Instead of IPOs and acquisitions, exiting to community is one alternative

The tech industry is built on the venture capital model where hockey stick growth and selling to a larger company or going public are markers of success. But the traditional VC model does not leave much room for startups that might not be the next unicorn but still generate revenue — just not the type of returns investors are looking for.

This is where exiting to the community comes in.

“A lot of times, selling to the public doesn’t necessarily make the company or its service a better experience for the user or the workers,” Start.coop founder Greg Brodsky previously told TechCrunch. “Often it gets worse. It’s only really better for the investor.”

Brodsky, who helps cooperative startups through the Start.coop accelerator, pointed to this exit to community idea as an option for startups looking to transition out of the more traditional Silicon Valley model. In this framework, some portion of the company is sold back to the workers or end users, he said. This idea is being spearheaded by Nathan Schneider, a Start.coop board member and professor of media studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

“The idea with exit to community is how can you create a model where the whole point is to create a vibrant community that will become its eventual stewards,” Schneider tells TechCrunch. “It seems like a natural fit, especially in a moment where we’re looking for increased accountability and the wealth distribution problems in the startup economy.”

Through the Exit to Community project, Schneider is exploring ways to help startups transition from investor-owned to community ownership, which could include users, customers, workers or some combination of all stakeholders. Schneider is holding a series of meetings with people interested in this challenge to try to chart a clear pathway.