[Finance] - Dan Fireside, Equal Exchange Capital Coordinator

Dan coordinates outside investment for equal exchange, a fair trade importer worker co-op that has raised $15m+ in non-voting preferred share investment. He's extremely well versed in co-op capital structures, and is generally game for sharing his knowledge with other co-ops. A google hangout I did with him a while back when my organization was helping a student with an independent study on co-ops can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TUoMhn-vgA

[Finance w/ Significant Conversions Experience] Betsy Black, Cooperative Fund of NE

Betsy is the NW New England rep of the Cooperative Fund of New England, which is a loan fund that grew out of the 1970s food co-op movement and now funds all kinds of co-ops in the region. She has extensive co-op loan underwriting experience, and has been the lead source of financing on a number of co-op conversion deals, including several worker co-op conversions that my organization (Vermont Employee Ownership Center) worked on.

If anyone is interested in complementary (eg LLCs, LLPs, prepay credit) methods for financing & funding Co-ops without using shares (of any type) or even debt then I'd happily contribute.

[Conversions] Noemi Giszpenc - Cooperative Development Institute

Noemi is the ED of CDI, which supports co-op development in the US northeast, and she is also founder of the Data Commons co-op, which she presented about at the 2015 Platform Co-op Conference. CDI has provided technical support to many co-op conversions (though none at this scale).

Jerry Stritzke, President and CEO of REI - A consumer owned co-op, operating at scale! https://www.rei.com/about-rei/officers.html

Adam Schwartz, former president of NCBA, and founder of "The Cooperative Way" http://cdsconsulting.coop/consultants/adam-schwartz

David Hammer, Executive Director of the ICA Group. Technical expert and amazing thinker re converting co-ops at scale. http://ica-group.org/ica-staff/

Walden Swanson Founder and Chair at CoopMetrics. Co-op metrics is a co-op focused tech company that was formed by Walden as a multi stake holder co-op of employees and outside investors. (very similar to how a twitter conversion could be structured).
http://www.cdsconsulting.coop/consultants/walden-swanson

I'm happy to reach out to Douglas Rushkoff, unless someone else feels they've got a direct line to him (I'd say I've a solid 2nd degree connection, and I hosted a panel discussion with him on it). Per our timeline, not-withstanding anyone else suggesting they'll take the action point or disagreement with him as speaker, I'll make this outreach early next week and then follow up at the Platform Co-op Conference.

I bet that @joshuavial, @alanna, or @keithtaylor1 might have suggestions here (or may be good picks for either the financial/structure session or the following governance session). Keith Taylor is the board-president of the Indiana Cooperative Development Center, Alanna works directly for a digital co-op (Loomio), and Joshua has lots of financial experience too- having developed an virtual banking app for the freelancer co-op that was/became Enspiral

@matthewcropp I'm interested in supporting this but I think the timeline is pretty aggressive if you want the lineup confirmed by Thursday. What date were you thinking of having the actual panel?

For legal expertise, I suggest investment lawyer Jenny Kassan jennykassan.com, co-founder of theselc.org and perhaps startup lawyer Kyle Westaway westaway.co, counsel for many big-name startus as well as for the recent co-op conversion www.nobl.io.

For co-op financing expertise, I suggest Brendan Martin, founder of theworkingworld.org and a regular interlocutor with #platformcoop people.

I've been in touch with all of these wonderful humans about #BuyTwitter and would happily invite them once a range of possible dates emerges.

This would depend on the speakers availability; I think that we were imagining a week or two after the conference this weekend?
@matthewcropp @mairasutton — I made a timezone sheet, but am eager to know which other countries/ timezones may need adding for this?

Also- I could reach out to Magenta Ceiba (E.D. of the Bloom Network)- she is a facilitator and consultant for businesses seeking more collaborative ways of working, and I think she has solid business plan/ economic chops. I'll start a proposal so that we can move forward with inviting these folks

@gregbrodsky @dannyspitzberg @matthewcropp how likely do you think that the people you've suggested will participate? should we ask everyone who has been listed above? any concerns with particulars that have been suggested?

