Introduction to Tech Coops
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facilitated by Lottie
notes by Laura
This session was a discussion of coops: what they are, why they are important.
About OpenFlows
Lottie works at NYC OpenFlows w/ Eric. OpenFlows works with nonprofits, unions, and other groups with similar values.
What are coops?
A business that is worker-owned, which means:
- Worker/owners all own equally
- Members may collect money separately
- Produces something (can be food, like Land o' Lakes)
- Clients are shared
- Owners pay fee to the coop in service-oriented coops
- Not like Uber or AirBnB
More about OpenFlows
- Tech coops specifically work-flow systems
- Heavy lifting for complex systems like Drupal and CiviCRM
Palante Tech
- Tech support coop based in Brooklyn
- Seven workers
- One is not an owner
- Distributed in three other cities
- People shared their interests
How did they become a coop?
- Jack was a freelancer
- Realized one person couldn't have all the skills needed - wanted to be in a group that could share skills
- Coop gave them ability to specialize
- Managing clients and accounting is shared in economy of scale
- No longer working in isolation
How it started
- Met with people who knew each other already and wanted to start a business
- Politics: didn't want to be "bosses"
- Not a nonprofit, but not about profit
- Time before coop - had subcontractors
- Started March 2010
- Incorporated in November 2011
How it works
- Technically it's a C corp (varies state by state)
- A community development project helps people start coops in New York
- Lots of long meetings - how to set up HR, hiring/firing
- Collective, means one person=one vote - decisions made by consensus
- Coop refers to type of ownership, collective refers to how it's governed
- Hiring is similar to other places - benefits start right off the bat
- Process - after nine months, change from worker -> worker-owner
- Challenge: doesn't work out
- How to fire: a problem - we haven't been able to
- At three months: getting up to speed
- At six months: step up