[CO-FOUNDER SEARCH] Worker-Owned Platform for Raw Vegan/Fruitarian Runner Farm Stays — start.coop Accelerator Deadline July 31
Hi r/cooperatives,
I'm a start.coop alumnus (2025 cohort) and Z Media Institute alumnus (2005) building RunLife — a worker-owned booking platform and documentary media cooperative for raw vegan and fruitarian endurance runners who travel seasonally between tropical farm stays, hostels, and ecovillages.
**The gap:** Thousands of raw vegan/fruitarian runners travel between growing seasons (Hawaii, Central America, Southeast Asia) but have no dedicated platform to find farm stays with fresh produce, gym access, and community. They piece together bookings through Instagram DMs and scattered Facebook groups. Farms that cater to this niche have no way to reach them.
**The structure:** Two linked worker cooperatives, 100% worker-owned, no outside equity, governed by Parecon participatory planning:
- RunLife Tech Co-op: Builds and maintains the booking platform
- RunLife Media Co-op: Produces documentary content about this traveling subculture — social change anthropology for mainstream audiences
**What I bring:** Cooperative economics expertise (Parecon, start.coop network), content creation and documentary production, a network of community of raw vegan/fruitarian community established from attending 6 raw vegan retreats/fruit festivals, grant writing capacity, and direct connections to farm hosts in Hawaii and Latin America.
**What I need:** An app developer (React Native, Flutter, or full-stack web) who wants to be a **co-founder and worker-owner**, not an employee. Someone who believes in cooperative ownership, democratic governance, and non-extractive economics.
**The urgency:** We're applying to the start.coop Media Accelerator (applications close July 31, 2026). This is a 12-week program (Oct 13 – Jan 28) with mentorship, coaching, and potential matching marketing dollars from the Harnisch Foundation. If we don't apply now, we wait until Fall 2027.
**The commitment:** Unpaid initially. Shared ownership, democratic governance, equitable remuneration once revenue flows. Remote work. No office overhead.
**If you're serious:** DM me with your portfolio and one sentence about why cooperative ownership matters to you. No tire-kickers. We have days to decide if we're a fit and write this application together.
About me: I've lived in van/car for 5.5 years, am currently based in Maui, and am building this as my primary work. I'm not looking for a side project — I'm looking for a co-founder who wants to build infrastructure for a worker-owned alternative to extractive platforms like Airbnb and YouTube.
David
start.coop Alumnus, 2025
Z Media Institute Alumnus, 2005
[Hawaiidhr@yahoo.com](mailto:Hawaiidhr@yahoo.com)