Convert to FairShares

Hi - does anyone know of companies in Canada that are using the fairshares model? Also, any resources you can point me to for converting an existing company (tech startup) into this model? Apologies if this is obvious and I've missed it. Any help greatly appreciated.

Hi Scott. Amongst our members are @brendandenovan and @gordoncasey who have engaged seriously with FairShares principles in a Candian context. Brendan used to work at Coop and Mutuals Canada. Gordon has created a cooperative in British Columbia (under Coop Laws). I'm not aware of a company formation yet in Canada, but I suspect this would be easier than under Cooperative Law (Gordon will tell you about the headaches this created - and eventually overcame).

In the USA, @robjameson has incorporated under Company Law (created Cooperative ByLaws for a Delware C Corporation).

There are a few folks at Saint Mary's University (Halifax) who will have some high level/abstract knowledge of FairShares (from presentations I have done there), but I'm unsure if they have translated that into details discussions/applications of the concepts.

@brendandenovan created this guide to FairShares for Canadian cooperators:

https://guides.co/g/fairshares-guide-3-0/100514

Thanks Rory - I actually know Brendan quite well (and that's my company's -- that I want to convert -- software that he published it on) :slight_smile:

My vision of Fair Share enterprises are those where investors do not get overpaid by ownershp transfering to stakeholders over say 20 years that is commonly the life of a patent. My 1975 book "Democratising the wealth of nations" is based on this idea. The full text is posted at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1146062 . A 1000 word summary of how governments could create the incentive for investors to adop this approach is posted at: https://evatt.org.au/news/winning-government-reducing-inequality.html with the title: Winning government by reducin inequality. The idea was published in Canada in 1975 by the Canadian Forum in June with the title: "Fading out with a profit - Planned corporate obsolescence. A London Think Tank called Republica also published a version in 2014 on their web page with the title "A proposal for self-governing corporations"
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Thanks @christophersorensh - agree completely... but also rising interest / concern with "platforms" that are not owned by stakeholders. As my company grows, I want to ensure that ALL stakeholders are involved in governance to avoid issues we've seen with other platforms (FB, twitter, Uber...).

Will take a look at your links - thanks!

@scott54 Curious - did you find the answers to your question? What did you (and your company) end up doing? Would love to connect for learnings and how that may apply to folks I work with. :)

@Revathi Also interested in the outcome :)

Hi @Revathi - would love to connect... we're still working through it, but making progress.