Create Your Co-op
Learn how to register your organization, pick a cooperative business type, invite your founding members, and start coordinating formation.
Workspace & Founding Team Setup
Starting a cooperative requires coordinating a collective team, codifying bylaws, and setting up member capital records. In OwnFold, a Workspace acts as the digital corporate record book and security boundary for your cooperative. This guide walks you through the setup process.
Forming a Steering Committee
Before registering online, a cooperative steering committee should be formed. This group is responsible for defining the initial governance criteria, voting powers, and selecting the legal jurisdiction. The person who completes the sign-up form becomes the first Workspace Administrator; administrator access can be granted to other members later from the Member Ledger.
Democratic Principle Check
While one person initially clicks the sign-up buttons, decisions belong to the membership. Use Governance proposals to ratify your governing documents, and grant administrator access thoughtfully: administrators can change workspace settings. Once a document is executed in the Legal Hub it is sealed and can no longer be edited in place.
Step 1: Workspace Registration
To register a workspace, navigate to the Sign Up Portal and provide:
- Organization Name: Your registered corporate name (or the name in formation), e.g., City Tech Workers Cooperative Association.
- Cooperative Business Style: The type of co-op you are building (see Step 2). Choose "Startup / In-Formation" if you have not filed papers yet.
- Your Name, Email & Password: Your administrator login. Passwords must be at least 10 characters, and OwnFold emails you a link to verify your address.
New workspaces start on a 14-day Starter Core trial that includes 500 AI credits. After signing up, set your State of incorporation in Settings; it appears on your Co-op Directory listing.
Step 2: Selecting Your Cooperative Type
The business style you choose decides which modules appear in your sidebar, so each team sees the tools that fit its model. Every workspace starts with the same default chart of accounts, which you can extend in the Financial Core.
| Type | Primary Members | Example Modules Shown |
|---|---|---|
| Worker Cooperative | Employees / Laborers | Timesheets, Projects, Patronage Engine (labor hours), Financial Core |
| Producer Cooperative | Independent Farmers / Artists | Member Deliveries, CRM, Patronage (delivered volume) |
| Consumer Cooperative | Retail Buyers / Subscribers | Retail POS, Member Ledger, Patronage (purchase volume) |
| Housing Cooperative | Tenants / Residents | Resident Leases, Work Orders |
Other types are also available: Purchasing (Co-op Purchases), Platform / Gig (Gig Dispatch Board), Utility / Energy (Utility Metering & Billing), Equipment Sharing (Equipment Share Board), Time-Banking (Time-Banking Exchange), and Startup / In-Formation, which focuses the workspace on formation, legal, and compliance tools.
Step 3: Inviting Your Founding Members
Open the Member Ledger and click "Onboard". Enter each founder's name and email, choose a role (Founder, Worker, or Investor) and member class, and select which modules they can access (CRM, Projects, Financials, Governance & Legal, or full administrator access). OwnFold emails them an invitation link to set their own password.
Step 4: Coordinating Formation
If you are still forming, open the Formation Studio. Its readiness panel tracks your member classes, AI-drafted Articles and Bylaws, the first member vote to ratify them, and the initial board packet, alongside a filing checklist (file with the Secretary of State, request an EIN, open a bank account, fund member buy-ins). Discussion happens on proposals in the Governance module, where members can comment before they vote.