InertSpace Cooperative Inc
The whole architecture rests here. Not marketing, legal structure.
What it is
InertSpace Cooperative Inc is a California Cooperative Corporation. Three member classes (Worker, Vendor, Supporter). One member, one vote regardless of capital. 20% indivisible reserve retained permanently. Livable-wage principle for full-time worker-members. Directors serve at the pleasure of the membership.
Why it matters
Every other node on the map depends on this one. The cooperative is what stops any single person (including me) from later selling the whole thing off, diluting members, or drifting toward extractive VC economics. The legal form is the anchor. Bylaws you can amend by member vote, but not silently.
It also solves the trust problem for the community-servers ladder. If a TentCities member is going to move their site between servers, they need to know the entity behind the whole system is not going to disappear or pivot. A cooperative is the strongest structural answer to that.
Current state
Where it is right now: incorporated July 2, 2026. Bylaws adopted July 3. Banking authority resolution in place. Founder-operator is currently the only member. Governance mechanisms are written down but haven't been exercised yet (no member vote has happened because there's one member).
What is next: the first Vendor-Member. AnalogCirc.us opened in October, so the intake process finally has a real door to test. Worker-Member and Supporter-Member intake follows once the first Vendor case is written down.
Connections
The cooperative funds the work, structures the membership, and owns every downstream piece: TopSoil, InertSpace VPS, TentCities, PACT, AnalogCirc.us, and everything else. Every project reports up to it.
Build log
The arc from a site with a mission to a filed cooperative with governance you can point at.
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Apr 24, 2026
inertspace.com site tree created
Initial commit of the site that this public transparency layer lives on. Predates incorporation by ten weeks.
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Jun 30, 2026
Site overhaul · Community Servers, products, portfolio
Positioning locked in ahead of formation: Community Servers pages, product tiers, portfolio, email relay all shipped as one pass.
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Jul 2, 2026
Incorporation filed Filed
California Cooperative Corporation. Three member classes defined (Worker, Vendor, Supporter).
More
- Worker-Member: patronage tracked by hours contributed. The class that runs the co-op day-to-day.
- Vendor-Member: patronage tracked by gross sales through cooperative surfaces (like the AnalogCirc.us marketplace).
- Supporter-Member: patronage via subscription or contribution. A non-extractive way for people who use the tools but don't work here to formally back the co-op.
- Voting: one member, one vote, regardless of class or capital contributed.
- Reserve: 20% indivisible reserve retained permanently, independent of member equity.
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Jul 3, 2026
Bylaws adopted, banking authority signed
First board resolution: bylaws adopted, founder-operator seated as sole initial director and treasurer, business banking authorized.
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Jul 13, 2026
Cooperative alignment + About consolidation
Homepage polish, About consolidation, cooperative-alignment pass across the public site. Preparation for the Article 7 sync a day later.
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Jul 14, 2026
Bylaws Article 7 sync + About page rewrite
Public About page rewritten to match Article 7: a livable-wage principle, a cap on total compensation as a share of net profit, and a formal member salary review once revenue allows. Removed the Legal Reality section.
More
- Livable-wage principle, not a floor: not a fixed dollar number. A commitment that full-time worker-members are paid enough to live where they live, adjusted honestly rather than pegged to a legislature.
- A salary review once revenue allows: the mechanism for actually adjusting the wage, run by the members.
- A cap on compensation: total founder and worker pay is capped as a share of net profit. Keeps the co-op from being a wage vehicle for one person.
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Jul 18, 2026
Governance written down, single-member phase
The cooperative can hold contracts, receive revenue, and pay a founder-operator salary. No member vote has happened yet (there is one member). The intake process is the next real test.
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Aug 2, 2026
Supporter-Member rewritten so it stops reading as a purchase
The class had been defined by capital contribution and then offered a governance seat. Read plainly, that is pay-to-play, whatever the intent. Redefined by who its members actually are: people who show up.
More
- The live wording now separates the two things that were tangled: dues make you eligible, not elected. Who holds a seat for the class is settled by vote and by need.
- Patronage is still measured as a financial figure, because it has to be for surplus distribution and the other two classes use equally concrete measures. The problem was never the formula, it was the class definition.
- Governance language is easy to write in a way that means something different to the person reading it than to the person who wrote it. The original wording was not intended as pay-to-play, which is precisely why it needed changing: intent is not what a reader receives.
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Oct 9 – 10, 2026 You are here
inertspace.com becomes the co-op's own site
inertspace.com stopped selling websites and hosting. The homepage is now about the co-op and what it is building, and the Terms and Privacy pages were rewritten for a site that sells nothing. The old client Support page was retired.
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Next
First Vendor-Member intake at AnalogCirc.us
An artist, maker, or physical-media seller joins as the first Vendor-Member. First real membership packet, first application review.