jheapsandClaude Opus 5.5
64852cf6b7
Replaces the chapters with the v3 foundation: new chapters for the bank, the lock, the founder problem, the test and intellectual property; removes conversion, conversion-tax and valuation. Rewrites the overview to lead with "nobody is forced" and rewords draft-history references for first-time readers. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <[email protected]>
1.6 KiB
1.6 KiB
title, section, order, summary
| title | section | order | summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Startups | Growing the Sector | 90 | Fund the science, back the boring, make the co-op a real option for founders, and don't let government pick the startups. |
Startups
One line: fund the science, backstop the boring, give founders a real co-op option. Don't pick the startups.
Government should not be a venture capitalist. VC works by being wrong 70% of the time and letting two freak winners pay for everything. No public agency survives that headline rate. It would get cautious, fund safe bets and well-connected people, and safe bets don't produce breakthroughs. The failure mode isn't corruption; it's risk-aversion under political accountability.
So:
- Fund the science, not the companies. DARPA and NIH gave us the internet, GPS, touchscreens, mRNA. The state buys the ingredients; a thousand private actors race to cook.
- Make the co-op a real option for founders. A garage company is founders and early employees, with almost no separation between labor and ownership. The bank, internal capital accounts, and the federation exist so that choosing co-op form isn't choosing to be underfunded. Early-stage co-op capital will still cost more than conventional VC. That's the founder problem, and the test will show how much it matters.
- Backstop the boring. Rural grocery store, local clinic, unglamorous manufacturer. That's development banking, not venture, and government is genuinely good at it. Loan guarantees, SBA-style. These are also the sectors where co-ops have historically done best.