

How to Co-Op: Salaries and Reviews - sriharis
http://blog.nilenso.com/blog/2015/06/30/how-to-co-op-salaries-reviews/

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skewart
The idea of structuring a software-focused company as a co-op is really
interesting.

One thing that I wonder about is recruiting. Is it an advantage or
disadvantage to be a co-op when it comes to sourcing and hiring people? Do co-
ops attract a different segment of the population? Are there people who
explicitly don't want to work at a co-op (maybe they suspect smaller future
earnings, or maybe they think its too granola and birkenstocks)?

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lk145
As someone from a group that's underrepresented in tech, a co-op structure
would make me hesitant to apply. I would be concerned that as a minority my
voice would be lost. At least with a hierarchical structure I sign on knowing
who the decision makers are and what their approach is (and thus I can find a
place where the decision maker values solid arguments rather than whether the
majority agrees).

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deobald
Most co-ops (including ours) are run by a representative democracy. The
difference between a co-op's hierarchy and that of a privately-owned
corporation is that the co-op gives you transparency into the decision-making
process.

I've never felt I've known whether the decision makers at my previous
employers valued solid/logical argument... because I've never been party to
the top level decision-making process unless I was a part of it.

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escherize
I have worked with a large number of Nilenso co-opers doing Clojure. We've
pair programmed for postgres benchmarks, editing a large (and complicated) A/B
testing codebase, and one even ramped me up at that job.

I've found them to be extremely good to work with.

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kahunamoore
Re: compensation, transparency is critical. One approach that might work well
for Co-op based startups is the "dynamic equity split" as outlined by Mike
Moyer in his book "Slicing Pie" \- see also:
[http://www.slicingpie.com](http://www.slicingpie.com)