I made this spreadsheet to track them

I set it for 3 days (am open to changing the length); I know this may make it seem quite improbable that we'd get any headliners by Thursday; however, I do think that preliminary outreach could be made prior to the conclusion of this vote, on the basis that the network may (although is unlikely to) choose not to feature any particular speakers that say yes in this period.

If we do get a yes that is significant enough to warrant making a call-out of some nature about it at the Platform Co-op conference, another Proposal on a separate thread could be made IMO

Some folks I think will want to vote on this: @mairasutton @dannyspitzberg @chriscook1 @matthewcropp @priscillagrim @asolache @tommcdonough @davidbacker @thomaseuler1

Shaping up to be a great panel! Could I feature audio of it on Commonsplace (https://commonsplace.org/), the cooperative economy podcast I've been working on? Going to be featuring an interview with Nathan in our next episode and this would be a great addition.

Shoot- no way to edit the proposal at this point please see this link to get access to the consolidated speaker-outreach-list ← sorry I messed up the link in the proposal :P

Looking through the proposed speakers list above, some of the suggestions seem to fit more in the proposed second session that will focus on Governance/Operations. With that in mind, below are the folks who appear relevant to the first session (correct me if I'm wrong and other should be added to the list), with an * for people who also have significant experience in the other category as well.

[Finance]
-Dan Fireside, Equal Exchange
-Betsy Black, CFNE*
-Chris Cook, ("If anyone is interested in complementary (eg LLCs, LLPs, prepay credit) methods for financing & funding Co-ops without using shares (of any type) or even debt then I'd happily contribute.")
-Brendan Martin, The Working World*

[Conversions]
-Noemi Giszpenc, Cooperative Development Institute
-David Hammer, ICA Group*
-Jenny Kassan, SELC co-founder, lawyer
-Kyle Westaway. Start-up lawyer, converted www.nobl.io

As such, would it make sense to invite all at once, or do so sequentially (for instance, it seems like having a conversions lawyer would be useful, but two might be less desirable if the second slot bring in someone with a different expertise?

That would be awesome @tommcdonough.

+1 to all your comments Matthew Cropp- as I imagine you're doing a significant segment of the outreach, I think you could go ahead and implement the strategy that makes most sense to you unless someone else feels strongly that the urgency requires we reach out to more than what you're thinking. I don't know the strength of your connections; if we're aiming to have some people relatively confirmed before the conference this weekend then I might suggest reach out to two unless you feel like they'll both say yes.

I've modified the excel sheet to reflect that some of the selections are intended for session two— I think the way I wrote the proposal warrants that change without invalidating the current votes please let me know if you think otherwise :)

@chriscook1 I think we should confirm you right off the bat, if you're interested! I love the quote that @matthewcropp shared in his comment just above

I'm in

fwiw- Kyle Westaway deals with multi-million dollar deals, and is also familiar with co-ops after helping www.nobl.io convert. Jenny Kassan has experience with million dollar deals.

Do folks (especially @dannyspitzberg who i wager has greater familiarity) feel that Michel Bauwens would be a good for for thr second event on Gov & Ops? I was talking to him (to get Rushkoff's email) and i thought i might check his interest- he's happy to participate

Rushkoff is available Tues.12/6 and Fri.12/9 in the morning (EST). he's completely booked the week (of the 28th) before that; he was responding to my ask of availability 2-3 weeks out from now @matthewcropp @mairasutton p.s. Matt it was a great pleasure to meet you this weekend; the work you're doing and the insight you brought were amazing!

Michel is great as an orator about the commons movement in general, but for this discussion, I suggest we recruit technically-inclined people (including law and finance folks). Update: Brendan Martin from Working World is up for it

very much agree- was thinking MBauwens as the Gov+Ops opener. What about Rushkoff? Possibly even as the moderator who makes opening remarks? @dannyspitzberg

Apologies for my unresponsiveness; been flat out since I got home from NYC, which was excellent.

