>I can't figure out why Co-ops (particularly education institute backed) haven't really taken off in the US. I'm not familiar with what "education institute ba

>I can't figure out why Co-ops (particularly education institute backed) haven't really taken off in the US. I'm not familiar with what "education institute backed" means. Does that mean GTech provided initial seed capital to the co-op for free? If so, how much money was it? To the general question of why co-ops are not prominent, it's because the workers don't have significant money. By definition, the co-op is owned by the workers and therefore, the workers need to fund the business. That limit on investment is why co-ops are often smaller businesses like consultants sharing an office & a laser printer or farmers-&-market collective. I also made a previous comment about it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11165966 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11165966