There is a very interesting proposal/debate going on on the Smart-Thinker Forums regarding the leveraging of multiple customer's buying power to pay for Sponsored Enhancements (Crowdsourcing) to increase the Smart-Thinker productivity output.
The basic idea is that a list of estimates is done for all major feature requests. Customers can then "bid" to sponsor a feature and have a say in the specification and requirements for the feature. When the full amount for the project is reached and the majority of project sponsors agree on the spec and deliverables then the enhancement is developed. The majority once again must sign it off for it to be accepted. The full detail of the proposal can be found here.
If this is successful the base Smart-Thinker social networking product suite could become free to everyone and revenue would be derived from sponsored enhancements. In the future it may even be possible for other module developers to pick up Sponsored Enhancements and develop them and give them back to Smart-Thinker for inclusion in the core product line. Customers get their enhancements at a low cost, developers get remunerated for their work and our core code line improves constantly.
Please comment on that thread if you are interested in this or have anything to add.