Project summary
Create a Manifold merchandise store.
What are this project's goals and how will you achieve them?
Manifold has already distributed some merchandise in the past; custom shirts and playing cards. There was decent interest in these; I believe 71 people bought shirts, and 100+ people took one of the decks at Manifest. We plan to create a centralized home for such products, allowing anyone to purchase them online, and also to expand the offering to other Manifold-branded things such as socks and hats.
We may also expand the store to cover general EA and forecasting merch, such as the "Shrimp want me me, unaligned AIs fear me" hat, since there doesn't seem to be a central location for those either.
How will this funding be used?
To cover the up-front costs of producing a few of each item (custom physical items are really expensive), and the development costs of a website. (The website will be bare-bones at first to see if there's interest, and then professionalize as necessary.)
Who is on your team and what's your track record on similar projects?
I'll be creating the product designs (if they're not already made) and handling production and shipping. Isaac King will be doing the programming, soliciting product ideas, and wrote this description.
I have extensive experience as a graphic designer; it's my full time job. I've professionally made several playing card decks and T-shirts before, including the aforementioned deck of Manifold cards that was handed out at Manifest. You can see my website here: https://vyseri.com/
Isaac has no experience with selling merch, but knows how to make a website, and can coordinate with the Manifold community to get new ideas and advertise the store.
What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails? (premortem)
Lack of interest from the Manifold community. It's not very big and many of its members are not interested in this sort of ingroup signaling, so we'll be pleasantly surprised if we get 10 orders a month.
What other funding are you or your project getting?
No external funding, though of course the products will cost money themselves. (We will likely donate all profits after production costs to charity.)
