UnReason

Your project goal contributes to the overall outcome of the cause.

Do you really need RM 50,000 or to wait for an organization to fund you? Can it be done for a much smaller amount? What’s your strategy to crowd source funding for your project?

Example: 60% could come from online pledges on UnReason.my, 20% from events and 20% from group members.

Once you have a solution and strategy, make it public on unreason.my so the community can rate your idea to see if it’s strong enough for funding. This way it gains credibility.

We meet every other week on Fridays, from 8pm to 10pm. Join us and get involved in a project or start your own. The goal of these sessions is to bring people together, present and move forward on their projects.

We have seen amazing ideas happen that are out-of-the-box.

Always start on the right foot when your project group has more than 1 person. If it’s a video, is the licencing creative commons? If software, is it open source or has a business model owned by the group? Is this project being done for 3 months and then handed back to our community to take it further?

We are rapidly learning a way to seed social projects with a definite impact, then scale it. We’re still making mistakes, but we make sure it’s done in an open way so we can learn quickly from public feedback, tune it and move forward.

Here are somethings to think about before coming up with an UnReason project.

As you have limited resource, start with a small project. It can be completed in 3 months. It must have a measurable goal.

Example: I have a problem with traffic jams. So in 2 months, I want to get 50 companies to allow their staff to work from home for a day. They will learn about the tools available online to collaborate remotely.

Introduction

At one time or another, we’ve all faced issues that we are unhappy about. Traffic jams. Petrol prices. Bad Internet. Mat Rempits. Crime. Poverty. And the list goes on.

So here’s the thing. Are you happy just by being unhappy about it? Or do you want to do something and be a part of the solution?

If it’s the latter, welcome to UnReason!

UnReason is a movement where Malaysians come together to solve problems through creative entrepreneurship.

Here’s how it works.

1. Think of THE one thing that you’re seriously peeved off with.

2. Now come up with an IDEA that you think may solve the problem. It’s OK if you don’t have the skills to implement it. It’s OK if you don’t have the funds for it. It’s OK even if you don’t know how to get started!

3. UnReason will collect 100 of these ideas, and everybody has a chance to vote for ideas that they like on the website.

4. People can contribute RM 5 to ideas they like. Once an idea reaches its funding goal, the project owner executes his solution.

5. Success! We track the impact of his solution on the problem.

FAQs

1. UnReason? What is it, a company? An event? WTF?

UnReason is a MOVEMENT to get Malaysians to do something about issues that they are unhappy about. We aim to gather folks from all walks of life, profession, background and skills to change the status quo.

2. Can I make money from it?

No. People who use UnReason.my to fund their projects keep 100% ownership and control. You can however create events or learning programs to grow the movement and charge tickets for it.

3. What if someone copies my idea?

We know it’s a fear and it happens, but no one can execute an idea quite like you can. It’s your passion and drive, ability to run with it and nurture it and turn it into something brilliant that makes you a social entrepreneur.

4. Who owns the ideas that are selected?

People who use UnReason.my to fund their projects (”Project creators”) keep 100% ownership and control.

5. Is UnReason a funding platform?

UnReason uses the idea of crowd-sourcing to kickstart interesting projects that can change Malaysia, and possibly the world. The most voted ideas will receive RM5,000 to help project owners get something started. 

But we’re much more than funding. The UnReason community is made up of folks from various backgrounds and skills, all with a common objective of solving problems through creative entrepreneurship. With the support of the UnReason community, your idea has every chance it needs to succeed.

Need legal advice? Sure, Steve here can help. Need links to investors? Talk to Jane. Need a film editor? Lee knows someone!

6. Do I need to pay back the money?

No.

7. Are there restrictions to ideas for UnReason?

Yes. UnReason does not get involved in any ideas that we deem are unsuitable, such as those that are racial, religious and political in nature. Please contact us if you need further clarifications.

8. Who is behind UnReason?

UnReason is a collaborative project with founders, entrepreneurs and CEOs from Elevyn, Malaysia Entrepreneurs, Senedi and Ureka Ideas.

