Tech Co-ops: A Better Way of Making a Living

Cooperative business models are well suited for creative professionals who want to have it all: the stability and support of joining a professional firm and the creative autonomy of working freelance. This panel consists of owners of IT and web professional cooperative businesses representing diverse membership, geographic areas, scope, and social missions. Our panel will: provide an overview of the tech cooperative landscape, present case studies of our experiences and those of others who work in Tech cooperatives, cover the nuts-and-bolts of starting or managing a tech professional cooperative, investigate the benefits and challenges of the cooperative model in the Tech field, and how issues can be managed, discuss the social and economic implications of tech cooperatives on a large and small scale, discuss how tech cooperatives can work with the greater cooperative movement in the area of outreach, social justice, and support, and provide resources and references for learning more, joining a network of tech cooperatives, and ideas for supporting each other.