FairStarts
= incubator and funding eco-system project for open cooperatives in the context of the FairCoop project
Proposal
Draft text, english needs to be improved:
"Our plan is to build a networks of incubators to develop transnational open cooperatives for the commons peer production.
This network will facilitate new or already existing coops, to be extended around the world thanks to the mutual aid and solidarity between all the nodes in a distributed ways that facilitates self governance of every coop in a distributed way.
This could be seen as a strategical step to go beyond the current exemples of the socalled collaborative economy, where an startup, for example blablacar, take profit of the collaborative actitude of their users.
We would like to promote, that everyone, funders, sellers, consumers, etc, be part of the open coop startup, and get involved at the economic and political level. being posible the economic democracy of the future.
Also we would like to include here the concept of Commons startups as a social enterpreneurship projects that have as a goal to produce open commons that not will get a private benefit, and therefore needs to have funding of external sources, that we together could get the way to selfmanage.
This project is being called here, FairStarts that is yet a provisional development.
In front of the way that private companies are created, in the way of closed managements and private profits. We need to build a more dynamic model to build open coops, and this is Fairstarts project, a way to make it possible.
1. School / incubator / accelerator
We imagine the local initiatives called “incubator” in fact, as a very transversal group of initiatives that makes possible social relations of mutual support, in their local area of influence and also gives support to a set of sinergies that develop and expand the p2p commons society.
So, these are some of the tools that this spaces could include:
- School: This is a cooperative space of teaching and learning where people comes to learn about the p2p commons, integral and hacker etics politics aiming to get enough background to develop of being involved in p2p based commons/open cooperative projects.
Also they choose a specific specialization to combine with the detailed overview that could include professions and skills useful for the commons like, translation, sofware development, blockchain based technologies etc..
If possible the teachers could be professionals linked with already existing coops that could be looking for more members or nodes.
- Incubator: explained below
- Accelerator: Not only new projects but already existing coops that have a product or service that could be related to the commons could use this network in a very interesting way. They could promote the creation of local autonomous nodes of their distributed structure with the help of the local incubators. This also will be very useful for the network because will give concrete developements to join that can help the incubators to begin with activity fastly than only with new more abstract initiatives.
Otherwise faircredit could be a very useful way to link at the economical level the different tools of one of this incubators. And for example, the students in the school could have access to credit throw faircredit that they could recover doing practical collaborations with coops projects where they wants to be involved as a part of their practical learning.
2. Incubators support to the projects.
Here we explain extender, how the incubators works for new projects, advancing that the same structure could be useful to help accelerating already existing coops.
When a commons enterpreneur (or a group of) have a new idea, can come to their local incubator and ask for support.
This incubator, will help this project with different resources like
- helping as estrategial commons partners.
- helping to complete the promoter team and networking.
- helping as technological advisors.
- helping to get funding
- helping at legal level.
- helping with phisical resources.
a) Strategical commons
This support will be centered in helping with the design of the project in the sense to be sure that the apportation of the project to the commons could be as good as possible for the commons ecosystem.
As a part of this support will be important confirm if this project already exists or if its really and innovative plan, and if the better idea to begin a new collaborative economics & commons startup or to join an existing process.
b) Promoter team and networking
This support will be centered in helping to build the promoter team of the project, and also helping to network with key groups to endorse the proposal and helping to involve local nodes in the sense to build a descentralized cooperativa initiative.
The network of fair coop incubators will be a key here in order to help with this evolvement.
c) Technological advisors
This support will help the project to choose the better software technology and to decide to develop a new software if needed or another technological resources. People connected with the most innovative technological developments will be needed here to support this technological advisors.
d) Funding
This open cooperatives could be funded by
- Venture capital oriented to the commons, and be sustained economically by different ways of monetary wealth production.
Here there are four examples of projects depending of the level that their production is rewarded.
1. Projects that arent monetary rewarded. Are funded 100% by capital benefits. And needs to get 5x the money that they spend every year. (See the document “Venture commons joint” for further details)
2. Projects that are monetary rewarded in a 50%. This projects wins by their work the 50% of the money that need during the year. This money needs to get 2,5X the money that spend every year. And by this way needs to participate 50% in the venture commons joint
3. Projects that are monetary rewarded in a 100%. This projects wins by their work the 100% of the money that need during the year. This money needs to get the same amount that they need if wants to help investing in venture commons, or also are able to leave this funding for other projects that still need it.
4. Projects thar are monetary rewarded in a 150%. This projects can use their benefits to fund other open cooperative projects and/or donate funds to the commons faircoop fund.
- Funding from the diverse Fair Coop funds, depending of the case
- Funding from other related funds to the Commons and collaborative economy
- Funding from crowdfunding / crowdfunding equities / cryptoequities...
- Funding via Faircredit, the mutual credit global system of faircoop
e) Legal
Another of the important decitions that a new commons startup needs to do, if about the legal framework that they will use if needed. Specially this could became essential, in order to get the funds needed for the sustain the project. Otherwise the need of a legal form will depend of the activity done for the project and if this startup will be only about knowledge sharing, or will be creating decentralized services in the real world.
Otherwise the network of incubators, could be interested in promote legal forms sharings between the prrojects, in order to reduce the legal bureaucracy. This could be another ting to study in the whole project
f) physical resources
Finally, another resources to be count here, are the phisical ones. Will be needed also to help the projects to get covered the physical needs of coworking, specially for the promoter team. Some initiatives by the incubators like to create/promote coworking spaces a low cost, would be apreciatted to make possible the multiple launching of initiatives.
3. Fairstarts at a strategical project of FairCoop
Has been said, that FairCoop its for building “a new global economic system based on cooperation, ethics, solidarity and justice in our economic relations” and meanwhile the first concrete developments are related the monetary system (Faircoin & Faircredit) or exchange (Fairmarket)
Also, its important to focus that for a new economic system we need much more that monetary or exchange tools, and specially we need tools for production oriented by the same values that Fair Coop promotes. FairStarts project is created for filling the pending development about how are we going to promote a production oriented to the commons and collaborative economy. This development needs to begin at the same time than other branches of our economical system to make possible an integral development, and is to reach this aim that this FairStarts network is going to be developed.
FairStarts will be developed trhough the faircoop local nodes; therefore one previos or paralel important step to make FairStarts possible is to helping in developing this local nodes."