The idea of structuring a software-focused company as a co-op is really interesting.<p>One thing that I wonder about is recruiting. Is it an advantage or disadvantage to be a co-op when it comes to sourcing and hiring people? Do co-ops attract a different segment of the population? Are there people who explicitly don't want to work at a co-op (maybe they suspect smaller future earnings, or maybe they think its too granola and birkenstocks)?
I have worked with a large number of Nilenso co-opers doing Clojure. We've pair programmed for postgres benchmarks, editing a large (and complicated) A/B testing codebase, and one even ramped me up at that job.<p>I've found them to be extremely good to work with.
Re: compensation, transparency is critical. One approach that might work well for Co-op based startups is the "dynamic equity split" as outlined by Mike Moyer in his book "Slicing Pie" - see also: <a href="http://www.slicingpie.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.slicingpie.com</a>