Marco Update #3

MVP, Bylaws, Fostering Enterprise

Hello! This is our third update on the development of the Marco Cooperative Marketplace platform.

Since our last update we’ve focused on developing the platform and getting ready to start the formal business of the cooperative. By estimation of two experts in cooperative economy, a member-owned Amazon could have an absolute 5-10% advantage when returning value to its producer stakeholders compared to a corporate platform. We think that Marco can be both a cheap and ethical alternative to platforms governed by shareholder primacy.

Our next step involves completing development of a minimum viable product for producer sign-up and selling. We plan to reach out to firms like Willow Bark to assist us with setting up our web and mobile operation. If you’re in this field and want to help out, please contact us below!

We have a working draft of our bylaws, modeling them around three stakeholder classes: worker, producer, and consumer. Feel free to email us to ask for our working draft. Any additional resources, templates, or legal aids for multi-stakeholder cooperative incorporation are appreciated!

After many talks within the team, we’ve resolved to orient the marketplace both around existing cooperatives as well as around helping new co-ops to start and grow. We believe that having a marketplace for both enterprises and individuals would give ambitious sellers opportunities for success and create an engine for cooperative development.

We’ve seen the way that a platform like Etsy has given so many their first opportunity to start and grow a smaller business. We’ve also seen the way that the corporate e-commerce platform model that Etsy and others operate creates harmful incentives to mistreat their communities. Etsy, in a bid to compete with Amazon, has separated devalued its small-seller advertising leading its top small sellers to feel like their back is up against the wall.

Our mission at Marco is to provide a community0driven marketplace for cooperative enterprise. If you’re a current Etsy seller, a small seller, a cooperative who is interested in a platform like Marco, please reach out to us so we can closely communicate with you about your needs in E-commerce and in cooperation.

If you’re like us, and you’re ready to start channeling your purchases into a democratic economy as a consumer of the marketplace, please let us know via email or below your online shopping needs.

Like always, thank you for following our project and believing in co-ops!

Email us at hello@marco.coop if you think that you have skills or wisdom that would be useful to the project.

Join the Marco community at r/MarcoCoop

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Link-Tree: https://linktr.ee/MarcoCoop