@coopchange, Friday, 12/9 looks completely open for me. Since he's East Coast, let's see how close to noon he can go (11am? 11:30am?) so West Coast folks can participate @ a reasonable hour.

Once we have him confirmed, perhaps we should convene another planning call to discuss process for outreach? One other person who was at Platform Co-op who seemed like he would have good insights on the conversions front was Jason Weiner.

Awesome! I'm checking if Rushkoff is available Friday, 12/9 for 11:30am/12pm (EST/ UTC-5), and it'd be great if @dannyspitzberg could check on Brendan Martin's availability for that time or even 11am (per @matthewcropp 's timing suggestion).

@chriscook1 how's that time for you?

Towards the 2nd session, which is optimally IMO either between one week to a week and a half after or a full month after (to get some kind of cadence/ momentum), Michel Bauwens would be an awesome participant who's said he'd be honored to participate—his availability is after 12/15 and I believe he's closer to UTC or UTC+something...

Rushkoff is available at 11:30am EST on Fri. 12/9; I say we call it and make the outreaches @mairasutton @matthewcropp @dannyspitzburg

Sounds great; will start putting out the asks soon.

How does this sound for a rough agenda, and do you think we could do 75 minutes, or do we need to aim for 60?:

-"Host" introduction (agenda review, etc.; John, Maira, or Myself) [2 min]
-Round of participant introductions [1 min each, overview of background and relevant experience].
-Introductory remarks by Doug Rushkoff [5 min]
-Remarks from "Conversions Experts" on process of, common challenges of, and lessons from conversions of conventional businesses into co-ops [10 min, divided by # of participants]
-Remarks from "Financing Experts" on process of, common challenges of, and lessons from financing conversions [10 minutes each, divided by on # of participants]
-"Scaling up" Reflections round, started by Rushkoff, and then rotationg among the participants, on the specific challenge of buying Twitter. [25 minutes, divided by # of participants]
-Open discussion of this challenge for the remainder of the session, with stack managed via the chat interface by the "Host". [Remaining time, if any]

Can we aim for 55min, using Google Hangouts on Air and/or Crowdcast to facilitate audience participation? (I haven't found a decent FLOSS option for that, and jitsi.org tends to crash with more than two participants.)

Also, for the co-op conversion segment, I'd like to recommend Hilary Abel from project-equity.org, a group that has experience and expertise actually doing this work.

Let's meet up and nail down these details! Please doodle your availability for the next three days, or comment here if these times don't work but you'd really like to join in.

@dannyspitzberg sounds awesome! Per the spreadsheet, I see you have 3 folks you'd planned to invite? Maybe the easiest way to start getting these invites out is to have @matthewcropp invite his 2-3 preferred participants, and you to invite your 2-3 preferred participants, and then at worst we'd be dealing with a panel of 8 people (or you could each limit your outreaches accordingly to keep it for sure under 6/ not have to tell anyone thanks but no thanks in retro)

Hi All - i realize I'm late to the party but question: what is the goal of the livestream? Having a hard time seeing how we can get real meat set forth with that many speakers and that short timeframe. Are we actually wanting to teach some real co-op finance strategies or are we just introducing players?

I'm feeling similarly disconcerted about this moving forward; it's two weeks and two days from now (if we aim for the 12/9 date for Rushkoff, who I chose not to concretely confirm with yet), and we only have Rushkoff confirmed (and maybe Chris Cook, who confirmed but not to this specific date)

UPDATE: This is moving forward, just waiting on David Hammer to confirm the change in time, based on Rushkoff's change in availability, to 12:30pm EST on Fri. 12/9.

