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Organisational Design

Transition Tethix to a platform cooperative

We are looking for the support of the existing community to transition to and co-design a truly community owned and governed platform cooperative.
Status: Explore

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This proposal is closed.

Proposal at a glance

We are looking for the support of the existing community to transition to and co-design a truly community owned and governed platform cooperative.
Proposed By: Mat & Nate
Agree on the proposed transition away from a privately held company towards a platform co-op and co-design the constitution with committed community members.
Closing Date: May 27, 2022
Existing Funding: No

What is being proposed

As we set out on this journey our intention was always to transition to an entity structure that is better aligned with our purpose and vision. After a months of discussion and preliminary research we believe the best structure is going to be a platform co-op.

What is a platform co-op?

“A platform co-op is a digital platform that is designed to provide a service or sell a product – that is collectively owned and governed by the people who depend on and participate in it. They offer a positive alternative to platform capitalism – as characterised by Facebook, Amazon, Google, Uber, Airbnb – which has been criticised for extractive and exploitative practices.”

The reasoning behind this is multifaceted. We believe that a platform co-op is an organisational and legal structure that can support us in fulfilling our purpose and realising our vision:

“A community governed social learning platform and collective of change makers helping to close the ethical intent to action gap in tech.”

 

This platform co-op structure can provide

  • An organisational structure with shared ownership and democratic governance. One that incentivises member contributions to design the platform tech in a trustworthy way and support the whole ecosystem in learning
  • The mechanisms for the data we all generate through interactions with the platform to be managed by the community in a democratic way (i.e data trust with open and closed data)
  • A pathway for values aligned individuals and organisations to combine resources, expertise and capital to increase the likelihood of positive social impact at scale
  • A method for organisations that are currently competing for share of mind, heart and wallet to join forces
  • Better quality and more affordable learning experiences and capability uplift programs to members in their journey to design trustworthy products, services and organisations
  • Infrastructure to support members in delivering their expertise to global clientele, and
  • A way for surplus financial resources to support a democratically managed community fund for the purpose of community projects

 

The specific details of how a platform co-op might work is yet to be formally decided, but the principles of cooperatives are relevant to reflect on.

  1. A co-op is owned and controlled by its members. It exists for the benefit of its members, who may be customers, workers, suppliers or the wider community.
  2. A co-op is democratic – this means every member has an equal say in how it’s run and how profits are used.
  3. Every member contributes financially in some way – from buying products, working for the co-op, investing in it or deciding how to spend its profits.
  4. A co-op is an independent business, owned and controlled by its members.
  5. It offers education and training to everyone involved, so they can develop the co-op and promote the benefits of co-operation.
  6. It co-operates, works with and supports other co-ops.
  7. A co-op supports the communities it works with.
 
Imagine a world where we could unite as a species. Meaningfully connect and collectively imagine. Where we learn together and co-design digital technologies that will enable us to all flourish. Better lives. Hospitable planet.
 
But how do we do it when it's all so darn complicated?
 
When competitive mindsets pit us against each other? When information and insight is siloed? When command and control hierarchies reign supreme? When misaligned incentives get in the way of recognising our shared humanity? 
 
We learn to be, to make, to design, build, and create better, together. 
 
We need cyber-physical spaces for people to learn better, together. To collectively sense-make and embrace the complexity and perceived messiness of our world. To connect, and collaborate on problems that they're passionate about solving. Creating new business models designed to enable better outcomes for people, and planet.
 
We need to connect diverse communities of practice across fields and disciplines. To learn new ways of thinking, doing and being. We need information to flow so motivated change makers have the best fit tools, insights and wisdom at their fingertips. To design technologies that reflect our highest ideals and meet our immediate collective needs.
 
We've built a basic social learning platform to help. Think of it as a Linkedin morphed with Fivrr and narrowed in on responsible innovation and ethical technology. But it's community owned and democratically governed.
 
It's nothing fancy yet. But it provides the elements of a fertile soil for our best ideas to surface.
 
  • There's spaces for people to discuss and share ideas.
  • Ways to easily form groups and converge on defining problems areas.
  • Tools to coordinate and collaborate on community projects.
  • Tools to create interactive e-learning experiences and short courses.
  • A directory of ethics tools and techniques that's curated by the communities using them.
  • Infrastructure for directories of ethical tech vendors and responsible innovation service providers.
  • Ways to create proposals for big collaborative projects, changes to governance, or technology infrastructure.
  • Along with ways to vote on key decisions that impact the community and other stakeholders.
 
And there is more in store.
 
Importantly, the data we generate is ours to steward. To leverage for what we collectively decide. To help other ecosystem stakeholders or to improve the platform for the community. Ideally both and more.
 
