The C3 Pioneer Program — Professional Beta

Application received — thank you!

You'll hear back from John personally within a few days.

Name *

Email *

Profession *

Company / practice & location (optional)

What do you draft, and for whom? * (portfolio link or sample welcome)

Your CAD tools today & their cost per year *

Your Mac: model, chip, macOS *

Which areas of C3 would you exercise hardest? *

One sentence: why do you want in? *

Five minutes, six questions — every application gets a personal reply within a few days. Prefer email? john@tetra720.com with the same six answers works too.

About the program

I wrote the CAD program Hughes Aircraft used for satellite microwave design in the 1980s. I've spent the past year rebuilding it natively for Apple Silicon — and it's now in professional beta. I'm looking for a small number of working drafters, engineers, and designers to test it on real work.

Free full access during the beta. A direct line to the developer. And a free or half-price perpetual license for testers who earn their keep.

15 seats. Every application is read and answered personally. Applications beyond the cap join the waitlist in order received.

What you get

The full application, every feature, free during the beta — a named 90-day license, renewed free for as long as you're actively testing
The developer answers your email — bugs are typically fixed in days, and feature requests from Pioneers are heard first. This is how the program already works: one tester reported a PCB workflow need and the feature shipped the same day
A locked-in reward for real testing — see the ladder below: 50% off the $1,995 perpetual license, or the license free outright for top contributors, plus your name in the credits
Influence — a 15-person beta means your workflow actually shapes the product

What we ask — the Pioneer ladder

Reviewed every 90 days when your license renews. Quality beats quantity: one reproducible bug report with steps and a sample file outweighs ten one-liners.

Level	The bar (per 90 days)	The reward
Active	Use C3 on real work; send at least 3 substantive reports — a bug with repro steps, a workflow friction write-up, or a feature evaluation	License renewed free, every 90 days
Contributor	Sustained Active participation, or one deep structured assignment (e.g. produce and document a complete fabrication drawing in your discipline)	50% off at launch — $997 perpetual
Pioneer	Sustained contribution plus one of: a featured gallery drawing, a written testimonial or case study, or a genuinely program-shaping idea	Free perpetual license + your name in the About-box credits
Inactive	No reports, no use	License simply lapses at expiry — no hard feelings

Who qualifies

Working professionals who would use C3 in their trade during the beta: drafters, mechanical / electrical / civil engineers, PCB designers, architects, cabinet and furniture makers, sign makers, scientists producing figures and schematics. You need a Mac (Apple Silicon preferred; recent Intel works) and real 2D work to do on it.

The fine print (all of it)

Beta licenses are personal and named — your name appears in your copy's About window. Please don't share builds or license files; sharing screenshots, drawings, and opinions publicly is allowed and encouraged.
Beta builds retire 120 days after release (like TestFlight betas) so the program always runs on current software. Active testers always have a current build — they ship roughly monthly.
Beta software is provided as-is for evaluation. It's the same build the developer uses daily, backed by an automated test suite, but it's still a beta — keep backups of important work (C3's files are readable JSON, and the format is stable).
A short beta agreement (one page, plain English) appears right in C3 when you install your license — read it, click Accept, done. No NDA on your opinions.
Ladder placement is reviewed at each renewal; the developer's judgment is the final rubric, applied generously.

Questions before applying? Just ask — you'll get the developer, not a ticket system. Curious what C3 is? The main site and Why C3 tell the story.