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Some things to consider. The discussion started with a purpose of
commercial diving for profit. I think you'll have a very tough
time finding a public grant to underwrite that purpose. I believe
searching for a grant would mean setting up a non-profit and
building the submarine primarily for non-profit use, ie underwater
conservation as you've indicated. However, that means Scott
Waters would not own a 3k capable sub, the non-profit would and
they could also limit your use of it. Steve Jobs started APPLE
but was also dumped by them. Ken Olsen started Digital Equipment
Company but was dumped by them. The corporate world is littered
with such illustrative cases. So even if you founded the
non-profit and was a founding executive of it there is no
guarantee that you would remain one and be able to get the full
use out of the submarine that you intended.<br>
<br>
You might also have to justify why a 3k capable sub is necessary
for underwater conservation, ie how many things worth conserving
are located between 1k and 3k feet? At those depths which are out
of reach for virtually 99.9% of the worlds population, who is
going to benefit from such conservation? For example, a grant for
a K-250 would be factors easier because you could justify
researching and conserving hundreds of miles of coral reef within
easy access of sport divers and glass-bottom boats in the shallow
Florida waters which would serve to educate thousands of visitors
each year.<br>
<br>
You would probably be better off getting a private group of
investors whom share your love of fabrication and underwater
exploration, and forming a time-share agreement for use of the
submarine between them. That limits your own investment and
likely gets you enough time to do the kind of things you want to
do with the submarine when it's your time to use it. Or go back
to your commercial diving purpose and find a handful of investors
to form a corporation for that purpose. As long as you're still
connected with your hardware business, sharing the profits of the
commercial submarine may not be too bad starting off. As the
business grew you might eventually be able to buy out some of the
beginning investors and gain more profit.<br>
<br>
Your self-admittance (honorable and honest, certainly) that you
are not a very good engineer or fabricator is not going to provide
the kind of confidence that serious investors, public or private,
are going to be looking for especially when you are trying to sell
the idea of a vessel that will require very good engineering and
fabrication. You would likely get back a counter stating, yeah
we're in but not if you build it. Now the "group" goes out to bid
for a commercially built submarine at a price that you can't
afford to participate in and all of a sudden you're out and they
are running away with your idea. Having good business abilities
and being able to pull resources together is a great gift but such
a manager whom also has a devoted interest in submarines probably
isn't necessary. Some investors may feel that having a manager
not emotionally tied to the project would be a better choice to
ensure budgets stay within reason.<br>
<br>
Jon<br>
<br>
<br>
On 4/15/2014 9:22 AM, <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:swaters@waters-ks.com">swaters@waters-ks.com</a> wrote:<br>
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<blockquote
cite="mid:20140415062221.49e8347f125ba4e1b2aff75c01b07c1e.508363ccf5.wbe@email13.secureserver.net"
type="cite"><span style="font-family:Verdana; color:#000000;
font-size:10pt;">
<div>So I believe in order to reach this goal of a extremely
deep diving very work capable submarine I am going to have to
really tap some resources. I think I have a few choices</div>
<div>*Devote as much of my own money to making this project
possible which I worry is not enough.</div>
<div>*Stop working on the sub project and focus on growing my
business for a number of years and "someday" get back to it
when I have the resources. </div>
<div>*Earn a grant(s) to make this project possible</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I know asking for a grant is like a business plan. The
contributor wants to see the plan, the aimed goal, as many
securities as possible, and a benefit to themselves to
contributing. I believe in order to truly reach my next goal
that I have to work towards a grant. I have two main questions
for the group</div>
<div> </div>
<div>1) Who would be good prospects for a grant, how do I
approach them, and does anyone have any experience they could
pass along the way?</div>
<div>2) What kind of goals could this submarine be geared
towards that would be attractive to a contributor? I don't
believe "Underwater conservation" is good enough, they would
want specifics. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>I am not a very good engineer, not the best fabricator, but
have good business abilities and good at pulling resources to
make things possible. I think with the help of everyone on
psubs this can be a reality. </div>
<div>Thanks,</div>
<div>Scott Waters</div>
</span>
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