For those of you not completely up to speed, I’m in need of a new boat. Needing a new boat also means I’m in need of some serious cash to invest in a boat. At the moment I’m leaning toward a catamaran. The price range for a modest cat is in the $100,000 to $250,000 range. Well… According to the ATM display, I’m a little short. Therefore, I need a way to round up some funds. Lately I’ve been looking into the potential of bringing some sponsors into the mix.

Steve & Winnebiko II

Due to the holidays and, other commitments, and because I just felt like it… I’ve been spending some time away from the boat. Part of my land-based excursion lead me to spend a couple weeks in Seattle. Since I was in the vicinity of someone who has a wealth of knowledge in getting sponsors for projects, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to meet up with Steve Roberts.

FTC Required Disclosure: I purchased the book that’s sort of reviewed below (Reaching Escape Velocity: Launching gonzo engineering projects with sponsors, media, volunteers, and other potent forces) with my own money at the publicly advertised price. I found the contents to be so useful that I went to hang out with the author at his lab for a few hours at my first opportunity. He’s a pretty funny and interesting guy. Because he signs his emails with ‘Steve’ and because I’ve met him in person, I refer to him below as ‘Steve’. No non-SAG-member animals appear in this film and no celebrities were harmed in the process. Always wear protective eyewear. Please drink responsibly.

Everybody seems to want a spot on the geek bandwagon. After enduring pocket protector jokes for untold millennia, the geek-nerd continuum is at the epicenter of nouveau sexiness. It’s pretty easy to take baby steps down the path. A common first move is to install WordPress on your LAMP. After some tweaking and googling and a little luck, you’ll be shining the light of arcane acronym dissemination in less than a fortnight. However, the moment you start flexing your new-found vocabulary in front of higher tier geeks, you’ll quickly realize the rift between being conversational in geek and fully understanding the language.

Nomadness

If you want to get serious about applied geekery, might I recommend dispensing with formalities and the protracted learning curves advocated by the sane and the cautious? If you’re ready to jump off the deep end, proceed directly to the work of Stephen K. Roberts. His projects are so detailed that it’s hard to know where to begin explaining them. He was computerizing bicycles with internet connections and cellular phones with price tags upwards of $1.2 million in the 80’s (then put 17,000+ miles on them). He built a pedal hybrid ocean-going trimaran in the 90’s. He’s currently tricking out a 44′ sailboat with at least 3 on-board computers, 15 Arduino embedded microcontrollers, something like 450 data collection points, and a recording studio! He may also have mentioned something about having a MakerBot aboard too.

The travel / adventure / lifestyle design world has no shortage of information aimed at helping you break free from mundanity. A large volume of this is simply recycled platitudes aimed more at helping whoever is selling the information to escape their own boredom. With diligence however, a wealth of information resides just under the surface. I’ve explored enough of it to develop a pretty thick wall of skepticism. I don’t offer praise easily. Yet somehow, within about five minutes of finding Steve’s site, I was compelled to email him to learn more.

There are quite a few books out there about sports sponsorships. There are areas that overlap with my world somewhat, but they’re not built for your path to technology driven geek-o-rific nomadism. Steve’s book is about projects that fall more into the realm of full-fledged expeditions than getting your surfing trips paid for. And… not just expeditions requiring an airline ticket, pair of running shoes, and a tube of sunscreen.  We’re talking about expeditions impossible without serious gear and technology with price tags in the five plus figure range. This is what launches “Reaching Escape Velocity” into uber-geek territory. If you have aspirations of pulling off a serious project that may at first blush seem insane and financially prohibitive, you need this book.

Microship

At 73 pages, the book isn’t riddled with minutiae or padded with fluff. It’s simply packed with the information that will nag at your core until you’ve either experienced your own period of trial and error, or learned from someone who’s put together successful projects… repeatedly. Some of the topics covered are: the dynamics of getting cash vs. equipment; the appropriate amount of energy to devote to media exposure; how to approach potential sponsors with a pitch that’s more compelling than an open hand; leveraging the experience into the world of academia; the potential for consulting and speaking revenue; other potential sources of related income; and… other details from more than two decades of experience.

If you’re looking for a way to fund a geekworthy engineering project, you need Steve’s book (Reaching Escape Velocity). I highly encourage you to check out his sites too. In addition to the huge amount of information he provides for free, he also has a store set up to help you along your path to geek nirvana (you’re not going to find the cool toys at Wal Mart). Did I mention he’s on Twitter (@nomadness)?

My project and expedition still requires a lot of resources to bring it to the ultimate level. I’ll be writing more about funding the adventure in upcoming articles. Much of my strategy going forward will be informed by Steve’s book and knowledge in general.

Thanks Steve! (A San Juan sailing geeks flotilla is still on my mind)