Loomio
Mon 15 Apr 2019 10:37AM

Allow 3XE to join CoTech

CR Chris Roos Public Seen by 89

Peter Devoy from 3XE has been in touch to ask about joining CoTech:

> I just learnt about CoTech thanks to a link on the Suma Wholefoods website and am interested in 3XE Ltd becoming a member.
>
> I started 3XE about four years ago as a worker-owned and worker-managed web application development company which specialises in Geographical Information Systems but there is still only one worker-owner -- me!
>
> My vision for 3XE is to build a product portfolio which generates revenue for its worker-owners but this has been slow to realise as I have had to do client work to support the development of the flagship in-house product. However, this is a bit of a pivotal moment because I am now in a position to cease client work altogether and focus on getting said product out of private beta, live and making money.
>
> Hopefully this will be a time of growth so interested to be a part of CoTech network because it would be great to hear about other people's experiences of growing democratically controlled co-ops in the tech space. I am also keen to see what opportunities there are to link-up with like-minded people for mutual-aid, knowledge sharing, or joint ventures.
>
> Please let me know if you have any questions or if there is anything I should know about membership.
>
> P.S. In a personal capacity I also help out the UK Anarchist Federation with their tech and I run the http://anarchi.st YouTube channel :)

Pete has separately confirmed that 3XE meets the requirements set out in our constitution:

> Yes, 3XE meets the criteria laid out by the constitution, including the co-operative principles.

Are we happy for 3XE to join?

CR

Chris Roos Wed 17 Apr 2019 1:19PM

Peter has sent his Memorandum of Association and I've attached it to this thread. He also explains:

I have attached the Memorandum of Association but it is just the boilerplate provided by Companies House. I started the company a couple of years after leaving uni with about £1000 start-up capital so when I looked at the cost of the advice available it was simply not valuable to entrench the philosophy into legal form at that stage. Also, I figured that as the Articles/structure can be changed it might as well be done at the time of the next member joining because they might have some thoughts on it themselves, especially if they are assuming some risk to do it.

Do we need any more information to be able to make a decision about 3XE's membership?

G

Graham Wed 17 Apr 2019 1:43PM

From my perspective Pete's business is not a co-operative, despite the clear intent, and therefore not eligible for membership. I'd love for it to be eligible, and I see nothing stopping Pete from adopting a clear governing document that sets in place a commitment to the ICA values and principles. This might also help him to recruit additional people to help him grow the business. I'm sure that Cooperatives UK would be very happy to assist with this. With that document in his pocket, and the clear ambition that Pete has already articulated to grow his business into a democratic worker owned co-op, I would be more than happy to support the proposal.

CR

Chris Roos Tue 23 Apr 2019 10:37AM

Although we haven't received any votes on the proposal, the general feeling in the comments is that 3XE don't satisfy the membership criteria. I've emailed Peter to ask how he'd like to proceed.

G

Graham Tue 23 Apr 2019 11:30AM

Many thanks for facilitation @chrisroos

JC

Jonathan Cook Wed 24 Apr 2019 10:52AM

I havent commented so far but I agree with this. Clearly Peter has a commitment to good mutual aid and co-operative principles, hence the request to join. CoTech has had similar discussions, but in the end it's a network of co-ops. For such enthusiastic and principled individuals there are a number of ways to go, including getting more members into 3XE, maybe volunteers? Or join in working with another co-op? Meanwhile I look forward to watching Peter's video channel :)

HR

Harry "Outlandish" Robbins Thu 25 Apr 2019 12:20PM

thanks for organising this @chrisroos - Outlandish is very supportive of 3XE and would love to offer them the support that network has to offer, but we feel that co-ops need to have at least two members. I've called Pete to explain our position, but we'd block the admission of any one-person proto-co-ops as members.