Comment by orthecreedence
2 years ago
A possible model is to divide your shares into ownership/control class shares (reserved only for workers) and profit shares which can be bought/sold by third parties. This gives workers ultimate control over the venture while allowing third-party investment. I don't know if this has been implemented anywhere, but it's a possibility. It's not going to fuel explosive growth like VC funds do, but TBH I'm finding as I get more experienced that those types of ventures generally end up being trash dumpsters once the honeymoon phase is over.
If you invest you want some control. The law is very clear (lots of preceding cases) on your power as an investor in case of equity investments. In case of w-coop investment constructions as you mention the law is very unclear. Hence usually they start with basic loans (sometimes that the initial workers bare some responsibility for) or gifts.
I agree with many VC-backed startups develop toxic behavior.
This is possible. I work at a worker owned cooperative with roughly this model.