Do you have term sheets or bylaws conducive to #ExittoCommunity? We're interested in creating a library to help accelerate experimentation. Let me know if you can contribute.
This database of community-owned software/service initiatives (spanning from Defector to a solar coop) is thought-provoking in a good way.
Given post-GReader/Evernote/etc. declining elite trust in VC-backed startups, I wonder if there's a funding-time playbook for (p)re-building trust through planned "in case of failure, break glass". #ExitToCommunity#e2c@daspitzberg
@heif The model made sense. Meetup gets revenue from its users. It is in the business of communities. A co-op model, accountable to fee-paying members, made perfect sense.
But of course potential investors just didn't know how that would work. It isn't done. There isn't policy infrastructure for that kind of conversion, that kind of #exittocommunity. Meetup got bought by an investment fund.
It might sound weird to say this about the impact of a website, but Bandcamp really has transformed my musical interests and, as a result, my life. I have been able to cultivate & help support a small, shifting, virtual community of artists and listeners that I learned from over the past 13 years. So, it is very sad to hear about the recent sell-off, layoffs and plunder.
As much as I personally align with decentralization, there does seem to be some value in a centralized platform for managing payments, storage and discovery for artists whose livelihood depends on trust.
Online communities are real communities. People have met future spouses, weathered difficult life events, organized politically, raised money to help each other all through the panoply of social websites.
Often community rules and culture are guided by moderators, who almost always work for free.
Despite all of this we generally accept that these are not the people who own the website or the ones who control its fate.
Over and over this creates heartache and disappointment.