move

To this point, stumbled upon this: geo.coop/articles/ref...

Helps to know I'm not seeing things. @yochaigal.bsky.social

I've been digging into the worker cooperative ecosystem. Seeking to connect, learn, contribute. What I've experienced: a strange, cagey community lacking excitement or momentum. I hoped to be drawn in, feels more like fighting to get in. Disappointing, sure, but surprising? Rare for a reason.

How M are my MVPs? I login to the rails console every day to count objects, because it spares me from having to build a UI.

#buildinpublic

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I've used AppScreens in the past: appscreens.com

Part of what I like about cooperatives as a concept is the explicit alignment of interests. When everyone owns it there’s a different sense of accountability.

… but you had better have mechanisms for booting dead weight and you’d better be great at vetting new hires. Almost a core function.

If I can be a resource as you think about the topic feel free to dm me. Here to help.

I’m working on building one focused on incubating verticalized SaaS and AI products. Doing so without taking outside investment is the trick… I’m highly committed to 100% worker ownership. I haven’t seen anyone do this yet.

Underutilized, I think.

Can you validate/invalidate the market for a product without actually building the product?

I'm only in Slack channels that are geography-based or language-based. Need to look for some others. Open to suggestions!

In the spirit of that... congrats on your first demo! Land it!

Who has your customer now? Cut them in. Referral programs, reselling, whatever.

I'm already seeing a lot of LinkedIn style posts broken into many many lines with emojis and you guys we don't have to do this

Share that feeling, just not the type that wants to work alone. I like collaborating, so I started digging. That's how I came upon some of these structures that spread the benefits more equally. Surprised they're so under-discussed in tech. I felt like I found a buried treasure, lol.

So when I say it is about values, what I mean is that I think most people who do anything like starting a software company do it for the freedom, to be their own boss, etc. Then they go raise money. Um...

If you want actual freedom, bootstrap.

Have you ever looked at an investor some months after telling them X was going to happen to tell them X didn't happen? Ready to sell them on Y? Why should they believe you? Do you believe you? This is the mindfuck that is that flavor of entrepreneurship. The pivots are fucking brutal.

At some level it is a matter of values. We fetishize these people that work the VC flywheel to huge valuations and cash out. Good on them, but most THINK they're ready for the pressure that comes with that. What happens when the outcome isn't that clean?

Took a nominal amount of outside investment, charged up to an ARR number that would have been awesome without investors but now that outside money is involved the bar has moved. That's the lesson. People think outside money takes the pressure off or it is validation. Neither is true.

I've been thinking about this topic a lot lately. There are actually options between wage slavery and solopreneur, even though most don't consider them.

See: worker cooperatives, ESOPs, etc.

I will

N E V E R

take outside investment again.

Only two types of people that should roll their own blog IMHO:

- A frontend-minded developer wanting to showcase some skills/design patterns/etc.
- A newer developer wanting to get some experience writing CRUD apps.

Hey #buildinpublic... I admire all you solopreneurs, but I'm more of the collaborative type. Anyone else struggle with this?