Gov/en/Portal:Economy/Financing-Development

🎯 In 20 seconds (scientific summary): We are heading towards self-financing models where platform development couples directly to user adoption through bonding curves and subscription revenue. This hypothesis proposes that decoupling from venture capital creates alignment between product quality and financial sustainability, though it assumes sufficient community participation and user growth to sustain operations.

💡 In simple words: This page tells how WikiDeal pays for building new things.

Financing Development

WikiDeal's development is financed without venture capital, without debt, and without shareholder equity. Instead, it uses a self-financing model built on early supporter subscription tokens (bonding curve) and recurring subscription revenue. This page explains how development is funded, what the money covers, and how early supporters are compensated once the platform reaches scale.

WikiDeal finances development through community support (bonding curve ×100 → ×30) + subscriptions (10 CHF/year): no VC, no debt, no equity dilution

Development Financing

Target raise	1M CHF (initial)
Subscription Tokens issued	50M Subscription Tokens (×100 → ×30 curve)
Early supporters	50M Subscription Tokens
Total pool	100M Subscription Tokens
Recurring revenue	10 CHF/user/year
At 2M users	20M CHF/year
Distribution	25% donors · 25% early supporters · 50% operating costs

Self-Financing Model

WikiDeal rejects the traditional startup financing model (raise VC → grow at all costs → exit). Instead, it uses two complementary mechanisms:

1. Early-phase: Bonding Curve (×100 → ×30 subscription token range) → generates initial capital from community supporters
2. Operating phase: Subscription revenue (10 CHF/year × users) → self-sustaining operations + development budget

This model means WikiDeal's fate is tied to genuine user adoption, not funder appetite. If users don't pay, development stops. If users do pay, development accelerates proportionally. This creates a healthy alignment between product quality and financial health.

Bonding Curve: 1M CHF → 100M Subscription Tokens

The initial development phase is funded through the Bonding Curve. The target is to raise 1 million CHF from early supporters:

1M CHF raised → 50M Subscription Tokens issued (×100 → ×30 bonding curve) to funders + 50M Subscription Tokens reserved for early supporters (dev contributors, community builders) = 100M Subscription Tokens in total

The total pool is 100 million Subscription Tokens, and nothing more: it is not a cash liability. Subscription Tokens are automatically transformed into subscriptions, honoured progressively at the pace of subscription revenue.

Subscription Revenue as Development Fund

Ongoing development is funded through platform subscription revenue (10 CHF/user/year). This creates a direct link between user growth and development capacity:

Users	Annual Revenue	Operating and development budget (50% of revenue)
100,000	1M CHF	~500K CHF
500,000	5M CHF	~2.5M CHF
2,000,000	20M CHF	~10M CHF
10,000,000	100M CHF	~50M CHF

Amortization Logic

The initial 1M CHF raised through the bonding curve must be "amortized" over time, meaning early supporters must eventually be compensated. This happens through the revenue distribution mechanism, not through direct repayment:

• Early supporters hold Subscription Tokens (from the 100M Subscription Tokens pool)
• As platform revenues grow, 25% of each incoming franc is distributed to their Subscription Tokens, pro rata
• The more Subscription Tokens you hold, the more you receive from each distribution
• Over time, Subscription Token holders would see their Subscription Tokens honoured progressively, within the limit set by the ×100 → ×30 bonding curve

ℹ️ There is no fixed repayment schedule. Compensation depends on platform growth. Early supporters accept this risk explicitly: the ×100 → ×30 bonding curve is the subscription token for accepting early-stage uncertainty.

How each incoming franc is distributed

Each franc of revenue, whether it comes from a CHF 10 yearly subscription or from a CHF 1 monthly payment, is intended to be distributed as follows:

• 25% to the Subscription Tokens of the donors of the first Donation Roundtable, pro rata to the Subscription Tokens each donor holds;
• 25% to the Subscription Tokens of the early supporters, pro rata on the same principle;
• 50% to the current operating costs of WikiDeal.

This mechanism is not discretionary: it is a structural rule built into the WikiDeal operating model, published transparently and auditable by the community.

Worked example (illustrative, non-binding)

Assume a month with CHF 100,000 of incoming subscription revenue:

Incoming revenue	Donors' Subscription Tokens (25%)	Early supporters' Subscription Tokens (25%)	Operating costs (50%)
CHF 100,000	CHF 25,000	CHF 25,000	CHF 50,000

• The CHF 25,000 for donors is distributed pro rata across all donor Subscription Token holders: a donor holding 1% of the donors' Subscription Tokens pool receives CHF 250 that month;
• The CHF 25,000 for early supporters is distributed pro rata on the same principle: an early supporter holding 2% of the early supporters' Subscription Tokens pool receives CHF 500;
• CHF 50,000 covers WikiDeal's current operating costs.

Each distributed franc reduces the holder's remaining Subscription Tokens balance by the same amount. The pace therefore scales with subscription revenue: the more users subscribe, the faster Subscription Tokens are honoured. Cash out is available in increments of at least CHF 100. These figures are an illustration of the mechanism, not a projection or a commitment.

Development Roadmap Funding

Development priorities are funded from the operating share (50% of revenue). The model does not promise specific features at specific dates; instead, it promises that:

• All surplus beyond operating costs is reinvested in development or distributed to the community
• Development priorities are determined through democratic governance (Open Call process)
• No development budget is "reserved" for private interests or locked away from community oversight
• Financial reports are published quarterly, including development spending breakdown

See also: Bonding Curve Subscription Model Revenue Structure Subscription Tokens Explained Subscription Token Simulation