The slippery slope.... Everyone wants something until it comes time to pay and then wait, yes, no, maybe, oh did I miss it, can I still get one....
... I would love to see this succeed in some form ... MOQ on a spec, order and pay, and plate arrives within 8 weeks. A basic 10Key, TKL, 60%, 45%, 40% iso/ans , splits, linear, 10key with an order form and a count.
Massdrop does the commit to buy approach where your transaction is pending in paypal until the buy either runs out of time or succeeds. Not sure if you can rig something along those lines but it might make it easier for people to commit and for you not to get stuck or spend silly amounts of time chasing people.
The challenge as I see it is that when you confirm that people on the order whether you still have the MOQ is whether they have changed their minds and moved on to the next cool idea... Keyboard love is fickle and generally short lived.
My open source idea....
A fully colemak capable 40+%'ish plate. Poker ish without the Fkey Row.
No possibility of finding a case that fits so definitely a diy. I think walnut with brass hardware