Seven entrepreneurs share the moment that inspired their cooperative business

At Start.coop, we cultivate the next generation of cooperative start-ups with the potential for transformative impact at scale. In this post, the entrepreneurs behind the seven startups in this year’s accelerator share the inspiration behind their cooperatively-owned businesses.

The Start.coop accelerator brings together some of the most promising businesses from across North America who are pursuing shared ownership. The 2021 class is no exception: from a parent-owned platform that enables caregivers to share child care, to a consumer-owned e-commerce platform for everyday products exclusively from Black-owned brands, the seven businesses are working on addressing some of the most pressing challenges that burst to the fore in 2020. And this year’s class is also our most diverse yet: six of seven the startups in this year’s cohort have a female founder or co-founder, and five of the seven have a BIPOC founder or co-founder.

Today, we invite you to learn more about the powerful moments that have driven each of these entrepreneurs to build their shared ownership businesses.

Bloc by Block News

Bloc by Block News is a media cooperative and civic engagement organization with a mobile app that helps Marylanders tap into what matters most in their communities.

Kevon Paynter watched the television from his Howard University dorm room following the murder of Trayvon Martin and he was shocked by the lack of Black voices on air. While the news continued their live autopsy, the media’s influence in shaping public opinion became startlingly apparent. Kevon recognized the need for people of various races, genders, and economic statuses to shape the media narratives and many of these lessons found their way into his work with Bloc By Block News.

You can follow the Bloc by Block entrepreneurs, Kevon Paynter and Christina Sturdivant Sani, on Twitter for more of their journey.

Brave Cooperative

Brave prevents accidental overdose death by developing and deploying technological interventions to detect overdose and alert those nearby.

Gordon Casey arrived in Vancouver curious about how technology could be used for connection. As Fentanyl hit the streets of Vancouver and people began overdosing in unprecedented numbers, Gordon turned to the experts — people who use drugs — to learn what role, if any, technology could play in slowing down the crisis. Using co-design processes that centered the voices and expertise of people who used drugs, Brave was created to bring together those with lived expertise, those with passion, and technologists to design novel tools capable of detecting and preventing overdose death through human connection.

You can follow Brave’s founder, Gordon Casey, on Twitter for more of his journey.

Carefully

Carefully is a collaborative care platform that delivers an easy and free way for busy parents to share care, organize pods, co-ops, and provide mutual aid.

Carefully started as a simple side project by Leslie Borrell, a working, single mom trying to find balance in her own life between work, life and family. As childcare and mutual aid took center stage during the pandemic, app-based childcare sharing platform soon became part of a vision for a new community-based economy, enabling families to find balance, build connections, and provide support through affordable care.

You can follow Carefully’s founder, Leslie Borrell, on Twitter for more of her journey.

GO Box

GO Box provides customers and businesses with zero-waste reusable packaging as-a-service, eliminating single-use products for to-go food and drink.

GO Box CEO Jocelyn Quarrell dreams of a world without waste. After a decade working in the mobility sharing sector, Jocelyn acquired GO Box in 2018, motivated to build a circular reuse system that could reduce the negative environmental and health impacts from single-use packaging. By providing convenient, zero-waste reusable packaging as a service to restaurants and takeout customers, GO Box has already eliminated over 250,000 single-use products.

You can follow GO Box on Instagram to follow their journey.

Kinfolk

Kinfolk is the first 100% consumer-owned marketplace offering Black-owned essentials all in one cart.

Kinfolk was founded in 2020 by Nirva Boursiquot, an supply chain and logistics expert who, compelled by the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, decided to build a Black- and consumer-owned marketplace offering a new economic model to convert Black neighborhoods into core economic engines for building wealth.

You can follow Kinfolk’s founder, Nirva Boursiquot, on Twitter for more of her journey.

The Driver’s Cooperative

The Drivers Cooperative is a driver-owned ridehailing platform in New York City. Drivers make more; customers pay less.

The Drivers Cooperative, a driver-owned ride-hailing platform, was founded by Alissa Orlando, Erik Forman, and Ken Lewis. Alissa quit Uber after a few months, appalled at how the company continued to cut drivers’ wages after encouraging them to take on long-term debt to buy new vehicles. She joined with Erik, a long-time labor organizer, and Ken, an experienced driver and transportation manager, to answer the question long asked by drivers “Why can’t we have our own app?” They knew there had to be an ethical way to provide the service so many riders loved and restore dignity to driving

You can follow The Driver’s Cooperative’s co-founders, Alissa Orlando, Erik Forman, and Ken Lewis on Twitter for more of their journey.

Zebras Unite

Zebras Unite is an international, founder-led, cooperatively owned movement creating the culture, capital and community for the next economy.

Zebras Unite was co-founded by four women building startups of a different stripe. They didn’t follow the Silicon Valley playbook, and dreamed of a better way than growth at all costs. They soon learned tens of thousands of people from around the world felt the same way, and believe reimagining business is the most urgent human rights project of our time.

You can follow Zebras Unite’s co-founders, Mara Zepeda, Astrid Scholz, Aniyia Williams, and Jennifer Brandel on Twitter for more of their journey.

We’re so excited about each and every one of these entrepreneurs and hope you are too. To follow the this cohort’s journey, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us @start_coop. Thanks for being a part of our growing community.