Hi, I'm Ari Horesh, the founder of LionBot, or Leo as we usually call him.

I'm raising €5,000 to build a small server for Leo and help cover roughly two years of running and maintenance costs. I can no longer afford to keep funding the project on my own, and I'm asking our community for help.

Leo helps people study and work together on Discord: tracking their time, organizing tasks, setting goals, and sharing focus sessions. He's open source, his core tools are free, and I want to keep them that way.

Since 2021, I've personally spent more than €25,000 on development and design. I've also put more than 1,000 hours into creating content, helping users, answering questions, gathering feedback, and working to make Leo better. This project has been a huge part of my life.

I'm grateful to everyone who has supported him through a subscription or contribution. We've rarely had more than ten memberships at the same time, though, and that support hasn't been enough to cover the project's costs. I never started Leo expecting to make a profit.

As Leo grows, he needs more computing power and memory, and the next hosting upgrade is becoming harder for me to afford. I'm also approaching graduation and looking toward starting a family. I still care deeply about this project, but I can't keep covering the growing costs myself.

Without enough support to make this sustainable, I may have to take Leo offline at the end of 2026.

My plan is to build and maintain our own server using secondhand parts wherever practical, then build a smaller backup server at another location. The main machine will most likely run at my home, with additional cooling if needed. I'm also looking into a small nearby space if that can fit within the budget.

The funds would help pay for:

• Used server hardware: an ASUS Z9PE-D16 motherboard, two compatible Xeon CPUs, and a target of used 256-512 GB of DDR3 server memory, plus storage, power supply, case, reliable cooling, and cables. I'll confirm the exact parts and compatibility before buying, and they might change if I find better parts.

• A smaller backup server and storage at a different location.

• Business fiber internet, a main router, and a separate SIM-capable router and mobile connection for backup internet for better uptime.

• Electricity, maintenance, replacement parts, and any necessary cooling or affordable space for the server.

• A used RTX 3060 (or something similar) to experiment with locally hosted AI for better search, and generating the images when using commands that require an image reponses (like the profile and stats) along with code optimization to help Leo use the hardware efficiently.

The €5,000 is my current total estimate for the equipment and roughly two years of operation. It averages about €200 a month when the upfront hardware is spread across 24 months. My new electricity rate is €0.11 per kWh, which helps, but the actual running costs will depend on the server's usage, cooling, and the final setup.

The aim is to give Leo more room to grow, improve performance, and make the ongoing costs more manageable. The exact parts and service costs will determine how far the funding goes.

I'll share videos of getting the parts, building the main server, building the backup server, and the project's progress, so you can follow what your support is helping make possible.

If we reach €5,000, I'm committing to a major Leo update: new skins, more translations and supported languages, new features, a refreshed website, and clearer tutorials that help people get the most out of the bot.

If we raise more than €2,500 but fall short of €5,000, I'll still go ahead with the plan and try my best to cover the remaining costs myself. I need to be honest that I can't promise I'll be able to sustain that.

If we raise €2,500 or less, the donations will help cover Leo's remaining operating costs. I'll keep the fundraiser open and try to keep Leo running for as long as I can. I may still try to buy the server with my own money, but I can't promise I can afford to do that.

If I ultimately can't make the costs sustainable, I may have to shut Leo down or limit the service to paying large communities. That would leave behind much of the community this project was made for. I don't want that to be Leo's future, and I'm asking for help while there's still time to change it.

If Leo has been part of your study routine or your community, and you're able to contribute, it would mean a lot to me. If donating isn't possible, sharing the fundraiser would help too.

Thank you for being part of Leo's story.

Ari