The town I lived in has the first co-owned and co-managed company I know of. And their astries are delicious.

All Smiles

I met Pris on her first day at the shop. She was all smiles and we got to talk about her day and her boyfriend and her life. She mentioned that she did’t know any other Pris. As it happened, we want down the street, walked into a new plat shop, and, what do you know we met another young woman named Pris (and, yes, my wife and I always exchange names with the new people we meet). But I digress.

A couple of days later I went back into the shop and Pris was there again, and all smiles.

Y pasó el tiempo, y pasó…

I kept going to the shop for my favorite pastries, chocolate eclairs, and Anita, my wife, and I got to know Pris more. At one point she mentioned that she loved to read, so next time I brought her a copy of my book.^∇ Among other things, the book talks about co-ownership—that’s what I wanted her to read about.

I didn’t know then, the timing could not have been better.

Marchons, Oui Marchons

The owners had already been talking about going to live back in France, at least for a good part of the year. They like the town they ended up in, but they liked their town, Ginoles les Bains, back in France best. Not many prospects there, but now they had made enough money to not have to worry about that. There was even a semi-abandoned bathhouse-hotel property which they could restore and rent it for income.

The anchor was their pastry shop in our town. They had built it from the ground up. They had made financially successful. They could not just sell it. Finding a manager was nearly impossible and the few they had talked to would not cut it. Selling to their employees was unfeasible, too, because they were mostly young people working part-time or summers. There were a couple of employees that could be it, but they didn’t have enough capital and would likely not be able to borrow it from any bank.

Things were at impasse, but they were not desperate or in a hurry.

Not Smiling

Two days after I gave her the book, Pris was not smiling. She wasn’t even working, but there she was, waiting for me. Evidently I had gone into the show every Wednesday before 8:30 am, because they were gone after 8:30 am, and picked up three chocolate eclairs. And, yes, I have a sweet tooth, double down when it comes to chocolate, so sue me.

In any case, there she was, Pris. She waved hello with a forced smile and I got my eclairs. As I was going out, I started to wave at her. Instead of waving back she stood up in front of me and stopped me. Do you have a minute? she asked. Seeing how anxious she looked, I asked Are you working now? and she responded by shaking her head. Why don’t we walk outside?

We stepped out and walked a bit in silence. Then, as soon as we passed the theater, she turned to me and said, Is your book fiction? It didn’t sound like fiction at first, but then it got weird. Totally weird! So, I am assuming the weird part is totally fiction, right?

I was kind of dumbfounded for a bit, but then I asked her, So you read it all in two days? She shooked her head up and down. You are the fastest reader I know! I said smiling.

Still Anxious

No matter my attempted joke, she looked anxious. OK… So you read about co-management and co-ownership, right? And you know that I founded a company that was co-managed from day one and for fifteen years thereafter, right? I got the same up and down shake from her So, co-management is real, right? She hesitated for bit and then she said, Yeah, it is the same as self-management, right? I found lots of that stuff in Google. Actually, I think you are the only one that calls it co-management. But that is not the weird part and the book explains the ‘self’ stuff, and why a business doesn’t have a ‘self’ and cannot managed itself. I got all that, but that’s not the weird part.

OK, OK. So co-management is OK, but the co-ownership stuff is the totally weird part. I exhaled and then I went on, then, you are right, co-ownership has not been implemented anywhere and you can all it fiction. But it is practical and it’s doable, and not utopian. It is not yet fully implemented and there are no examples. Yet. But it is happening. I am investing in a company that is transitioning, slowly, to co-ownership. And I am about to start company with a friend that is going to be co-owned from the get go.

Surprisingly!

Whoa… you’re going to start a company? … She tried not to, but she looked confused as she said it.

You can say it. Go ahead…

Aren’t you… old for that kind of stuff?

You meant old. Well, if your body is up to it, you are never too old for anything, except maybe jumping out of a moving plane.

Sorry…

No, no worries. It is what a lot of people believe, even, and surprisingly, in this Valley. She wasn’t confused anymore and she looked less anxious now. Getting back to the totally weird part, co-ownership, what questions do you have? I may not have answers, but questions are a good place to start.

The Question

I have a million questions.

Pick one.

OK… how do we pay the owners what they want for the store?

I don’t know, exactly. You can borrow from a bank, she was slightly shaking her head sideways. But I take it that’s not an option. Or you can pay them in installments, from the wealth the store creates by selling chocolate eclairs and all that. Then it dawned on me, Wait… did you leaped to this question by yourself? or have you already talked about it with… your co-workers?

Well, the owners talked to a few people. And we asked them and Vicky told us that the owners were thinking of moving back to France and selling the store, but that they would really want to sell it to us, at least some of us. I was through most of the second section of your book so I re-read the rest of it as fast as I could and then I read the last two thirds again and… here we are.

Holly sh… what timing.

Children of Fiat

There is another option. You could borrow part of it to pay the owners right away and pay the rest in installments. And I don't mean, from a bank, borrow it as a Radical investment.

What is that? How does it work? And what will they give us money when we are all broke.

How much do they want?

I don’t think Vicky knows, either.

Then that’s your homework. We have to know.

Can I tell the others, maybe not all of them, but the more trustworthy one?

Yes, let’s do as the book says and be transparent. However, given the system that we live in, you should probably ask the owner directly and then tell your co-workers.

But what if they ask if I have the money to buy it and stuff like that?

Good point. Then, if they do, tell them that I might be interested. I am.

Do you have a lot of money?

Probably not enough, but, given the system we live in, I have credibility.

We live in the Fiat system, right?

Yep!

Got it!

ENDNOTES

• Matt Perez, Adrian Perez, Jose Leal. RADICAL COMPANIES: Without Bosses or Employees. Pradera Media. 2021. <https://radicalcompanies.com>