Via Slacker Manager I discovered The Business Experiment. 2500 people will be accepted into this open source/wisdom of crowds/distributed nature of work business. The participants will make the decisions for the business, and share in the profits. Sounds a little like an association. Should be interesting to follow. Here’s the FAQ:
What does it cost?
Nothing. Participation is free. By voting on major strategic issues, you will acquire units which represent future ownership. At a future point in time, those units are coverted to real equity in the business.
Is this some kind of game or simulation?
No. We are attempting to build a real business with real employees, real sales, and real customers.
Do you really think this will work?
No one knows. That is why we have to do it.
What kind of decisions will we make if we register?
First you will vote on what type of business we pursue. Then you will vote on things like who we hire, what type of financing we pursue, what marketing strategy we use, and other things like that.
Is participation time consuming?
No. All you should have to do is log in twice a week and see if there is anything you need to vote on. There are user forums if you want to participate and discuss things, but involvement is purely voluntary.
How many people can register?
The goal is 2500 people for the first business experiment. If we get signifcantly more than that, we will consider doing other experiments as well.
