Who Should Be a Co-owner, and When?

Common Dilemma

Starting a co-op? You’re told to “share ownership.”

But with who? And when?

What if you’re just three people and still figuring it out?

Some people avoid co-ops because they fear:

Losing their vision

Losing their rewards

Getting outvoted by people who weren’t there at the start

Mondragon solved this by creating separate co-ops for separate domains.

Each one retains control of its own lane, but aligns through shared infrastructure.

You can’t form a new co-op every time you need help.

Sometimes you just need:

Ask:

Are they co-building the core offer?

Are they investing time/energy beyond a task?

Would it weaken the mission if they left?

Use freelancers when:

You need support with a specific skill (like accounting)

You don’t have the scale yet to justify a new co-op

You’re still prototyping your model

If they become mission-aligned and long-term…

Invite them to form a partner co-op, not join yours.

That way, they keep their domain, and you keep yours.

Ownership doesn’t have to mean merging.

It can mean partnering through federation, so each person or team controls what they’ve built.

Start small, start practical.

Freelancers are fine.

But when it’s time to share power, do it in a way that protects everyone’s autonomy.