Shala 2.0: Enabling Companies that Sprout, Not Start

Shala 1.0 was an ambitious attempt to build an open, fair and social internet through a cooperative of digital platforms and user-owned data, but it became a costly mirror of the very biases it set out to transcend. Shala 2.0 keeps the original vision of co-creation and fair value sharing alive, while stripping away the technology-first mindset and placing trustful humans, cooperative governance and simple revenue sharing at the center.​

From platform to mirror: Shala 1.0

Shala 1.0 set out to be “your home to build and own platforms with your users” and enable an internet “built and owned by users” through shared systems, SOLID pods and cooperative ownership. The thesis was that the internet is not open, fair or social, and that a cooperative of digital platforms with user-owned data could unlock an economy of 8 billion creators.​

Yet in practice, Shala 1.0 became a lesson in how deep existing mental models run. A significant budget went into building a sophisticated tech stack and stealth pilots, validating user demand and launching 20+ platforms, while cultural infrastructure, power dynamics and human trust were still underdeveloped. The result was a powerful but fragile reflection of founder bias, centralization of decision-making and a dependence on proprietary infrastructure that contradicted the original intent.​

The quiet pivot: laying Shala 1.0 to rest

By the end of 2023, it became clear that the technology was not the missing link in Web3; culture was. Shala 1.0 was laid to rest, not as a failure of vision, but as a necessary end to a form that no longer served its own purpose.​

This closure opened space for a more honest experiment: could the same values be expressed without building a new platform at all? Could cooperative culture, shared governance and simple agreements deliver more trust than complex protocols? These questions became the seed of Shala 2.0, grounded in lived experiments rather than product roadmaps.

Shala 2.0: a cooperative trust layer

In January 2024, Shala re-emerged as Shala Creators Cooperative in Colorado: a not-for-profit venture studio owned by its members to co-create solutions and distribute value fairly. Instead of leading with an app, the cooperative became a neutral trust layer: money flows into Shala, and out again according to clear, pre-agreed revenue sharing rules between collaborators.

The Purdue–Quiddity project made this real. Contractors joined and left, yet all parties could rely on Shala’s cooperative structure, revenue sharing agreements and 2/3 approval rule to govern cash flow and resolve disputes without a central authority. The technology became optional; the real “product” was a way for humans to work together without first incorporating a company.

A human-first framework for collaboration

Shala 2.0’s framework is deceptively simple: a cooperative with a bank account, a revenue sharing agreement for each project, and elected stewards accountable to the members. Instead of incorporating a new company for every initiative, contributors plug into this shared trust layer, agree on governance and revenue splits upfront, and let money flow through a neutral entity.

This model is particularly powerful in contexts like festivals, retreats or short-term ventures where forming a company is overkill. A project like the evolve festival could channel ticket sales into Shala, and rely on the cooperative’s mandate to distribute funds fairly to vendors, headliners and collaborators according to the shared agreement, reducing the asymmetry that arises when all money flows through a single individual. Trust becomes infrastructural, not personal.

Beyond entities: composable work and living systems

What emerges is a shift from “start a company, then collaborate” to “collaborate, then let companies sprout only when needed.” Projects, programs, workshops and ventures become composable: each is a temporary constellation of people, with a clear revenue sharing agreement and an optional path to incorporation later.

Experts who design repeatable programs or systems can be included as minority participants in future revenue sharing agreements, allowing knowledge to compound and systems to interoperate across projects. The living-organism metaphor from Graham Boyd’s work becomes tangible: ventures sprout, grow and die, while their DNA—frameworks, agreements, and relationships—regenerates across the cooperative network.​

An invitation to Shala’s past collaborators

Everyone who touched Shala 1.0 helped expose both the promise and the limits of a technology-led approach to a cultural problem. That experience has directly shaped Shala 2.0: a venture studio cooperative that uses revenue share instead of shareholder contracts, and treats legal entities as an optional later stage rather than a starting condition.​

The invitation now is to participate in this human-first layer of collaboration: to use Shala’s cooperative and revenue sharing framework for your next project, to share your learnings, and to fork the model by creating your own local cooperative if that better serves your community. Shala’s true promise is no longer a platform; it is a pattern of trustful humans co-creating value together, without a center.

Learn more at https://shala.coop/

Shala: The Venture Studio Cooperative

Collaborate on multiple ventures and earn value without forming a company first.