I can't remember who I asked to cover the couchsurfing story, and in fact, the whole peer hospitality scene would warrant a series of articles, but here is a first approach already on the blog later today, but thanks for continuing to work on a more expanded and detailed article, or covering some details of it:<br>
<br>via <a href="http://shareable.net/blog/the-rise-of-the-not-just-for-profit">http://shareable.net/blog/the-rise-of-the-not-just-for-profit</a><br><br><p class="postTitle"><a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/?p=19155" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to On Couchsurfing becoming a B
Corporation: the controversy">On Couchsurfing becoming a B Corporation:
the controversy</a></p>
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<img src="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/wp-content/uploads/avatars/Michel%20Bauwens.jpg" alt="photo of Michel Bauwens" align="left"><div id="postauthorname">Michel
Bauwens</div>
<div id="postdate">2nd September 2011</div>
<br>
<p>Here is a first entry into the debate rocking the Couchsurfing
community, <a href="http://shareable.net/blog/the-rise-of-the-not-just-for-profit">via
Shareable</a>:</p>
<p>Excerpted from <strong>Malcolm Harris</strong>:</p>
<p><em>�Let�s imagine the standard start-up route and we�ll see the kind
of double-bind CouchSurfing is in. You start with a good idea, attract
high-value employees cheap with equity offers and big investment
cheques, you hit the Initial Public Offering (IPO) and everyone gets
paid, then if you�re lucky, a bigger company will try and buy you for
even more money. CouchSurfing wants to attract the high-level
programming talent and investment capital that comes with a good idea
(and is necessary to realizing that idea), but they don�t want to risk
losing control of the organization�s mission to shareholders. What�s an
ethical start-up to do?</em></p>
<p><em>What CouchSurfing did is register as a �B corporation.� B (or
Benefit) Corporations compose a new class of US corporations, dedicated
to social as well as financial good. Five states have passed laws
governing B corps, and a bill is moving in California now. Although
there are other benefits, the biggest one seems to me described on the B
Corp site: �As a B Corporation, founders and other mission-driven
shareholders can hold directors accountable to consider the impact of
operating and liquidity decisions not only on shareholders, but on all
stakeholders.� By building responsibility and accountability mechanisms
into the founding of the corporation, the B Corp framework seems
substantially different than the �corporate responsibility� cons.</em></p>
<p><em>As part of the B incorporation, CouchSurfing accepted $7.6
million in venture capital funding, something they never could have done
previously as a non-profit. Combined with the site�s already 3
million-large membership base, the site seems ready to take it to the
next level. However, the directors maintain CouchSurfing will always be
free for participants. Here�s hoping the B Corporation framework helps
them, and maybe provides a model for start-ups facing the same
conundrum.�</em></p>
<p><strong>Robino on the Community conflict over the new status:</strong></p>
<p><em>�Couchsurfing as I see it has almost nothing to do with this what
you call collaborative consumption Malcolm. It is about doing away with
that model of production and consumption. It is hospitality. It is
allowing a stranger to be your guest. It is l-i-f-e. It is sharing your
life with someone for maybe a day, maybe a couple of days, and sometimes
even longer. For many of these people, traveling is NOT a product,
neither is hospitality, neither is sharing. It is how we live.</em></p>
<p><em>That�s why there is no money involved, that�s why they like
non-profit, this is why many members inside the community are currently
so upset. Because we want to do it the other way: without the profit,
without the money. And because we know it can be done.</em></p>
<p><em>�</em></p>
<p><em>Couchsurfing though never wanted to make the step to transform
the organization into a democratically run organization, or to make the
source-code of the website available for people to hack on it. They said
they wanted it to become a charity (for tax-purposes) but never got
that up and running either, and after years of inaction and numerous
expensive retreats, decided to go for a �sell-out�, when their
member-base was finally big enough.</em></p>
<p><em>Around 90% of CS-members probably don�t really care about that.
They just want to have a good website to find hosts and guests, but the
others (the ones who speak up the most) do care about it. They are
critical about their data that has just been sold to a new corporation.
Their data, their profiles, their personal references, their personal
information, their friends that they once provided to a non-profit
association and not to a corporation with CEO�s and investors.</em></p>
<p><em>Having said all this, we�ll see where this goes, and how it will
affect the networks. For one, the success of Couchsurfing really depends
on people like me who are �active hosts� inside the big touristic
cities. And with this enormous growing member-base of Couchsurfing that
we�ve seen for the past years, it has become really hard for these hosts
to keep up with the amount of requests they get. And this announcement
of Couchsurfing turning into a profit-organization (why is that legally
allowed anyway?) might be a final drop for quite a few of them.�</em></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>P2P Foundation: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a>� - <a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a> <br>
<br>Connect: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.ning.com" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.ning.com</a>; Discuss:�<a href="http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation" target="_blank">http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation</a><div>
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