I have real world experience with VC, much more than people realize. While I have not had the best experience with them, I am not foolish enough to believe they are entirely avoidable.
De-federating VC-backed Fediverse servers isn’t easy. Even if it were, how many people have actually done it? Will anyone de-federate every server that federates with a VC-backed server too?
And if we’re that serious about avoiding VCs, why are we even using ActivityPub? That, too, was created with some VC-backing.
Even outside the Fediverse, has anyone – at least anyone using the Internet – avoided everything that has ever touched VC money? I have my doubts.
VCs are a lot like oil companies. They’re evil and do terrible things, but – if you live in the modern world – avoiding oil is impossible. We should seek to replace oil with more sustainable energy. However, I’m certainly not going to judge people or small businesses for using oil since it’s near impossible to avoid.
That’s how I feel about VC money. I don’t think it’s sustainable. I wish there were more tech companies that operated as co-ops. I’m certainly, though, not going to judge people for accessing VC capital – especially since so few people are willing to put in the risk to validate alternative forms of financing.
Sadly, the conversation no one wants to talk about is how to finance the Fediverse sustainably. On the contrary, I see a whole lot of people demanding “free” without any awareness of costs. An alternative financing eco-system should exist, but who’s going to build it? There’s not even a crowd-funding platform that’s native to the Fediverse!
People talk about VCs enshittifying things. Sure, it does. But what also enshittifies things is desperation for money and financing. Frankly, even without VC-backing, people are already experiencing enshittification of the Fediverse. That’s only going to continue for as long as people avoid financial sustainability.
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