Start Your Own Smartup¶
Replicate the experiment. Test the hypothesis in your community.¶
Smartup Zero is Experiment #1 — the first test of the Smartup Hypothesis. It is not meant to be the only one. The research programme is designed to be replicated: any community with a mission aligned to the SDGs can launch a Smartup, run the same intervention, and generate evidence that contributes to our collective understanding of Collective IQ.
If you have a mission, a team, and a problem worth solving, you can start your own experiment. Not a startup. Not an NGO. Not a DAO. A Smartup — a democratically owned, SDG‑locked, collectively governed organisation that generates data for Engelbart’s eight indicators.
What is a Smartup?¶
A Smartup is an organisation that runs the same experimental intervention as Smartup Zero:
- Equal ownership — every contributor owns a piece, regardless of contribution size
- Earned power — Social Karma determines governance weight, not money
- Transparent by default — all decisions, credits, and actions are ledger‑logged
- SDG‑locked — the mission is constitutionally tied to at least one UN Sustainable Development Goal
- Built on SmartupOS — the same open‑source, EU‑sovereign apparatus that makes measurement possible
Your Smartup’s mission is yours to define — within the SDG framework. But the structure, the measurement, and the evidence you generate follow the same protocol as Smartup Zero, contributing to a growing body of knowledge about whether democratic ownership, shared memory, and constitutional autonomy actually work.
The Research Opportunity
The traditional startup concentrates ownership, compounds power, and drifts away from the people it was meant to serve. The Smartup model tests whether a different structure produces better outcomes across Engelbart’s eight indicators of Collective IQ.
You don’t have to take our word for it. Join the research programme and run the experiment yourself.
The Three Requirements¶
1. A Mission Tied to at Least One SDG¶
Your Smartup must be constitutionally locked to at least one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
This is not a branding exercise. It is a structural constraint — the same way Smartup Zero cannot pivot away from its SDG commitment by founder decision or majority vote, neither can yours. This experimental condition tests whether mission‑lock improves long‑term planning and coordination (Indicators 7 and 8).
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SDG 11
Sustainable Cities and Communities
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SDG 13
Climate Action
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SDG 16
Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
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SDG 9
Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
These are four examples. Any of the 17 goals qualifies. Browse all 17 SDGs →
2. An Official Smartup Business Plan (OSBP)¶
Every Smartup needs an Official Smartup Business Plan — not a traditional investor pitch deck, but a structured, living document that maps your mission across the seven required disciplines. The OSBP is the protocol your community will govern from, and it evolves as the evidence comes in.
The seven sections of the OSBP:
| # | Blueprint | What It Covers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Executive Summary | Mission, SDG alignment, the three groundings |
| 2 | Design Blueprint | UX, product, and interface decisions |
| 3 | Development Blueprint | Technical architecture and build roadmap |
| 4 | Business Blueprint | Revenue model, ownership structure, financial flows |
| 5 | Media Blueprint | Narrative, communications, and community building |
| 6 | Science Blueprint | Research methodology and measurement approach |
| 7 | Operational Blueprint | Governance cycles, ADM implementation, team structure |
Smartup Zero’s OSBP is a living reference you can study:
- Executive Summary
- Design Blueprint
- Development Blueprint
- Business Blueprint
- Media Blueprint
- Science Blueprint
- Operational Blueprint
The OSBP is not a document you write once
It is a living record. In Smartup Zero, the business plan is hosted in the public repo and updated through democratic proposal. Every change is logged. Every version is preserved. This ensures the experimental protocol is always current and auditable. Read more about the OSBP structure →
3. Bootstrap With Smartup Zero¶
You don’t start from scratch. You start from what Smartup Zero has already built.
The SmartupOS infrastructure — Forgejo, Engelbot, the Toolbox, the ledger architecture, the constitution — is open and replicable. Smartup Zero bootstraps new Smartups through a structured process that sets up your:
- Repository structure (your own OSOT)
- Initial constitution (forked and adapted from Smartup Zero’s)
- Owner ledger and licence system
- Engelbot instance connected to your workspace
- First objectives and tasks in the system
This is not a franchise. There is no ongoing fee, no profit-sharing, no reporting obligation back to Smartup Zero. Once your Smartup is running, it is a sovereign experimental node in the Timeline0 research programme — generating its own evidence, contributing to the collective understanding of Collective IQ.
How to Start¶
There is one entry point right now:
Contact Robbert.
He is the founder of Smartup Zero and the person who can walk you through the bootstrapping process — from your initial OSBP draft to your first live ledger entry.
This is a human conversation, not a form submission. Bring your mission, your SDG, and a rough idea of the team you want to build. The rest gets shaped together.
Where Your Smartup Will Live¶
Once bootstrapped, your Smartup will be listed in the Smartup Registry — the public record of all active Smartups running the experiment.
We are in Pre‑Validation phase
Smartup Zero itself is still in Pre‑Validation — building the laboratory, not yet running the full experiment. The bootstrapping process for new Smartups is being defined as part of this phase. Early movers help shape the process. That is intentional.
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