1st Edition

Post-Capitalist Entrepreneurship Startups for the 99%

By Boyd Cohen Copyright 2018
    164 Pages 8 B/W Illustrations
    by Productivity Press

    164 Pages 8 B/W Illustrations
    by Productivity Press

    Post-Capitalist Entrepreneurship: Startups for the 99% details the implications of the post-capitalist society on entrepreneurship around the globe, and it challenges many of our underlying assumptions about how entrepreneurs form startups and the objectives and roles, or lack thereof, of startup investors in a post-capitalist society. The author explores real emerging stories about different forms of post-capitalist entrepreneurship (PCE) with chapters dedicated to subjects such as platform cooperatives, alternative currencies (local, crypto, and time banking), and the emergence of blockchain-enabled Distributed Autonomous Organizations (DAOs).

    This book will help aspiring and current entrepreneurs, investors and policymakers to:

    • Understand emerging trends in new forms of economic activity that will shape the future of entrepreneurial opportunities
    • Discover new approaches to business modeling in the post venture-capital opportunity space
    • Embrace Lean startup and collaborative startup approaches that can accelerate startups in these new markets
    • Recognize new spaces and avoid being disintermediated by new forms of startups and financing
    • Know why and how local governments should reshape entrepreneurship policy to support post-capitalist entrepreneurship for the 99%

    Foreword. Introduction. Drivers of a Shift to PostCapitalism. Commons-Based Entrepreneurship. For-Benefit Startups. Alternative Currencies and Place-Based PCE. From the Platform Deathstars to Technology-Enabled Platform Cooperativism. Venture Capital is Dead in a PCE World. The Distributed Autonomous Organization. What does a Future Society look like with PCE from a Regional Perspective. Appendices

    Biography

    Boyd Cohen obtained his Ph.D. in entrepreneurship and strategy from the University of Colorado in 2001. Boyd has taught entrepreneurship in Madrid, Spain (Instituto de Empresa); Costa Rica (INCAE), University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia in Canada, UdeSA (Argentina) and currently at the Universidad del Desarrollo (Santiago, Chile). He has published numerous articles on entrepreneurship, sustainability and smart cities in journals such as the Journal of Business Venturing, Technovation, Business Strategy and the Environment, California Management Review, Organization & Environment and many others. Furthermore, Boyd is the co-author, with Hunter Lovins, of the acclaimed 2011 book, entitled Climate Capitalism. In 2016, he published The Emergence of the Urban Entrepreneur (Praeger) with a foreward by Richard Florida. The book immediately shot up and remained to #1 on Amazon.com’s hot list for entrepreneurship.

    Boyd has also started numerous ventures since 2003 in the areas of green buildigns and communities, Software as a Service (SaaS), mobile applications and carbon origination. Currently he is founder of Urban Innova, a boutique urban innovation consultancy. Boyd is a regular keynote speaker related to topics pertaining to urban innovation and entrepreneurship and smart and sustainable cities around the globe. He has been interviewed for CNN (in Chile), appeared on the cover of trade journals in Sweden and Chile, and cited in hundreds of articles online and in print media and in 2012 was a TEDx presenter.

    In the online economy today, entrepreneurs and users alike need better options—and this is a great place to start. Boyd Cohen has created an essential roadmap for how real-world enterprises can discover opportunities the VCs won't tell them about.

    • Nathan Schneider, University of Colorado Scholar in Residence, Co-founder, Platform Cooperativism

    Business as usual? not necessarily! Boyd Cohen shows us how alternative business are quickly making their way to become the new normal.

    • Javier Creus, Founder, Ideas for Change

    We live in oxymoronic times. On the one hand market capitalism seems stuck in a planet destroying groove where a general rising tide of wealth is not lifting all boats. On the other, we are seeing a new plural flourishing of energy, innovation and social entrepreneurship. Post-capitalist Entrepreneurship by Boyd Cohen, makes the compelling case that we are in a moment of transition and that the next wave entrepreneurship can be at the vanguard and foreshadow a more just, greener, and distributed post capitalist economy.

