AIRU 06 — Budget, IP and Execution

Budget tiers, founder decisions, contractor scope, confidentiality, IP ownership, acceptance criteria and source control.

Pre-incorporation startup

A project operating before a formal company entity has been created. Contracts, ownership, banking, and authority require careful adult and legal handling.

AIRU founder equity starting point

The co-founder agreement records a 50/50 split between Aden and Liam, with future dilution requiring unanimous written agreement.

Routine vs major decision

Routine choices can follow each founder's role; funding, contracts, new equity holders, company direction, sale, or dissolution require mutual written consent.

Why does guardian involvement matter?

The founders are minors, so adult-controlled accounts, countersignatures, and qualified legal advice may be needed for enforceable contracts and payments.

NDA (non-disclosure agreement)

A contract limiting how confidential information may be used or shared. It does not automatically replace a precise project scope or platform contract.

Confidential information

Non-public AIRU designs, specifications, schematics, code, budgets, business plans, prototypes, models, and other protected materials.

Work product

Deliverables and related materials created specifically for an engagement, such as diagrams, code, BOMs, recommendations, and engineering assessments.

IP assignment

A contractual transfer of ownership rights in defined work product to AIRU or the designated contracting entity.

Why must contractor scope be filled in before signing?

A blank or vague scope creates confusion about duties, payment, acceptance, and which work product is covered.

Least-information sharing principle

Send a contractor only the files necessary for the approved task, after identity, platform contract, NDA, and IP terms are aligned.

Why should AIRU keep pre-contract communication on Upwork?

It preserves one documented identity, scope, message, and payment trail under the adult contracting account.

Fixed-price milestone

A defined payment tied to specified deliverables and acceptance criteria; AIRU prefers one US$245 milestone for the scoped review.

Hourly-cap fallback

An hourly contract limited to five hours, with no unapproved manual time. It prevents the review from becoming open-ended.

Acceptance criteria

Observable requirements that determine whether a deliverable is complete, such as a marked-up diagram, corrected BOM, and numbered pass/fail tests.

AIRU's three required advisor outputs

A wiring/power review, a corrected BOM with substitutions and warnings, and a repeatable bench-validation checklist.

What should AIRU do if an advisor proposes a production PCB?

Decline it for V1 unless scope is deliberately changed. First stabilize the dev-board demonstration and its requirements.

What should AIRU do if an advisor claims to validate the complete 68 dB system?

Request relevant vacuum-acoustics credentials; otherwise keep the advisor's role to embedded systems and treat acoustic comments as preliminary.

What is Tier 1 in the component plan?

The proof-critical shell, ESP32, ILI9341 display, and GP2Y1010 dust-sensor demonstration.

What is Tier 2 in the component plan?

The two-country silencing proof rigs: dampers, proxy motors, ESCs, acoustic treatment, and printed cradles, budgeted at about US$76 total.

What are Tiers 3 and 4?

Tier 3 is the visible-light UV placeholder; Tier 4 contains supporting power, wiring, breadboard, modeling, and mesh materials.

Why is shell printing the main budget risk?

The two prints were estimated at roughly US$300–500, so a school, makerspace, or fit-tested lower-cost route can change the entire budget.

Canonical source of truth

The selected current document that controls a topic. Decks and trackers should summarize or link to it rather than create competing specifications.

Why are stale duplicates dangerous?

They can reintroduce old budgets, expired dates, real UV-C scope, advanced-AI claims, or conflicting advisor roles.

Trademark vs patent

A trademark protects identifiers such as the AIRU name or logo; a patent or utility model may protect qualifying technical inventions. Filing strategy needs qualified advice.

AIRU's external-sharing rule

Verify the recipient and scope, align the adult contract and NDA, remove unnecessary confidential content, send only required files, and preserve a documented trail.