Collaborative Businesses: Initial Concepts to Imagine Other Types of Organizations
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Organizations, as we know them, are evolving. The terms from the Web3 world often sound unnecessarily confusing and technical. Names like “DAOs” (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) describe a beautiful idea, but the name itself can be a barrier. Together with my partner and co-founder, we strive to name things with clarity and affection, so that everyone can understand them. That’s why, drawing inspiration from traditional cooperatives and DAOs, we have coined the term Collaborative Business.
Whenever I talk to students, I tell them: imagine the dream organization, the place where you’d love to collaborate… now go out and create it. That’s exactly what we seek to do with projects like Whenever I talk to students, I tell them: imagine the dream organization, the place where you’d love to collaborate… and go out and create it. That’s exactly what we seek to do with projects like and CofiBlocks. My dear friends from Muda, one of the communities using Cambiatus to create their social currency, chose a revealing name: “Muda Outras Economias”. Not “New Economies,” but “Other.” This choice explicitly expresses that in our world, full of diverse contexts and perspectives, we need multiple proposals and solutions. Each one must be designed with the specific goals, values, and contexts of each organization, community, and business in mind.
In the same way, there isn’t ONE single type of organization for this hyper-connected, digital, and challenging era. People are in constant evolution and change. If we accept this, it’s easy to understand that other types of organizations are emerging and will continue to mutate and evolve, perhaps even faster than we do.
What are Collaborative Businesses?
A Collaborative Business is a type of organization where both those who produce and those who consume a product (or use a service) are active members who share decisions and responsibilities, and enjoy both financial and non-financial benefits.
Imagine this as an evolved cooperative, powered by blockchain technology. This allows exchanges, profit distribution, and governance rules to be executed transparently and automatically through smart contracts. These businesses are intrinsically connected with the future of finance in the Web3 world.
Main Characteristics of a Collaborative Business
- Evolving Purpose and Aligned Values: They are defined by a common goal that adapts to the changing context and shared values (having clarity on what is important). In the realm of Regenerative Finance (ReFi), the purpose goes beyond profit and includes a positive impact on the environment and society, from the very design of the business.
- Active and Complementary Members: Members are individuals who have something to offer and something they need, with complementary roles. They seek personal responsibility, self-management, creativity, and commitment. They can be physical or virtual, and the essential thing is that they can participate from their “wholeness.”
- Shared Governance and Constant Learning: Decision-making is distributed among members, ensuring that the people who join and participate in governance are the most suitable for the organization’s goals, not just those who contribute the most capital. This model is based on participation and continuous learning.
- Shared Benefits and Collective Resilience: Collaborative Businesses seek fair and transparent compensation for all members, according to their contributions. Contributions can be on-chain or off-chain, one-time or recurring. This fosters collective financial resilience, allowing the organization to be co-financed without compromising its stability. As these businesses evolve, the forms of contribution and treasury management will also adapt.
- Interconnection and Ecosystems: They connect with other collaborative businesses, forming complementary ecosystems. People can be members of several Collaborative Businesses at once, reflecting their multiple interests and generating personal resilience.
- Technology in Service of Purpose: Technology is a tool, a means, not the beginning. It is fundamental that it is transparent, decentralized (as much as possible), traceable, easy to use, and accessible, with the capacity to evolve. This good technology is the basis that allows exchanges and governance to be executed efficiently and fairly. We could add that it’s beautiful technology too, why not? I love using applications that are well-designed, attractive, and respect me as a user.
CofiBlocks: A Living Example of a Collaborative Business
A clear example of a Collaborative Business is CofiBlocks. This initiative seeks to transform the coffee value chain in Costa Rica by directly connecting coffee-growing families with global consumers. In CofiBlocks, both those who produce and those who buy the coffee become members of the organization, sharing the benefits and decision-making.
Imagine how interesting it would be for a coffee farmer and their family to not only receive fair compensation for their product but also to participate in its profits and have the opportunity to take advantage of the decentralized finance (DeFi) world to grow their wealth. CofiBlocks uses blockchain technology to ensure transparency, traceability, and the fair distribution of profits, setting a precedent for how traditional industries can evolve toward more equitable and participatory models.
The Evolution Continues
As author said, “at each new stage of human evolution, a new type of organization has emerged.” I would add that perhaps it is not just one, but many, freeing ourselves from the anxiety of pigeonholing our organizations into a single model.
Uniting in Collaborative Businesses allows us to attract funds more easily, create more interesting stories, and build increasingly valuable applications. We support each other in the experience of creating communities and social currencies, learning together about financial resilience and decision-making, not just in a business context, but for life itself.
The concept of ownership is crucial; it changes the rules of the game from predefined ones to ones in which we can all actively participate.
Participating in an organization is something personal and vital, intrinsically linked to human nature. It should be a fun, pleasant experience that fills us with satisfaction. And that transforms what matters most to us.
Note for those who currently belong to very traditional companies: Here I share a video of my first TEDx talk from a few years ago, but it is still relevant today. With Cambiatus and CofiBlocks, we have allowed ourselves to design organizations from scratch that are very aligned with our values, but it is also possible to innovate from within, starting by changing the way we see people.