    The book, picks up on the buzzy range of alternative forms of organizing in a post capitalist economy, and highlights the role of the next entrepreneurs in accelerating that. In this, through a range of fascinating case studies and working examples, the ideas are brought to life and brings with it an abiding optimism and positivism. In a world with much pain and angst, this book does the reader a service. Whilst not ignoring the perils, it serves to direct our gaze onto the good which is here right now, and then some - it stretches us to imagine what could be.

    • Neil McInroy, CEO, Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES)

    Boyd Cohen does a great job at mixing and at the same time clearly categorizing emergent new business and new entrepreneurial behaviours based on technology developments shaped by XXIst century ethics (platforms, DAOs, alternative finances, etc.). 

    A very necessary, timely and optimist look at a post-capitalism future balancing what's technically feasible with what's socially desirable.

    • Albert Cañuigueral, Ouishare Spain

    We can't continue to live with extractive forms of entrepreneurship that contribute to the ecological weakening of our planet and dangerous social inequalities, but just as importantly we can't live without new forms of 'generative' entrepreneurship that work with natural and human commons and communities, and create livelihoods for everyone. This shift is the subject of this important book, which asks, based on extensive documentation from the new actors themselves: what new forms of business do we need for this era of transition? Boyd Cohen is providing us a great service by guiding us through the new forms we need. For the young people seeking to construct a sustainable and fair future, this is a must.

    • Michel Bauwens, Director and Founder, P2P Foundation

    A different type of innovation is possible - and desirable. One that doesn’t rely on VC and proprietary assets to produce value for the few. In this book Boyd Cohen accurately reveals a new paradigm for entrepreneurship that harnesses the potential of new technologies to nurture commons, fosters innovation at the grassroots level and produces abundance. By shedding light on new approaches and opportunities, this book can inspire entrepreneurs to adopt more contributive models to address social, economic and environmental challenges at scale.

    • Mara Balestrini, Research director at Ideas for Change and Project Manager at Fab Lab Barcelona

    In this book, business professor Boyd Cohen proposes ways of thinking and acting differently: he combines open innovation, open data, and alternative currencies, the platform co-op model, and blockchain technologies to frame a new imaginary for a post-capitalist economy. Required reading.

    • Trebor Scholz, Associate Professor for Culture & Media, The New School and Co-founder, Platform Cooperativism

    Post-capitalist Entrepreneurship by Boyd Cohen, makes the compelling case that we are in a moment of transition and that the next wave entrepreneurship can be at the vanguard and foreshadow a more just, greener, and distributed post capitalist economy.

    • Neil McInroy, CEO, Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES)

    In the online economy today, entrepreneurs and users alike need better options—and this is a great place to start. Boyd Cohen has created an essential roadmap for how real-world enterprises can discover opportunities the VCs won't tell them about.

    • Nathan Schneider, University of Colorado Scholar in Residence, Co-founder, Platform Cooperativism

    Business as usual? not necessarily! Boyd Cohen shows us how alternative business are quickly making their way to become the new normal.

    • Javier Creus, Founder, Ideas for Change

    We live in oxymoronic times. On the one hand market capitalism seems stuck in a planet destroying groove where a general rising tide of wealth is not lifting all boats. On the other, we are seeing a new plural flourishing of energy, innovation and social entrepreneurship. Post-capitalist Entrepreneurship by Boyd Cohen, makes the compelling case that we are in a moment of transition and that the next wave entrepreneurship can be at the vanguard and foreshadow a more just, greener, and distributed post capitalist economy.

    The book, picks up on the buzzy range of alternative forms of organizing in a post capitalist economy, and highlights the role of the next entrepreneurs in accelerating that. In this, through a range of fascinating case studies and working examples, the ideas are brought to life and brings with it an abiding optimism and positivism. In a world with much pain and angst, this book does the reader a service. Whilst not ignoring the perils, it serves to direct our gaze onto the good which is here right now, and then some - it stretches us to imagine what could be.

