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Operations

How Big Nerd Idea is governed, funded, and run.

The operating model

BNI runs on an open-core + enterprise-services model. BNI Foundation develops and maintains open-source software, hardware frameworks, architecture guidelines, and developer APIs as a public good. Big Nerd Idea, LLC delivers commercial Services, Apps, and Smart Devices built on top of that open ecosystem, and directs a portion of its revenue (target ~15–20%) back to the Foundation as a voluntary, arm's-length sponsorship donation. This is the Mozilla Foundation / Mozilla Corporation pattern at startup scale.

The Foundation's revenue comes from that LLC sponsorship plus grants and donations; the LLC's revenue comes from enterprise contracts, managed hosting, consulting, white-label apps, smart-device products, and hardware partnerships. While the 501(c)(3) application processes, Open Collective serves as interim fiscal host so BNI can accept tax-deductible donations and apply for grants immediately.

The structural safeguard the IRS requires is that the open-source output be genuinely public — available to anyone, not just the LLC. The open licenses (MIT, Apache 2.0, AGPL) enforce this.

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