SuperNova - Crowdfunding for Scientific Research
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Who we are:
Zubair Mahmood (Co-Founder): Having worked at a number of NGOs and startups in his Gap Year, Zubair is starting his first year at the LSE reading Economics. In his spare time, he enjoys to code, play guitar and is a keen basketball player.
Will Yun-Farmbrough (Co-Founder): Will is commencing his second year at Cambridge University where he is studying Mathematics. Outside of his fascination for Maths and problem solving, he is an accomplished fencer and also enjoys surfing, photography and thinking big.
Farith Comas (Lead Developer): After studying Engineering, Farith worked for several years as a petroleum engineer specializing in perforation operations. Now, Farith works as a full stack developer with a range of applications and projects under his belt, exhibiting great proficiency in logic, data science, and machine learning. In his free time, he makes robots using raspberry pis and arduinos.
Edward Jacobs (Marketing Director): Ed is starting his first year at Warwick University where he is studying Economics. Outside of work, he enjoys volunteering, playing rugby and learning new languages.
Since they met at school in 2017, Will and Zubair have become close friends and regularly look to join forces in solving intriguing problems. Now, they are combining their deep interests in Maths, Science and Entrepreneurship to create their greatest project yet: SuperNova. After conceiving the idea in 2018, they have been constantly developing the company's ideology, model and ambitions. Now in 2020, when the need for SuperNova is greater than ever, the whole team is devoting all their time and efforts and aim to launch the website by the end of the year.
SuperNova is a unique crowdfunding website for Scientific Research Projects providing the world's Scientists with an exciting new channel to receive the support required to carry out their vital research. Unlike most crowdfunding platforms where donations are motivated by the promise of material gain, those who back projects on SuperNova will be given an exclusive educational opportunity to interact with the Scientists, gaining access to first hand commentary on cutting edge research. By drawing on the inherent curiosity of the human mind and the fascination that Science provides it, SuperNova aims to become a thriving community providing a podium for Research to flourish, Scientists to collaborate, and for People to play an active role in the advancement of Science itself.
SuperNova is aiming to tackle multiple problems, the most prevalent of which is the long and complicated grant process which Scientists must undergo to secure funding. This process is not only incredibly time consuming, with some researchers spending as much as 50% of their time writing grants, but is also riddled with biases which affect individuals and the development of Science as a whole. SuperNova democratises Science and will use education as a key tool to ensure people have a strong understanding of the effects and Scientific context of a project before they choose to back it.
The website will feature a beautiful map of Science which users will navigate to explore the different projects which Scientists upload. These will be categorised by their topic e.g. Astrophysics. Once a user has chosen a project to back, they can give any amount, contributing to an overall target. As soon as this goal is reached, the money is passed to the Scientists, with SuperNova taking a small percentage cut, who will then begin their research and provide the project backers with frequent updates as well as data, lab notes and answers to their questions.
SuperNova is aiming to tackle multiple problems, the most prevalent of which is the long and complicated grant process which Scientists must undergo to secure funding. This process is not only incredibly time consuming, with some researchers spending as much as 50% of their time writing grants, but is also riddled with biases which affect individuals and the development of Science as a whole. SuperNova democratises Science and will use education as a key tool to ensure people have a strong understanding of the effects and Scientific context of a project before they choose to back it.
The website will feature a beautiful map of Science which users will navigate to explore the different projects which Scientists upload. These will be categorised by their topic e.g. Astrophysics. Once a user has chosen a project to back, they can give any amount, contributing to an overall target. As soon as this goal is reached, the money is passed to the Scientists, with SuperNova taking a small percentage cut, who will then begin their research and provide the project backers with frequent updates as well as data, lab notes and answers to their questions.
How you can help:
We are preparing to mount a large scale marketing campaign to propel us to launch later this year. This campaign is crucial to SuperNova's success and encompasses market research, targeted advertising over a range of social media platforms and websites, essential software subscriptions and costs for production of quality content for video advertising. While we are working hard to develop the best website possible, marketing poses the biggest challenge and requires capital to ensure SuperNova gains the right exposure, without which it cannot operate. Furthermore, to approach serious investors, SuperNova needs to have a growing support network and substantial market research data, both of which come out of this campaign.
This GoFundMe aims to help fund this marketing campaign using the following breakdown:
Every contribution will make a huge difference and take us one step closer to realising the SuperNova dream.
Thank you for your generosity.
Will and Zubair
If you have any further questions about SuperNova, please contact [email redacted]
Or, you can reach Will and Zubair at [email redacted] and zm@supernova.ac
Fundraising team: SuperNova (2)
Will Yun-Farmbrough
Organizer
Zubair Mahmood
Team member