    • Neil McInroy, CEO, Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES)

    Boyd Cohen does a great job at mixing and at the same time clearly categorizing emergent new business and new entrepreneurial behaviours based on technology developments shaped by XXIst century ethics (platforms, DAOs, alternative finances, etc.). A very necessary, timely and optimist look at a post-capitalism future balancing what's technically feasible with what's socially desirable.

    • Albert Cañuigueral, Ouishare Spain

    We can't continue to live with extractive forms of entrepreneurship that contribute to the ecological weakening of our planet and dangerous social inequalities, but just as importantly we can't live without new forms of 'generative' entrepreneurship that work with natural and human commons and communities, and create livelihoods for everyone. This shift is the subject of this important book, which asks, based on extensive documentation from the new actors themselves: what new forms of business do we need for this era of transition? Boyd Cohen is providing us a great service by guiding us through the new forms we need. For the young people seeking to construct a sustainable and fair future, this is a must.

    • Michel Bauwens, Director and Founder, P2P Foundation

    A different type of innovation is possible - and desirable. One that doesn’t rely on VC and proprietary assets to produce value for the few. In this book Boyd Cohen accurately reveals a new paradigm for entrepreneurship that harnesses the potential of new technologies to nurture commons, fosters innovation at the grassroots level and produces abundance. By shedding light on new approaches and opportunities, this book can inspire entrepreneurs to adopt more contributive models to address social, economic and environmental challenges at scale.

    • Mara Balestrini, Research director at Ideas for Change and Project Manager at Fab Lab Barcelona

    In this book, business professor Boyd Cohen proposes ways of thinking and acting differently: he combines open innovation, open data, and alternative currencies, the platform co-op model, and blockchain technologies to frame a new imaginary for a post-capitalist economy. Required reading.

    • Trebor Scholz, Associate Professor for Culture & Media, The New School and Co-founder, Platform Cooperativism

    Post-capitalist Entrepreneurship by Boyd Cohen, makes the compelling case that we are in a moment of transition and that the next wave entrepreneurship can be at the vanguard and foreshadow a more just, greener, and distributed post capitalist economy.

    • Neil McInroy, CEO, Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES)

    We can't continue to live with extractive forms of entrepreneurship that contribute to the ecological weakening of our planet and dangerous social inequalities, but just as importantly we can't live without new forms of 'generative' entrepreneurship that work with natural and human commons and communities, and create livelihoods for everyone. This shift is the subject of this important book, which asks, based on extensive documentation from the new actors themselves: what new forms of business do we need for this era of transition? Boyd Cohen is providing us a great service by guiding us through the new forms we need. For the young people seeking to construct a sustainable and fair future, this is a must.

    • Michel Bauwens, Director and Founder, P2P Foundation

    A different type of innovation is possible - and desirable. One that doesn’t rely on VC and proprietary assets to produce value for the few. In this book, Boyd Cohen accurately reveals a new paradigm for entrepreneurship that harnesses the potential of new technologies to nurture commons, fosters innovation at the grassroots level and produces abundance. By shedding light on new approaches and opportunities, this book can inspire entrepreneurs to adopt more contributive models to address social, economic and environmental challenges at scale.

    • Mara Balestrini, Research director at Ideas for Change and Project Manager at Fab Lab Barcelona

    In this book, business professor Boyd Cohen proposes ways of thinking and acting differently: he combines open innovation, open data, and alternative currencies, the platform co-op model, and blockchain technologies to frame a new imaginary for a post-capitalist economy. Required reading.

    • Trebor Scholz, Associate Professor for Culture & Media, The New School and Co-founder, Platform Cooperativism

    Post-capitalist Entrepreneurship by Boyd Cohen, makes the compelling case that we are in a moment of transition and that the next wave entrepreneurship can be at the vanguard and foreshadow a more just, greener, and distributed post capitalist economy.

    • Neil McInroy, CEO, Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES)