Founding membership
A small number of people, close to the work.
An hour of our time every month, a member rate on everything past it, the software we build as it is built, and a channel where the people using it can talk to each other and to us.
It is deliberately capped. An included hour is an hour, and there is a number past which we cannot honour it — so rather than discover that number the hard way, the first cohort is a fixed size and then it closes.
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What it includes
Four things, every month.
An hour of consulting
Booked whenever you need it that month, on whatever you are stuck on — a review, a second opinion, pairing on a problem. It does not roll over, because an obligation that stacks up is one we eventually cannot meet.
A member rate beyond it
If an hour is not enough and the work continues, it continues at the member rate rather than the standard one. Quoted in writing before anything starts, the same as any other job.
The private software
Tools built for members rather than for the public web, plus early access to things that later open up. What exists today is listed further down, honestly and in full.
The members' channel
A private Discord with the people actually using this stuff, and with us in it. Not a support queue with a ticket number — a room.
Straight answers
What a founding member gets on day one.
You would be joining before most of the software exists. That is the deal, and it should be the first thing you read rather than something you work out in month two.
The hour, the member rate, and the channel. These are real from the moment you join. They are also the majority of what you are paying for right now.
The private tools. The public ones are at the library and show the standard of work; the member-only ones are not written yet. Founding members get them first and get asked what they should do.
A roadmap with dates on it. We are small. You will get an honest account of what is being worked on, not a schedule that slips quietly.
On-call support. Membership is not a response-time guarantee. If something you depend on breaks at 3am, that is a different kind of arrangement and a different kind of price.
Why cap it. Every member is an hour a month. Twenty members is twenty hours before a line of code gets written, which is already most of a working week. The cap is what keeps the hour real rather than a thing that quietly becomes "when we can".
When the cohort fills, it closes rather than stretching. If that happens and you still want in, say so and you go on the list for the next one.
Billing
Monthly, cancel whenever.
Charged once a month from the day you join. Cancel any time and it stops at the end of the month you have paid for; nothing is clawed back and nothing auto-escalates.
Handled by the payment provider, not by us. Card numbers never reach datarail.org at any point, and we never see them.
Sales tax and VAT are calculated and remitted by the provider, who is the seller of record. Your receipt comes from them and is valid for expenses.
If the first month is not what you expected, say so and you get it back. The full terms are being written and will be linked here before anyone is charged.
Not what you were after?
There is a larger version of this.
Membership is the individual door: one person, an hour a month, the tools and the channel. Brands and venues working with the campaign itself — placement, integrations, a stop on the route — is a different arrangement and a different conversation.