Working in a Founder Cooperative

There are currently two ways of working:

• As an employee
• As a business owner

But there is an exciting third way that people are discovering: a Founder Cooperative.

1. The Dilemma of Employees

Many employees have a comfortable job and get a lot of benefits:

• High salary
• Education & training
• Nice office space
• Recognition from their managers
• Health insurance
• Employee benefits & perks

Still, many employees are unhappy. They feel that they are being controlled by someone else and are generating a lot of money for someone else. They dream of owning their own business, but are often afraid to leave their comfortable job.

These employees dream of being company founders and of:

• Having their own company
• Being the boss
• Being able to determine what they are working on
• Managing other people

2. The Dilemma of Entrepreneurs

When employees quit their job and become entrepreneurs they often discover that their reality is different from what they had imagined. They now have to:

• Invest their own money into the company
• Work extremely long hours
• Pay high salaries
• Deal with unhappy employees and try to motivate them
• Try to stay motivated themselves, while no one else in the company is trying to keep them motivated

Many times founders find themselves regretting their choice to leave the comfortable workspace and eventually come back to it.

So what is better, being employed or founding a business? Is there even a better option? Maybe a middle way? YES!

3. Become a Co-founder of a Founder Cooperative

Rather than being an employee for someone else, or being a business owner and boss of other employees, people can decide to come together and form a founder cooperative. In such a work cooperative there are neither capitalist bosses nor subordinate workers. Instead, there are just equal cofounders that agree on the common objective and on a set of rules to make the business of the cooperative work.

As a cofounder of a worker cooperative, an employee often gives up:

• High salary
• Education & training
• Nice office space
• Recognition from their managers
• Health insurance
• Employee benefits & perks

So if you need a comfortable job, where your manager tries to keep you motivated and give you nice perks, then you should not make the jump to become a business owner, nor a cofounder of a founder cooperative. You should stay an employee.

Also, compared to becoming the sole founder of a business, a work cooperative means you are giving up several things:

• You are not the sole boss
• You do not get the full power
• You cannot freely set your own rules; everything has to be democratically agreed

So if you are greedy and power hungry and do not like working in a team of equals, then you should not become a cofounder of a founder cooperative. You should find a business by yourself.

4. Why Co-founding a Cooperative Might Be the Best Option

Co-founding a cooperative has many benefits:

• Have your own company
• Be the boss
• Be able to determine what you are working on

While not necessarily having to:

• Invest money into the company
• Work extremely long hours
• Deal with unhappy employees and try to motivate them
• Pay high salaries

In short, co-founding a cooperative allows you to get the benefits of owning a business without the many drawbacks of being the sole owner.

So if you are not greedy, nor power hungry and want to work in a team of equals, working in a work cooperative can be your best bet to build a successful business.