4 ms·
Indie developers typically aren't interested in working at BigCorp, but perhaps for survival they could consolidate in to worker-owned companies.
by jackvalentine 11y ago
Indie developers typically aren't interested in working at BigCorp, but perhaps for survival they could consolidate in to worker-owned companies.
- melling 11y agoIf you take several apps that don't make enough money to support their developers and add then up, they aren't going to support everyone working as one company. I don't see much cost reduction as a group.
- jackvalentine 11y agoI wasn't suggesting combining all their apps in to one stable. I was suggesting creating a larger company that has working conditions that suit the kind of person who is an indy developer. Most (all?) of their current apps would probably need to disappear. It wouldn't be the same as working for yourself, but it wouldn't be the same as working for some faceless corporation either.
- jasode 11y ago> Most (all?) of their current apps would probably need to disappear. If the very product they're trying to sell needs to disappear, then your recommendations of "consolidate into worker co-op" or "create a larger company" does not have any useful meaning. You've got cause-&-effect of product and business structure backwards. What happens in the real world: 1st) have a viable product that sells for sustainable revenue ---> 2nd) amount of incoming money helps guide decisions about structuring the company to be sole-proprietor vs traditional incorporated vs workers cooperative. The reverse direction of... 1st) organize a workers co-op ---> 2nd) sell something-I-don't-know-what-it-could-be-but-your-current-apps-need-to-disappear. ... is an academic dead end. If you're going to hand wave away where the money comes from to pay the salaries of the workers owning the co-op, it doesn't matter that they formed a co-op for better working conditions. The article was about sustainable revenue in the long tail of the app store. A workers co-op is an unrelated tangent and doesn't solve how to survive in that long tail.
- jackvalentine 11y agoI think you might have realised I'm not really responding to the article, more of a "perhaps if the indy app scene isn't really a viable thing any more they could do this..." thought bubble.
- djKianoosh 11y agowhat are some examples of worker owned collectives in the US?
- jackvalentine 11y agoI don't know, I'm not American.
- cft 11y agoRainbow Grocery in San Francisco. I recently bought a two dollar apple there ;) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Grocery_Cooperative https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Grocery_Cooperative
- dragons 11y agoAlvarado Street Bakery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvarado_Street_Bakery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvarado_Street_Bakery There's a list on wiki (not all USA): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_employee-owned_companies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_employee-owned_compani...
- stevetrewick 11y agoNo, that sounds awful, and precisely the kind of thing I quit working at BigCorps to avoid. Your core assumption seems to be that changing the ownership model is enough to counter the lack of autonomy that comes from spending all day in a hierarchical business with other people. I'm actually struggling to imagine how you arrived at this point of view.
- jackvalentine 11y agoChrist, you're reading a lot in to "perhaps..." and ascribing some really strong emotions to it.
- stevetrewick 11y agoCould be. I certainly do have some strong emotions in this area.