yochaigal's comments

I work at a worker-owned IT company that has offices in three states and has been in existence for 20 years. We do not provide any kind of SaaS service but I can assure you it is possible! My suggestion is to reach out to the Tech Worker Coop Peer Network for the USFWC:

https://www.usworker.coop/programs/peer-networks/

They will probably have ideas. Good luck!

PS an LLC is definitely a good way to go, but some states (e.g. NY, MA, CA, MN, etc) have dedicated worker coop company types you can create.

I'm also a huge fan of games that use a standard deck. I absolutely love Regicide for example, which can be purchased with an original deck (the art is nice) but plays with any 52-card deck.

I've visited Mondragon, both the city (and the region) as well as many of the co-ops themselves.

I did a small slideshow/presentation for those interested: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1EFgwKNLgRgQQf8Kv236_...

They don't pay for it all at once. They get a loan from the co-op bank (Laboral Kutxa).

Yeah, this is one of the reasons why it is so important to start as a co-op, rather than convert later.

It really depends. In IT (where VC is king) it is really hard to compete on a monetary level. On the other hand, benefits are pretty good - healthcare, time off, sick days etc. Also, having a direct say into how your business functions is a pretty huge benefit, in my eyes.

In other industries (repair, baking, house-cleaning) I'd say it pays a lot more than average.

I have founded two worker co-ops; both in the tech sector.

Whenever one of these posts hits reddit or this website, there is a surge of interest - and then nothing. Our rate of growth (400 or so worker co-ops in the US) is abysmally slow; if anything I've seen more co-ops fold than start anew! Our conferences seem to bring more and more each year, though - just not workers; instead we get specialists, folks from social justice and non-profits... Just very few workers. At the East coast conference two years ago, 75% of the speakers were non-owners, just co-op specialists; do-gooders and SJWs.

The only new co-ops I seem to see are those that get created by top-down institutions; non-profits and the like. I'm talking Evergreen, WAGES, etc. Once in a while we get web co-ops (like the one liked here); more often than not, they too have a political bent (beyond worker-ownership).

Not sure why I'm saying all this here; I suppose I just wanted to offer a different perspective on all this. I love worker co-ops, and think they should be everywhere. But I'm not sure culture in the US is yet compatible!

Checkout http://reddit.com/r/cooperatives it you want to know more.

I'm the founder of this co-op - and no, it isn't consensus based. In fact, we made a point of NOT doing things by consensus!

Not all co-ops are consensus-based, in fact I'd say the majority are not.

You should reach out to NoBAWC (http://nobawc.org) and http://techworker.coop (and the list serv).

My worker co-op started out in the Bay Area and now is bi-coastal; SV is full of like-minded folks so you're among good company.

PS, check out http://www.reddit.com/r/cooperatives.

I just built this in Ubuntu; works well enough - however it is identical to just running an "app" from Chromium; so I think I'll keep doing that.

They keyboard sucks because of design, not Linux - see:

http://cdn.gottabemobile.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Thin...

I love my 1st gen; it's really depressing that they did this.

Whoops, wrong link (on my phone, still no excuse).

Here is the one I was referring to: http://officialblog.yelp.com/2013/12/harvard-study-debunks-y...

The myth is that businesses which pay yelp do better; thus yelp extorts businesses to pay.

The study showed that businesses which pay for yelp ads do no better.

So sick of hearing this - what actual evidence do you have?

People's reviews get filtered because the user doesn't have human-identifiable data - multiple reviews, friends who use yelp, a picture, recent logins, etc.

Find me any business that complains about this extortion, their filtered reviews are 99% from people who've used yelp once and never logged in again.

On the other hand, here's a Harvard Business School study debunking this myth:

http://harvardmagazine.com/2011/10/hbs-study-finds-positive-...

Hello all. I have founded two worker cooperatives, both in the tech sector. I am also a moderator of the subreddit http://reddit.com/r/cooperatives. Check out the sidebar for a whole bunch of links!

If you have any questions about starting a worker coop, especially in CA or MA, I can help.

This article was absolutely fascinating, in particular because it compared traditional worker co-ops with Valve's unusual horizontal-style organization. I'm a former worker-owner at a tech startup (we were organized exactly as he described traditional co-ops, basically we all owned the firm but were hierarchical) and based on my experiences there I think the only way a truly spontaneous structure such as Valve' could work is in the high-tech or "professional" sector; I think the average person (especially those lacking college education) has a very difficult time deciding how to best be productive. I'm not saying they couldn't co-own a business - on the contrary, I think it is the way many businesses should be run! But a strict managerial structure is essential in organization differently-minded individuals (in my experience).