PeopleCount is a good idea, if you are willing to be responsible.

One guy, in his 30’s, was all set to join me in working on PeopleCount. But his friend argues that it’s a bad idea:

“If you get 10 elected officials on board and you get funding and it’s a non profit then it MIGHT be a decent idea.”

Let’s look at this. He wants to make it a non-profit, but it has to be funded. He wants to make sure we don’t make money, but he’s not willing for his friend to risk not making money for 5 months.

I talked with 3 congressional candidates, one of whom isn’t currently running, and a recent candidate for senator. The two current candidates said they will use the site and pay for its services. The other two said they would if they were running. But for this friend, 10 is the magic number. My plan is to have at least 20 by the end of February, but we’re not there yet.

And the whole “if X and Y and Z then it MIGHT be a decent idea” is wrong.

If it succeeds, then it was a good idea.
If it fails, but another effort succeeds, then it was still a good idea, creating the possibility that someone else can build atop.
If it fails and nothing comes of it, then either it wasn’t a good idea, or it wasn’t well enough executed, and people were too cynical to get past the failure.

PeopleCount is not a non-profit because, as I understand it, in California a non-profit requires an independent board. I don’t have that.

Right now, It’s too late for it to be a non-profit. We’re heading to market, low on time, lower on funds. Changing the form will just slow us down. Maybe in June. What I’ll need is some good people I trust to be on the board. I need to trust them to keep it non-partisan and to run it well. If it becomes a non-profit, I lose control. And no one else seems to get the vision yet. So I’ll need good people.

Basically, though, this guy is trying to judge “what PeopleCount is.” But PeopleCount is a work in progress. It’s nothing yet, except a possibility.

PeopleCount is what we say it is. It can work if we make it work. From what I’ve heard from politicians and citizens, it can work. People react to it like it’s impossible. But the ones that can listen and think for themselves change that idea. All the ingredients are available for it to work- users that want it, customers (politicians) that want it and are willing to pay for it, plus a population that’s crying out for it. It solves are most pressing problems.

The challenge is marketing- communicating the possibility.

This whole concept of whether PeopleCount is a good idea or not – it’s bogus. People can either make it into a good idea or not. You have that power. Take responsibility for your judgement. Take responsibility for your future. You can live a life of fear and worry and not doing what needs to be done, or you can step up and create the future you want.

If you haven’t already, please add your name to our announcement list. Or if you’re reading this after we’ve launched, become a user.