Of course the platform will change and evolve. That's part of the point. We learn by doing. Co-creating a platform ecosystem for collective learning that helps to enrich and advance human existence.
 
Join us as we embark on the adventure of a lifetime. To learn to how to make tech better, together.

Assumptions

Some of the high risk assumptions we have are:

  1. Existing community members will overwhelmingly support this direction
  2. A financially viable business model can be established by and for the community
  3. Existing community members will be willing to provide financial contributions for membership
  4. Compliance cost will not become overly burdensome
  5. Tools to support democratic decision making at scale will be adopted and effectively used
  6. Existing community members and prospective members will support capital raising and commit financially to attain shared ownership
  7. Diverse not for profit organisations (and commercial for profit ones) across the ecosystem will be willing to join and become members
  8. A compelling proposition can be co-designed to deliver platform services to global clients
  9. Global clients will be willing to work with a co-operative of this nature

Current Considerations

There are loads of things to consider. This is by no means an exhaustive list but is enough to start discussions with you and the current community members.

  1. Is a full co-operative structure the right one vs a company with a co-operative constitution?
  2. What is the best jurisdiction to incorporate this entity in?
  3. How will seedling capital be raised and via what fundraising instruments?
  4. What membership types there will be?
  5. What are the responsibilities of each membership type?
  6. Who are the initial core team members and how might we recruit and on-board them?
  7. What third party software tools do we need to support scalable democratic decision making?
  8. What is the mechanism through which surplus financial resources are distributed or allocated?
  9. What security measures need to be in place to support large numbers of members using the platform infrastructure?
  10. What methods of identity verification will be required by law for this type of organisation and how will these be implemented in an ethical way?

Action Items

  1. Explore and assess existing community support for this proposal
  2. If existing members supports this transition we continue on
  3. Develop a simple preliminary feasibility study
  4. Short list of potential founding members (individuals and organisations)
  5. Create a Memorandum of Agreement with these parties
  6. Co-design governance rules (Constitution) with the founding members and the existing community
  7. Establish the ownership structure and any capital raising instruments needed
  8. Incorporate as a co-operative and commence commercial activities

* The time frame for this is about 18 months. Intention to have a new entity established by 3rd quarter of 2022.

Who needs to be involved

As initial founders we are seeking your support for this proposed transition. On face value we believe most community members will be supportive of this proposed change. Support from you can come in many forms. The easiest way to do this now is to indicate your preference for this proposed decision below in preliminary voting. If you have messages of support or skepticism then get involved in the community discussion.

As we move through the exploration phase of this proposal, we’ll be sharing progress and presenting more conceptual details. There'll be opportunities to co-design how it might work. To diverge and converge together. Share stories in what ever way you're comfortable with. Be that a poem, an equation, drawing, song or interpretive dance.

We'll discuss and debate, collectively sense make and decide as a community on the direction we'd like to take this over the coming year. Along with the community discussion in the forums and some ad hoc co-design sessions opportunity for some real-time discussion is important. Please see this community discussion for details on community calls.

Community town hall meetings will be scheduled. These meeting will involve presentation of issues that have been raised, strategy for the transition and formal voting on the proposed changes to the organisation. Notice will be given to the current community via email, we'll also be sharing this via Twitter and Linkedin.

Get involved in the community discussion

Join Discussion

Funding

Proposals can have funding already allocated or be proposals to be funded.

Existing Funding: No

Documents & Links

As the saying goes, we’re always building on the shoulders of giants. If you want to explore some of the what informed the proposal these links provide a glimpse into the exploration we’ve been doing for some time. They cover everything from the cooperatives movement, voting mechanisms and governance to funding models and coops helping other coops.

Preliminary Voting

Preliminary voting on this proposal indicates the initial direction of your preference. This is used to gauge the interest before formal voting is done. As deeper understanding emerges you can change your preliminary vote until the proposal is closed.

A “tick” = proposal supported

A “cross” = proposal not supported

Progress Updates

Update - 17th May 2021: We had to make some big changes recently that impact this community proposal.

You can read more about it here.

Update - 25th May 2021: We've created a series of videos talking through conceptual and future state aspects that provide a reference point for exploration. They cover what we're designing for, how membership might work and the types of membership. Governance and ownership of the cooperative. Applied learning projects, member levels and community ventures. The commercial model, the ecosystem entities, connecting broader ecosystems and the domains of the platform architecture. You can watch the videos here.

Update - 25th June 2021: We've extended the duration of this phase to May 2022. This provides more time for community involvement and input as we also move to the next phase of our Seedling beta.

Update - 7th October 2021:

The latest progress update covers some details related to this proposal. Check it out here

If you have any questions ideas or want to get involved join the Tethix community chaton Matrix

Update - 9th November 2022:

The latest progress update covers important information on the upcoming transition from beta Seed to Seedling. Check it out here