I would love to hear if anyone has energy to begin a graphic for social media advertisement? A draft, that is, that can be modified per David Hammer's reply.
The text overlay would include the date and time, #BuyTwitter and/or #WeAreTwitter, some title reflecting the topic (Platform Co-op Conversion & Financing), and would likely include at the very least "A Panel Discussion w/ Douglas Rushkoff", if not also including Chris Cook, and David Hammer when/if he confirms (hopefully we'll hear from him by Monday).

@dannyspitzberg @matthewcropp @mairasutton

wondering if you'd be available/ interested to participate- would love to have your input during the session @ntnsndr @samtoland @tommcdonough @thomaseuler1 @sureshf @johnnyhaeusler @bonniefoleywong @whit537

Just to confirm the changed time works for me, but what's the online venue?

Zoom.us is my default; as it can record and host unlimited participants. If there was a substantial reason to use a Google product, I'd have to re-test Google Livestream on Air/ Hnagouts because I believe they just changed that service and I haven't used it to livestream since.

Hi @mairasutton and @matthewcropp - shall we meet up sometime today, Tues. or Wed.? Please share your availability & interest by filling out this doodle, thanks! Times are in EST. @dannyspitzberg - maybe you'd like to pop in too?

Doodle-d

Thanks all for offers to support the initiative!

If anyone wants to join us for a call tomorrow, Wed. at 1pm EST we're meeting to finalize some details about the Livestream Panel Event using https://appear.in/buytwitter/

Oh, crap, just scheduled a meeting with the chair of my org's board for 1pm on Wednesday. I will email her to see if we can bump it.

I'm off the grid this week BUT I believe we could really use an in-person event to turn talk into tangible materials. So, if you all could do me a small favor: please share your thoughts on the call about syncing this livestream chat with a barn-raiser event in the Bay Area (likely also on Dec 9, but possibly Dec 10 or 11).

Got her to agree to move the meeting to Friday, so I'm in! :)

meeting moved to this location: https://hangouts.google.com/call/ztz6hcgfzjdkpamgr6tzz2nyrqe

Great meeting y'all! All, you can check out the notes here. Looking forward to next Friday's panel!

@rachaellamkin - per the meeting, we would like to invite you to participate as a panelist; the timing again is 12:30pm - 1:30pm EST, and will be streamed on Google Hangouts on Air. You'd be on stage with Rushkoff, David Hammer, and Chris Cook (and potentially Brendan Martin from the Working World, and if not, our resident expert Matthew Slater of VTEOC.org)

@chriscook1 - it'd be great to get consent to use your LinkedIn photo for the promo-graphic, and if you could, we'd much appreciate if you'd share a 2 sentence bio as well. (Rachael, same for you, if you are interested). Please and thanks :)

John - happy to help in general and be on the panel specifically. I'm in a 2 day conference on platforms so apologies for brevity but yes as to LinkedIn and I'll get to you a short bio tonight.

-Rachael

916.747.6091
www.linkedin.com/in/rdlamkin ( http://www.linkedin.com/in/rdlamkin )

@coopchange - John. Here is my two sentence bio. If you need something else, let me know and i can do tomorrow:

Rachael is a technology lawyer & finance professional and founder of Right Dog Capital, which is working to democratize and decentralize capital. She will be talking about, inter alia, the recent 2-day workshop at the Institute for the Future on platform cooperativism.

Hi friends! Please share on via facebook [event-page] and twitter [sample-tweet]

If you have a question you'd like to ask, you can post it in the #communications channel; and you can vote for others' questions by reacting with a :white_check_mark: Thanks everyone, hope to see you Friday after this, December 9th, on https://s.coop/buytwitter !

just a heads up @chriscook1, you can promote the event via the above links. sorry for double pings but I'm not sure which notifications you receive :)

ping @chriscook1 @rachaellamkin :) I sent you both slack messages about getting emails for coordinating, so just in case you don't receive those.

Reminder for all: please post any questions you'd like prioritized for the Q&A portion of this Friday in the #communications channel on slack.