Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

Re:Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for star... by daveguy on Monday February 06, 2017 @09:25PM (#13586434)

I think this is a thing. Registered as cooperatives. Even more liberal as customer owned like REI? Of course it could be they are just really good at selling that 10% stake.

I do agree that is a potentially exciting organization. I think there are some market analysis companies that have significant employee ownership and most profits are returned as dividends to make for a very cooperative atmosphere.

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Re:Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for star... by alexose on Tuesday February 07, 2017 @02:01PM (#13591664)

REI is an interesting example. It's a co-op in name, but the employees don't have much representation at the top. (See: http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2016/07/11/24328725/rei-work...).

There are lots of great companies that are employee-owned (the Winco chain of grocery stores comes to mind), but I'm not aware of any in the tech startup world.

I'd love to know about market research companies with an employee-owned model! If you know of any specifically, let me know. Google doesn't seem to be of much help.

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Re:Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for star... by substack on Tuesday February 07, 2017 @03:21PM (#13592384)

Winco is a privately-held company with an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan). Employees do not have voting rights. This is better than most private companies, but cooperatives provide voting rights in how the company is run which I think is more important.

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