# What We Believe
We believe in inviting collaboration and welcoming competition. 

All the code we write is open source including smart contracts, the front-ends we are building, and the ever-essential readme files. 

Our open source philosophy also applies to more than just the software. We intend to make our budget and our transactions as transparent as possible with the power of blockchain and meticulous accounting. 
As well as this, we intend to document and open source our processes, philosophy, vision, story, and mistakes in order for others to learn from our journey in a way that inspires and informs their own. 

# Why We Care
This project began because we recognized a valuable idea for a public good, but no one was building it... so we did. 

Imagine if we had a world in which there was a crowdfunded prize to develop certain medicines. This would reverse incentives to encourage pharmaceutical companies to open source their discoveries. Families dye due to pharmaceutical companies keeping their research private because they profit by being the sole producers of their discoveries. However, if we crowdfunded a prize to develop a vaccine, then the pharmaceutical company could profit even before upscaling production by winning the prize when they show research demonstrating the efficacy of a medicine. 

Our families, elderly, and children do not need to die because profit-seeking companies keep their knowledge closed off from those who need it most.

We can make a world in which it is easy to coordinate the ideation, funding, and creation of public goods.

# Welcoming Collaboration and Competition
Initially, our team lead spent months talking with other platforms such as the founders of Wonderverse, DAOlens, Gitcoin, and more. The founders were all friendly and liked the idea of crowdfunded prizes, but no one built it, so we decided to prove the concept so that anyone may replicate it themselves. 

If competitors emerge, we will be thrilled because we intend to launch an arms race to find the best strategies to slay Moloch. 

We are happy to collaborate with anyone who is aligned with the values of open source approaches and the importance of finding coordination mechanisms that empower public goods, and we will cheer on and gladly support anyone who is building similar projects to viaPrize.