Brave New Software is dedicated to keeping the Internet open and decentralized. They build user-focused open source tools that solve practical problems in how the internet works for people. Their operating structure and their purpose are aligned so that the only incentive for their team is to do right by their users.

They rely on seed funding from grants and socially-conscious investors to ensure that their user’s needs and their purpose drive all of their decisions. They are never beholden to any outside interests and they conduct their business as transparently as possible.

Their current focus is on Lantern, a new internet censorship circumvention tool based on advanced peer-to-peer technology.

VISION

The Internet was built on principles of decentralization, but as it has evolved clear points of failure and control have emerged and strengthened. They envision an Internet that lives up to its promise of a truly open and protected information infrastructure. No government or corporation should be able to prevent anyone’s access, or have ways to spy on what they do online.

They believe the core protocols of the Internet can support this infrastructure. They strive to build tools that make it extremely easy for people to use it as they believe it should work: secure, private and uncensorable by default. The core functions of the internet – browsing, publishing, emailing, chatting, etc. – should all have easy to use compelling options that are resistant to control.

Though the whole vision is a huge undertaking they work as part of a movement. They are a node in a wider network of decentralized individuals working in concert towards these goals. They aim for sustainable business models built around software with high standards for user experience (UX) that solve real user needs. All revenue will be reinvested back in to achieving their vision, either in their own initiatives or helping incubate similar organizations. If successful they hope to be a model for other organizations that are built to achieve their vision, and together they will achieve the collective vision of a better future.

STRUCTURE

The Brave New Software organizational structure is designed to combine the market-driven approach of for-profits with the mission-first guarantee of non-profits. They are inspired by Yunus’s Social Business concept, as well as hybrid organizations like Mozilla. Their structure supports their mission of building a truly open and protected information infrastructure. Like other social enterprises, they aim to generate revenues to cover all their costs, reinvesting profits back in to the mission.

Currently one 501c3 non-profit houses all their efforts, using grant funding as seed investment in massively scalable software products. These products are built to serve customers directly, and compete in the market to ensure that their software is meeting real user needs. As their projects transition to self-sustaining revenue streams they will likely spin them out à la Mozilla, with their non-profit retaining full ownership of the operating corporation.

They seek to work with impact investors in pioneering a model they call a ‘Pay It Forward Business’, where investment in their for-profit subsidiaries can only be made in service of a better world. Thus any accrued value must be reinvested back into other Pay It Forward Businesses or else in to non-profits. They believe that this structure lets them make real guarantees to their users that they will never sacrifice their privacy or overwhelm them with ads just to make profit for their investors.