How to Get Paid to Make Cool Stuff

Fictive Kin (of gimme bar and teux duex) is a super cool company, and they just hit the super cool company jackpot by signing with betaworks.

Here’s how the Fictive Kin folks explain the deal (which is a contract for “a couple million,” according to TechCrunch):

It means we’re now working closely with betaworks on our future projects. Fictive Kin is still an independent entity, but the products we build will ultimately be taken on by betaworks and grown in to full-fledged companies. This allows us to focus ruthlessly on building products (something we know well) while entrusting betaworks with the work of growing those products into great teams and companies (one of the many things they do well).

The closest examples we can think of [for deals like this] are the various studio deals in Hollywood. We’ve been describing it as a sort of Disney / Pixar deal except it’s Disney when Walt was there, not Eisner.

So baaaaaasiicccalllly, they get to make cool stuff without worrying about raising funding or monetizing, because they already have the funding, and it will be betaworks’ job to further monetize the stuff. This is cool. This is really cool. High fives for everyone.

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