Inside the historic Domino Sugar Refinery in Brooklyn, three engineers—Sam Ragsdale, Ryan Sproule, and Mason Hall—are launching a startup called Merit Systems, occupying 3, 000 square feet of the repurposed factory. Merit aims to tackle the challenge of rewarding open-source developers, a critical issue in software where the contributions are abundant but often unrecognized. Recently, they secured $10 million in seed funding, co-led by Andreessen Horowitz's crypto fund and Blockchain Capital. Ragsdale, the CEO with a background at Andreessen Horowitz and Google, emphasizes the "attribution problem" in open source, noting that while over 97% of apps rely on open-source code, there's little economic incentive for developers due to the free nature of their contributions. Chris Dixon from Andreessen's crypto fund pointed out that open source is severely underfunded and dependent on altruism, and Merit is working on a protocol to fairly attribute and compensate contributors. The project is still in development, supported by a post-funding valuation of $55. 5 million, with early adopters mainly being friends of the founders.

The team, which includes former Amazon Web Services engineer Sproule as CTO, envisions connecting software creators with users to enable direct payments for contributions. The Domino factory, a relic of Brooklyn’s past and a former industrial site, has been revitalized into a workspace that symbolizes innovation. Ragsdale highlights the importance of the building's history and their name, Merit Systems, reflecting a straightforward approach to their mission. Currently, their office is modestly equipped as they plan to expand their team, preferring a collaborative, in-person work environment for enhanced idea flow. Merit anticipates a broader launch by February after refining feedback from initial testers.