9. Why are you guys doing this?

Because we seem to have a habit for complaining, and then waiting for others to solve our problems! UnReason is about taking responsibility to turn Malaysia into a better place by doing something. 

10. Where do I sign up?

There are several ways you can get involved.

a. Join our Facebook Group, and participate in the discussions. Invite your friends to join too - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=76414026451.

b. Visit our website (coming soon), and post up your ideas. While you’re at it, look up the other submissions, and vote for ideas you like!

c. Come to our events, and introduce yourself. Event dates will be announced when confirmed.

Starting at around 8pm on Friday night, 3rd July, till about 5pm on Sunday, a group of crazies gathered at the iTrain office in Kuala Lumpur for an Unreason-able UrekaWeekend. Perhaps one of the best weekends we've ever had.

Participants were as young as 14, came from as far away as Penang, all wanting to do a little something to solve everyday Malaysian problems. Problems ranging from public safety/crime, the haze and potholes! We also had awesome speakers. Dr. Edwin Chung, formerly from Intel's Innovation Center, spoke about brainstorming techniques, Six Thinking Hats and got the ball rolling on Friday night. Fara La'Jam joined us on Saturday morning. Here's a lady with a creative venture - a hair salon on a bus! Kuan, an ex-police officer from Community Policing also joined in and was one of the speakers. ThenMatthias Gelber, the Greenest Person on Earth, gave an energetic talk about what it takes to rally a group. And last but not least, Pete Teo dropped by on Sunday to give an inspiring talk about scaling, about his Malaysian Artists for Unity project and the upcoming 15Malaysia project. It was all just too cool for one weekend!

Having fun during Unreason @UrekaWeekend

The guys from UrekaLabs created the UrekaWeekend concept, where people would collaborate to work on an idea over a weekend and come up with a plan or prototype at the end of the weekend. Mashing it together with Unreason seemed like the perfect idea and turned out to be a pretty damn good thing to do!

The groups filtered into 4 main groups after the voting and everyone hunkered down to work almost right away. The groups started out in one room, breaking out into small circles, everyone talking enthusiastically. Malaysia Crime centered around the idea of transparent crime data for the public in view of what seems to be escalating crimes. Potholes was about Malaysians being fed up with potholes all over our cities. The Haze Runner idea was inspired by a runner's exasperation with the haze. Gov 2.0, meanwhile, was about making public data more accessible to the public,  a platform for Government to engage with citizens and share data. The Gov 2.0 and Malaysia Crime groups eventually merged, since there were many overlapping concepts.

There was also plenty of food and fun! Pizza for Friday night, vegetarian lunch on Saturday, nasi beriani on Sunday followed by Ramly burgers for tea! Courtesy of iTrain, the venue was an excellent place to brainstorm, network and work collaboratively. Wifi was awesome too. Participants tweeted during all the talks, shared videos and added each other on Facebook. Just in case you missed the event AND the tweets, you can search for the hashtag #unreason.

By early Sunday, most of the participants had a good idea of what their plan was. The task was to craft a presentation to share with the other participants. The Haze Runner project started first, with Suren Haris sharing the team's plan on how to move forward, involving the Miss Malaysia India Global group. Interesting! Then Aziezie and Hakim Albasrawy from the Potholes project gave us a ROTFL presentation on PotholeSurvivor, complete with a comic strip and ideas like "Name Your Hole". Priceless. Finally, Kegan Gan did the Malaysia Crime presentation old-school style, on the whiteboard. Very well thought out. Now we have solid action plans! Actions to understand the haze, and get rid of it. Actions to bury potholes. Actions to improve public safety.

We think Unreason @UrekaWeekend just absolutely rocked.

How do we make UnReason a strong movement for change?

By moving forward one step at a time. This is our challenge over the 2 weeks, ending 22 May on Friday, called Round 1.

1. 500 members on our Facebook group - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=76414026451&ref=nf. Sign up and invite your friends.

2. 5 cool ideas for change

3. 1 event confirmed to support UnReason

4. 1 high traffic website to spread these ideas

Help us make this happen.