Someone Actually Built It

An Open Letter to Trebor Scholz

Dear Professor Scholz,

In 2014, you gave a name to what I’d been trying to articulate: platform cooperativism.

You described cloning the technological heart of Uber and Airbnb, but with democratic governance and worker ownership. You outlined the principles. You built the consortium. You’ve spent a decade showing that another model is possible.

I spent nine years building one.

What You Described, We Constructed

Liana Banyan is a platform cooperative spanning commerce, healthcare, and education — with six charitable initiatives permanently funded by three commercial portals. Here’s the structure:

Ownership: Every participant earns equity through blockchain-verified medallions. Not tokens for speculation — ownership stakes that pay dividends and grant governance rights.

Margins: Cost + 20%. Fixed. Published. The platform takes what it needs to operate, nothing more. On a music license, the artist keeps 83%+. On a product sale, the creator keeps the same.

Governance: Decisions flow through transparent systems with escalating stability periods. Not “one token, one vote” plutocracy — actual democratic participation weighted by contribution.

Sustainability: Three commercial portals generate revenue. That revenue funds six charitable initiatives — healthcare access, education, civic infrastructure — permanently. Not “profit first, philanthropy later.” The giving is structural.

The Principles You Outlined

I’ve read your work on platform cooperativism — the ten principles, the case studies, the challenges. I designed against your framework:

  • Ownership: Medallion system distributes equity to contributors
  • Decent pay: Cost+20% ensures creators keep the majority
  • Transparency: All economics published, all transactions verifiable
  • Data portability: Users own their data, can export anytime
  • Protective legal framework: Cooperative structure with fiduciary obligations to members

I don’t know if I got it right. That’s why I’m writing.

The Ask

You’ve seen more platform cooperative attempts than anyone. You know which ones succeeded, which failed, and why. You understand the tension between cooperative ideals and competitive markets.

I want to know:

  1. Where does this model fail? Capital formation? Decision-making speed? Competitive pressure from VC-backed platforms?
  2. What am I missing? Governance edge cases? Regulatory blind spots? Scaling challenges you’ve seen before?
  3. If it holds up — would you consider advising, or connecting me to operators in your network?

The Platform Cooperativism Consortium has built a community of people trying to do this. I’d like to learn from them — and contribute what we’ve built to the ecosystem.

One More Thing

You’ve written that platform cooperativism needs not just resistance but a positive alternative. You’ve called for people to actually build.

I took that seriously. Nine years. 53 patent filings. My mortgage on the line.

Now I need people who’ve studied this to tell me what I got wrong — or help me get it right.

Jonathan Jones Founding Manager, Liana Banyan Corporation November 2025

Full economics at Cephas.LianaBanyan.org Platform Cooperativism Consortium member (pending)

406-578-1232 Support@LianaBanyan.org