๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ข๐ณ ๐ก๐ผ๐ป-๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ณ๐ถ๐ ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐
A restaurant closes. Not because the food is bad. It closes because the delivery platform takes 25% of every order. The math no longer works.
A recent discussion on V2EX asked a simple question: Can we have a food delivery platform that does not aim for profit?
It sounds like a great idea. I thought so too. But when you run the numbers, the idea falls apart.
This is not just a food delivery problem. Western developers face the same issue with open source software. You want sustainable tools without corporate money. But someone must pay the bills.
Here is the reality of a 25% commission:
โข Delivery logistics (12-15%): Driver wages, insurance, and maintenance. โข Infrastructure (3-5%): Servers and payment processing. โข Customer acquisition (2-4%): Marketing and discounts. โข Support (2-3%): Customer service and disputes. โข Profit (2-5%): Returns for investors and R&D.
If you remove the profit, you have a non-profit. But you still have the other 95% in costs.
Who pays the drivers if the platform does not? Who pays for the servers? Who handles the customer complaints at midnight?
Non-profit models do not remove costs. They just change who pays for them. Often, the community ends up absorbing the cost through broken services and failed tools.
I see this in three areas:
โข Developer tools: Monthly pledges rarely cover the cost of a full-time maintainer. โข Cooperatives: Worker-owned groups work small, but they struggle with the cost of scaling. โข Community infrastructure: Many projects start with hype but die when the funding disappears.
The non-profit model often enables monopolies instead of fighting them. A non-profit starts small and works well. Then it hits a wall. It must either die or hire staff. Once it hires staff, it becomes an organization with its own costs.
The real problem is not profit. The problem is a lack of competition.
Platforms take high fees because they have no competitors. The solution is not to remove profit. The solution is to create a market where competition forces fees down.
If you are building a platform, follow these rules:
โข Map real costs first: Infrastructure and support do not care about your mission. โข Name the payer: Do not rely on "the community." Identify exactly who pays the bills. โข Plan for failure: Know what happens when donations drop or contributors leave. โข Measure sustainability: Having users is fine. Having enough revenue to pay a staff member is better.
Some problems require organizations, not just communities. Logistics and 24/7 support are organizational tasks.
Have you seen a community-funded project fail? Tell me your story in the comments.
Optional learning community: https://t.me/GyaanSetuAi