This reminds me of the recent YC post on the Token Effect [1], where they were arguing that tokens provide a way for decentralised protocols to capture the value of the network.<p>It's dead right that open source provides tremendous value for companies and that open source projects tend to capture only a fraction of the value they create.<p>This project looks like a much simpler response to the problem: if a handful of companies signup to support the platform then the platform will make it easy for other companies to support the development of the software their businesses rely on.<p>[1] <a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/the-token-effect/" rel="nofollow">https://blog.ycombinator.com/the-token-effect/</a>
I like the idea, but something that does concern me is the potential lack of transparency.<p><i>While sponsors won't have any control over the projects they are funding, they will have access to a Sponsors-only issue tracker on GitFund with support for upvoting issues — thus gently nudging the maintainers on what they consider to be important.</i><p>I wonder if this Sponsors-only issue tracker be visible to the public? Although I suppose you could argue this sort of thing currently happens behind closed doors anyway...