publishes an open accounting of pertinent money matters. We do this because most businesses don’t. Without such a disclosure, the reality of a project’s deeper life and limitations remain hidden.
(No project has ever had enough time or money allotted to it). Following the money in others’ endeavors is a crash course in getting one’s new thing done. To that education, here’s a back-of-the-napkin sketch of the financial biography of The Electronic Whole Earth Catalog.
It was birthed in two general phases of funding. Apple Computer financed the first half, itself done in two phases -- a medium scale test of a fledgling HyperCard, and then later a large scale prototype version to premiere Apple’s CD-ROM drive. Apple got a product they could demonstrate at shows, which not only worked,
