All of the above are true-- especially regarding parent or personal connections. I can't give exact figures, but a huge amount of sponsorship for our team comes from companies that students' parents work for. As a rookie, getting sponsorships is very, very difficult-- planning on them the first year isn't always practical, which is why basically everybody has been advising you to approach small businesses. Local connections are the typically the strongest. One of the best things your team can do for itself is create a sound financial plan. This sounds daunting, I'm sure, and unless you have mentors with experience, you probably aren't going to have a particularly accurate plan. This is where other local teams come in. Many of them are successful and sustainable due to sound financial planning on their part. Ask them for advice-- what's a reasonable portion to spend on assorted subsystems? Remember that as a rookie team you get the rookie KOP, which includes a six wheel drive base. Knowing this, I strongly recommend you check out team 1114 Simbotics'
"Kitbot on Steroids." It's set up for chain, and this year's KOP is belt, but the principles are sound. This drive train can be assembled very quickly-- and I would recommend doing so, because it's an excellent exercise if you haven't been doing anything in the offseason (which is common and understandable for rookies, as you don't even have a previous robot to look at or practice with). This also lets you focus your resources (both financial and human) towards designing any sort of mechanism to play the game. Never underestimate the ability of just having a robot that drives.
A common issue with rookies is trying to bite off too much. Karthik's second rule comes to mind here-- it's better to do a couple things well than everything halfway. This will also help your limited budget go further-- you have to live within your means, and first year, your means tend to be very limited. Thus, resource management is one of those massively important things for any team-- rookie or veteran-- to get right. Build that structure early, and for the love of all that is good in this world (cough FRC), keep track of where your resources are getting spent! My team is partial to Google Forms for part orders and requests (which also can make the BOM very easy at the end of the season), but a simple spreadsheet or written list is just fine, and will save you a lot of headache wondering what hole that money you spent all offseason raising went. I think most people tend to find it a lot easier to budget when they can actually see how much has already been purchased and how much there is left.
Someone else mentioned veteran teams. Contacting veteran teams is one of the best ways to make your first season an excellent experience. I believe someone else mentioned old parts, which is an excellent start, but you may also want to ask them about other possible ways to help-- many teams (especially well-established ones), if they have shop space, would be willing to let you come over and work with them for a night (or more,) if you want. This is a practice that teams in our area have found to be very productive, especially for rookie teams (2220 opened our shop for a couple of nights last season to other teams in our school district, and it was an excellent experience for both sides). Obviously I can't speak to the practicality of this due to my limited knowledge of NC geography and team locations, but it's definitely something to look into. A machine shop and students and mentors that know how to use it is worth more than all the money you can get in FIRST. Especially for rookie teams lacking more advanced tools, it's a huge benefit to the students (and sometimes mentors too) to know what else is out there to keep an eye on for future seasons.
At this point, I'm going to diverge a little bit from your question about what to do for this season's parts, and talk a little about next season (please don't break my heart and only exist for one year!). Your second year is absolutely crucial in maintaining a momentum and growing your resources- and it is easier to raise funds (still difficult, but now much more reasonable). The primary reason for this is that you can now present your robot to companies. My team has found that if we can get in the door and talk to someone from the company (and preferably show them our robot!), we can eke some sort of sponsorship from them. Once they have something tangible to see that they're sponsoring, they tend to be much more supportive; it's easier to sponsor a product than an idea. As to where these mythical "companies" come from, look at parents. I don't know what sort of companies are in area, but having someone on the inside to get you that first meeting or contact is crucial.
Geez, I ranted on. I hope (think) that was useful! And mostly on topic.
Good luck in your first FRC season, and all hopes that your team lives long and prospers!
Anyway, everyone, PLEASE READ THE MANUAL VERY CAREFULLY and ask around for the answers before going directly to FIRST. :) - AmyPrib [more] 
18-12-2012, 11:09
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