We have received a lot of congratulations and great feedback in response to the first pages of Ulule coming online.

Many thanks to you all. You have lots of questions too: how does Ulule work? When is it available? How much does it cost? What is it like, exactly? Will there be a private beta test?

Let’s try to answer that.

Your most frequently asked question: is Ulule a co-production service for project fundraising?

No. It’s neither about investing capital nor about becoming a project shareholder or co-producer. Ulule is based on a more grassroots logic, supporting ideas and projects by giving them the means to exist. When you give to a project, you do not get a direct return in the form of shares or capital. Project holders can of course be thanking ululers for their support, but in a mutual relation which has nothing to do with private equity.

We believe that your support (whether for a production company, an association, or a band…) should not necessarily fit or follow the logic of investment, which is so far removed from the spirit of the projects they want to support. You can want to help in producing a documentary without necessarily wanting to share in any resulting revenues. What has driven us to build Ulule is the desire to promote a different kind of relationship between projects holders and their supports.

Ulule appeals to everyone, from private citizens to associations and companies. All types of projects are eligible, including feasibility studies and one-time expenditures, side-projects and full-blown projects. One of our particular concerns is to make Ulule useful to project holders at all stages in their projects. You don’t always need a lot of money to start up a project (or to complete it!).

Ulule’s team is here to help project holders to find the balance between what they need and what they can realistically get. Of course, there is no magic formula and no certainty about project outcomes… how could there possibly be? But this is what makes things interesting! Ululers will soon be invited to participate, with a brand new message board hitting your screens.

Bonus questions :

Release date ? In the weeks to come. We should be more precise, but we simply love the suspense too much.

Private beta test ? ‘Private’ private beta test yes, but no open private beta. If you want to join the very happy few, please feel free to contact us.

Cost of service ? A commission is paid to Ulule if and only if money effectively changes hands through our service. The rate of this commission is still being studied. We are trying to set it as low as we can —we’re in talks with the banks, this takes time. Good news: Ulule will not take any commission on your supports. We worked on this, only to realize that it was too demanding for you and too complex to make happen without having the commission percentage go through the roof. Paypal still takes a percentage (between 3% and 4%, depending on the location, the currency, etc…), but Ulule will be free to use for your projects, no commission on our part, that’s it.

In a nutshell :

Ulule believes in generosity for work well done, for those who take on responsibility, for those who speak openly and freely, and for those green shoots of creativity. What is Ulule? Surely you’ve got an idea by now… To be continued.