Year One Budget — Draft
Starting point for the first-year budget of Augmented Traveler (studio setup + the Maria Mitchell production). Hardware and software are filled in from Hardware — Price List and Acquisition Schedule. People and production services are next: the rows below are placeholders to be estimated together.
Quarters run from Month 0 (Q1 = M0–M2, Q2 = M3–M5, Q3 = M6–M8, Q4 = M9–M11).
Hardware and software by quarter
| Quarter | Hardware (core) | Software and services | Quarter total (low–high) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | $35,394–$47,794 | $9,420–$21,620 | $44,814–$69,414 |
| Q2 | $17,600–$30,000 | $1,000–$5,000 | $18,600–$35,000 |
| Q3 | $21,798–$39,349 | $3,234–$4,434 | $25,032–$43,783 |
| Q4 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Year one | $74,792–$117,143 | $13,654–$31,054 | $88,446–$148,197 |
Add a 10–15% contingency for price volatility in GPUs and memory: about $8,845–$22,230.
Optional devices (Vive Focus Vision, Vision Pro, Galaxy XR, Looking Glass 16 in and 86 in) add up to $29,447 if triggered.
Full year-one budget (to complete)
| Line | Basis | Low | High | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware and capture (core) | Hardware — Price List and Acquisition Schedule | $74,792 | $117,143 | drafted |
| Software and services | same | $13,654 | $31,054 | drafted |
| Contingency on hardware/software | 10–15% | $8,845 | $22,230 | drafted |
| Core staff (7 roles) | Roles and Hiring Plan FTEs × start month × salary | next | ||
| Contract specialists (historian, corpus editor, groom, costume, environment, XR, mobile AR, voice, actors, sound, QA, accessibility) | per engagement | next | ||
| Rights counsel retainer | quote | next | ||
| Collections licensing and reproductions (MMA, NHA, Vassar) | partner terms | next | ||
| Venue costs (install, insurance, docent hours) | partner terms | next | ||
| Travel and on-island capture weeks | estimate | next | ||
| Marketing, methodology page, launch | estimate | next | ||
| Year-one maintenance after soft open | MMA NHA One-Page Ask: $25k–40k | next |
Cross-checks
- The research notes put shared engine, year one at $80k–150k (stack, place kits, legal retainer, producer) and Mitchell hero at $150k–250k (Nantucket Common Pipeline §9). Hardware and software alone come to about $88,000–$148,000, which uses up most of the shared-engine band before any people are paid. Expect the studio-setup figure in the pitch to rise once people costs are added, mainly because of 2026 memory and GPU prices.
Next step
Estimate people costs: for each role in Roles and Hiring Plan, agree a location (on-island, Boston, remote), a salary or day-rate band, and a start month.