Setting Unlock’s demo free

Ideas are wonderful and beautiful. They can only be perfect, because they do not exist. I am fascinated by artists, authors and creators of all kinds who are able crack open their own skulls to let their ideas, dreams, and nightmares become real and shared with the world.

Creating a product also has some of this. The business plan, slides and pitches are barely more than a raw idea. It’s easy to make a chart which look up and to the right, or describe a world where consumers have been waiting for the product to be launched. But the truth is, it all starts with a draft, a demo, a proof of concept and this first attempt will likely be disappointing for those who bought your grand vision (including yourself).

In the last couple weeks, I have shown demos of Unlock to a lot of people, with a healthy mix of enthusiasm and anxiety. A couple days ago, I went ahead and decided to record it. In many ways, it is raw and rough, but I also know that it is a required step to slowly, but surely, refine what we’re building into the world we want.

Unlock is a protocol which lets creators monetize their content or software. Consumers pay the creators directly in order to unlock words, images, videos or features. Here, I am taking the example of a blogger who may want to limit access to their content only to the people who have purchased a key to their lock.

More than anything, we’d love to have your feedback, positive and negative: our opinions are strong but loosely held.