[dimal]

Thank you for making this a public benefit company. We need more companies to follow this route to protect against future enshittification. But with public benefit corporations, I’ve been wondering, is it possible at some point for the board vote to change to some other type of entity, like a C-corp? And what rules are in place to enforce that it is working in the public benefit?

Cory Doctorow talks about using Ulysses pacts like this to protect against future bad behavior, but I’m wondering, what is the strength of the pact?

[sickcodebruh]

My understanding of it (and IANAL) is that while the board could potentially vote to change it, the shareholders can take legal action for failing to pursue the public benefit obligations. I can't say whether trying to remove the public benefit obligation alone is grounds to bring a suit, but I think they'd be able to make a case for it. My hope is that being a PBC will scare off predators and encourage like-minded people from day 1, leading us to a point where a future board is made up of people who are 100% committed to the mission from the start.

That's a long way of saying what you said: I want it to protect against future enshittification. I want it to work.

[dimal]

Thanks for the answer. Yeah, hopefully if there are enough disincentives, that can protect you. This is all uncharted territory, though. Kudos for trying it out.

[peyton]

Nonissue once you’re big enough to have a legal dept to deal with shit like that.