Own the future
This weekend, I had the chance to attend Who Owns the World? The State of Platform Cooperativism at The New School. It was organized by the Platform Cooperativism Consortium, a group that advocates for founders to start, grow, and convert their digital platforms to co-ops.
Platform cooperatives are businesses that use a website, mobile app, or protocol to sell goods or services. They rely on democratic decision-making and shared ownership of the platform by workers and users.
By sharing ownership of a business with both workers and customers, advocates believe that we may create more fair and dignified working conditions for users and workers and offer profits for the many, not the few.
Interested in developing a platform co-op? The speakers provided these recommendations:
First and foremost, platform co-ops are businesses. Before geeking out about the democratic structures for your company, founders should focus on the fundamentals of their business, including product strategy and pricing structures.
The co-operate model allows for different classes of ownership: founders, workers, customers, and investors. Panelists recommended thinking through which classes of ownership make the most sense for your business.
Overall, the platform co-op movement is a transition towards a more equitable form of governance and isn't something you have go "all-in" with right away. There is a spectrum, and alternatives including Steward Ownership and Public Benefit Corporations are worthy first steps.
đč Today
How exceptional teams deliver quality work right now
The Riddle of the Well-Paying, Pointless Job
More to That writer Lawrence Yeo provides a great summary of the dilemma of finding meaning at work. We know that people donât find work fulfilling because of money; instead:
Motivation factors include challenging work, recognition, responsibility, and personal growth. Feelings that you are making a meaningful contribution to work arise from intrinsic conditions of the work itself. Motivation is much less about external prodding or stimulation, and much more about whatâs inside of you, and inside of your work.
But finding challenge, recognition, and stimulation at work can be VERY challenging, especially if your company is just optimizing for the bottom line.
Lawrenceâs suggestion to those trapped in well-paying, but bullshit jobs? To find meaning in work, factor into the equation what you create outside of your day job: side projects, blog writing, and other outlets of creative expression.
â° Tomorrow
Pioneers re-inventing work and defining what's next
Meetup to the People: How a Zebra could Rise from a Unicornâs Fall
One of the major casualties of the failed WeWork IPO is Meetup, the massive community event network that WeWork acquired in 2017. As WeWork looks to divest from it's secondary businesses, the future of Meetup is uncertain, but Zebras Unite has tactical recommendations for how we might preserve this valuable web presence and develop it into a long-term sustainable business.
The Zebras Unite community is dedicated to creating a more ethical and inclusive startup and venture capital culture; we'll be hearing a lot more from them in 2020.
đ The Future
Expansive predictions on the future of work
This economist has a plan to fix capitalism. It's time we all listened
While many believe that our technology today is a result of corporate innovation, economist Mariana Mazzucato demonstrates that real innovations can be attributed to state-funded government research.
âSteve Jobs has rightly been called a genius for the visionary products he conceived and marketed, [but] this story creates a myth about the origin of Appleâs success,â Mazzucato writes in her 2013 book The Entrepreneurial State. âWithout the massive amount of public investment behind the computer and internet revolutions, such attributes might have led only to the invention of a new toy.â
This misattribution is dangerous, Mazzucato argues, because it leads society to seek for solutions through private enterprise, not government:
âHistory tells us that innovation is an outcome of a massive collective effort â not just from a narrow group of young white men in California,â Mazzucato says. âAnd if we want to solve the worldâs biggest problems, we better understand that.â