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Comment by akvadrako | Hacker News Reader

It's called a platform co-op and many exist, but it's hard to compete with VC money.

Uber is losing money so I don't know think drivers want a slice of the profits.

What, if anything, is preventing for-profit platform co-ops from obtaining VC money and chasing a similar growth-to-unicorn curve?

Is it just cultural inertia, i.e. nobody has tried yet?

If the purpose of the co-op is to ensure that profits go to the workers and not to company owners/investors, then either you plan to fail at that purpose or you're not interesting to the investors. If the lion's share of the operating profits would go to the investors, it's no better than Uber, if the lion's share of the operating profits would go to the drivers, then what's the motivation to invest?

Based on my limited experience, VCs could be dissuaded from investing in co-ops by:

1. No prospects of a big payout (IPO, acquisition).

2. VCs like to have a single point-of-contact (the CEO) and few other owners. In a start-up, the CEO is answerable and serves only the investors. Co-ops behave more like a member-driven organization whose obligation is first and foremost to its members.

3. No option for majority ownership. A co-op eventually has to be majorly owned by the employees rather than by investors.

Is there any known platform cooperatives to support that has some traction so far?

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