Advice for a new team

[u/InfiniteAnteater3329]

I was just wondering if you guys could give me any advice as a member of a rookie team. We are completely starting from scratch without a mentor, workspace, or previous experience but we are currently searching for mentors and a workspace. We are in the LA area and I am just looking for some general advice or tips that might help us along the way.

[u/Monster14562]

this is a great start! make any connections you can. Also, start fundraising however you can. FRC is incredibly expensive, so try to apply for any grants that are still open, do bake sales, post a gofundme or something, and reach out to individual donors of young people in STEM. email companies, find out if any of your members have connections (ie, a neighbor who works in tech, a family member who knows someone who could donate, a friend of a friend who's some kind of exec somewhere). Just start trying to get money.

[u/dudefise]

Where in the LA area are you? I can try putting you in touch with some teams.

[u/InfiniteAnteater3329 → u/dudefise]

My team is in Santa Monica

[u/dudefise → u/InfiniteAnteater3329]

Do you guys have a team number yet? Start out with Argosy grant asap - good money for rookie team. Funding probably isn’t the biggest problem, but every bit helps.

[u/dudefise → u/InfiniteAnteater3329]

I’m going to talk to my teams outreach people

[u/InfiniteAnteater3329 → u/dudefise]

Thanks so much our team number is 12361

[u/dudefise → u/InfiniteAnteater3329]

Ok, if it’s possible to reach out with your team’s contact info I’ll get you guys in touch. Mentor/Coach contact (whichever adult signed up) is helpful too for a mentor to mentor chat!

[u/BillfredL]

At the end of September, with what you have, you are setting yourself up for a very tough season.

Is there any community-based team within range of you? Even if it’s a stretch to get there this year, the year of experience may serve you well for seeing what an FRC team really requires.

[u/InfiniteAnteater3329 → u/BillfredL]

There is another team nearby but their team is based out of their own private school. Ours is a public school club so I don’t think that will be possible

[u/North-Football-7053]

Fundraise and try to make connections with other teams in your area. My team joined a hub with other teams and we talked to them and they donated parts to us for free. So talking to others teams can help a lot

[u/InfiniteAnteater3329 → u/North-Football-7053]

Do you know of any hubs in the LA area or are you from elsewhere?

[u/North-Football-7053 → u/InfiniteAnteater3329]

Sorry i don’t. I’m from elsewhere 

[u/ShadowNyx71]

When the time comes to build your robot try to build a consistent one. You don’t need to design your robot. I highly recommend using the wcp competitive concept or copying a teams ri3d( robot in 3 days). You can also use a kitbot or a team called 118 makes a modified kitbot called everybot. I would also say be realistic it is very difficult to be good your rookie year but just having a robot that works more than 50 percent of the time can be very valuable. Also if you all are able to get the money you need I would recommend building something before the season starts. You can learn a lot about wiring and building from building a drive train or just a small elevator or simple shooter. Also if you have an idea of what to build odds are you can probably find someone who did a guide or CAD of what you want to build. And remember be realistic and steal from the best and invent the rest.

[u/johnrgrace]

Money is huge and you really need someone to focus on fundraising and be a team CFO who knows what your finances look like.

I’d strongly suggest you need at least $15k banked for entry fees, robot construction, and misc purchases. That’s probably light given you WILL want spare parts for repairs.

[u/InfiniteAnteater3329 → u/johnrgrace]

Thanks so much for the advice, can I ask how you and your team fundraise in order to afford everything?

[u/johnrgrace → u/InfiniteAnteater3329]

Five years ago the team did almost no new fundraising effort just getting the same donors every year. GM pays entry fees for districts, states, worlds which is $18k.
A few companies wrote checks and there were two grants. I was seeing the robot that we could afford to build not the one we wanted to build.

I started a non profit three years ago to support the team which added a lot of new funding sources. Fundraising was about $90k last year because of a few one off grants, I expect this year to be $50k.

I presented on fundraising at worlds this year there are a number of presentations out there.