction. Much appreciated!