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The Co-Op Movement Is Taking on Big Tech
- squeegmeister 5y agoThis sounds intriguing, but I still don't feel like I have a good idea of what a co-op is or how it works. How does a business get off the ground without investment? Other than taking out a loan, credit card debt, or personal savings
- dllthomas 5y agoTraditionally, raising capital from the membership. Careful that there are a lot of different forms of cooperative, though.
- michaelbrave 5y agoAs for what a co-op is the short gist is that it's an employee owned business, usually shared between employees. Most of it's history here in the states is associated with hippies and small town municipalities but in other places there are even universities that specialize in it like Mondragon University in Spain. You've hit on the largest challenge of starting a co-op, that is getting the initial investment as it is quite difficult to get those loans and there are not as many investors pursuing that route. This article from a couple of weeks ago hits on how it's actually getting harder for them. https://www.propublica.org/article/the-government-is-here-to-help-small-businesses-unless-theyre-cooperatives https://www.propublica.org/article/the-government-is-here-to...
- dllthomas 5y agoThere are also consumer cooperatives, and hybrid models. Also, some cooperatives are cooperatives of other businesses (agricultural coops are often this, and sometimes sports leagues or similar), but those are in some ways a very different thing.
- adamcstephens 5y agoThere are multiple different types of coops. Here’s a good breakdown: https://ncdc.unl.edu/typescooperatives.shtml https://ncdc.unl.edu/typescooperatives.shtml You’re correct that financing is harder compared to VC funding, and likely involves personal or bank loans.
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