You Already Know Something Is Wrong.¶
You see it. The systems that were supposed to serve us — economic, political, social — are stuck in loops that make the problems worse, not better.
And you are done just watching.
Maybe you've marched. Maybe you've signed petitions. Maybe you've donated, shared, argued at dinner tables, lost sleep over it.
That energy is exactly what we need. But pointed somewhere different.
The Smartup Hypothesis
The crisis is not a lack of knowledge or technology. It is a structural problem: the wrong people own the tools, the wrong incentives drive the decisions, and the wrong voices are in the room.
What if we built the room differently — from scratch?
Smartup Zero is that room. And we are building it in public, with every decision logged, every euro tracked, and every voice counted equally.
We're not promising it will be smooth. It will be messy. But we start at zero — together.
This Is for You If...¶
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You have a skill and want to use it
Design, code, writing, science, strategy, operations. Every talent has a place. Tasks are waiting. You get paid in Smartup Credits — a real claim on the treasury.
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You have a voice and want to use it
The world needs to hear about this experiment. Storytellers, campaigners, community builders — amplify the mission and earn Social Karma.
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You want to watch, learn, and vote
Not ready to jump in yet? That is fine. As a citizen-observer you have full transparency and one equal vote in every decision. No small thing.
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Your organisation wants to participate
NGOs, collectives, cooperatives — your organisation gets one seat at the table. Not one per member. One. Equal. Vote.
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You want to start your own Smartup
The model is open and replicable. If you have a mission, a team, and a problem worth solving — you can build a Smartup.
What Makes This Different¶
There are a thousand projects asking for your energy. Here is why this one is worth it.
In Smartup Zero, money buys you a seat — not a louder voice. Every owner has exactly one vote. Whether you paid €0 or €5,000.
Leadership is earned through Social Karma (SK) — a reputation score built by showing up, doing the work, and being recognised by peers. It decays if you go quiet. It cannot be purchased.
The person with the most influence is the person who served the most. Full stop.
Every euro in the treasury. Every task completed. Every SC earned. Every vote cast. All of it is logged in an append-only ledger and published here on this site — automatically, in real time.
No backroom deals. No hidden equity. No founder shares diluting yours. The ledger is the contract.
Smartup Zero has no headquarters, no national jurisdiction, no "local chapter" gatekeeping. If you have internet access and a skill to contribute, you are eligible.
The experiment is designed for the world — because the problems we are solving do not stop at borders.
The organisation's goals are constitutionally locked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. They cannot be pivoted away by a founder, an investor, or a majority vote.
If it doesn't move the needle on a shared human challenge, it doesn't get funded.
How It Works (The Short Version)¶
You don't need to understand the whole system to get started. Here is the minimum you need to know.
flowchart LR
A["1. Pick a license\nfrom €0 on\nOpen Collective"]
--> B["2. Get onboarded\nCaptain creates your identity.\nYou connect via Matrix."]
--> C["3. Take your first action\nVote. Claim a task.\nAmplify a story."]
--> D["4. Build reputation\nEarn SC and SK\nthrough real contribution."]
--> E["5. Lead if you want\nSK unlocks governance.\nCaptains are elected, not appointed."]The Goal of Onboarding
By the time you finish your first action — a vote cast, a task completed, a story shared — you should feel one thing:
"I did something real."
Not filled out a form. Not joined a mailing list. Something real, logged permanently in a transparent ledger, that moved the experiment forward.
Where to Go Next¶
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Ready to join?
Four steps from Open Collective purchase to verified owner. Everything you need to know before you commit.
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Already in? Find your way around.
Your map to the entire system — governance, work, ownership, and what to do when you're lost.
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What does a normal day look like?
One contributor, one day, every layer of the system — in the order you will actually encounter them.
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Want to start your own Smartup?
The model is open. If you have a mission and an SDG, you can build the next one.
One More Thing¶
This is a scientific experiment. Not a startup pitch. Not a movement with merch.
We don't know if the Smartup model outperforms the traditional startup. That is the hypothesis we are testing.
What we do know is that the traditional model — where ownership concentrates, power compounds, and decisions drift away from the people affected by them — is not working for most of the planet.
So we are building an alternative. Carefully. Transparently. Together.
You won't be a user. You won't be a customer.
You will be an owner.