While you are hopefully all getting some well-deserved rest between the years, we’ve got some last-minute news to share: At the end of this year Christoph, a founding member of our company, will leave Village One. In this newsletter we reflect on what that means for us (and him).
036: One chapter ends, the next one begins
Three years ago, when Doro and I threw around the first ideas to start this design/tech cooperative, we knew we needed a capable designer to join us: Christoph was our first choice and luckily he decided to hop aboard. Since then he’s been leading all things design, from creating our own visual appearance, to closely working with numerous clients on our projects. He’s not only an excellent, versatile designer, he’s also an absolute joy to work with: Always positive, showing up with warmth and bringing a human touch to our digital work. However, for a while, he has felt an urge to go solo as a freelancer again, focusing more on his own creative impact. After all, working in a group does create extra pressure and expectations, possibly even more so in our cooperative context.
Therefore, starting next year, Christoph will step down as a co-owner and end his employment contract with Village One.
This wasn’t an easy decision: We’ve been discussing this role-change for a while, as a whole group and in smaller rounds. Christoph came up with various options earlier this year, and we started trying out a setup with reduced hours for him. This worked for a while, but a part-time role in a small company also means juggling multiple projects, client communication and internal topics on very limited hours, and it created some additional planning overhead as well. Therefore, Christoph eventually chose the full-time freelancer path.
It’s always a tricky situation when important people leave a company, especially when they own shares in the business. In a traditional setup an arduous legal and financial negotiation would now ensue, pitting us against each other to determine the value of his shares, to be paid out upon leaving. This would likely put Village One under financial pressure and create uncertainty for the remaining people and our clients alike.
In this case though, because we’re incorporated as a cooperative, this situation is quite different and actually very straight-forward: Cooperative shares have a fixed price, 100€ per share for us. Each member owns a single share, so when Christoph leaves, he’ll be paid back his 100€ and that’s it, case closed. Cooperatives prioritize the stability of the organisation, encouraging to continuously create value for members, rather than promising a big speculative pay-out at the end. Refreshingly simple.
More importantly though, this lets us focus on what really matters: The consequences of losing a key person and what that means for our projects, as well as our team setup. We’ve transparently discussed Christoph’s decision as a team for a while and I feel we’re well prepared: We’ve hired another designer (joining in mid-January) and we’ve already shared project responsibilities more evenly across our team. I’d be lying if I said I’m not nervous, but I’m also feeling optimistic about where we’re headed in 2025. We will also continue to work together with Christoph as a freelance collaborator in the next year—something we’re all looking forward to!
All that being said: Change is hard, but it is also always an opportunity. We started Village One as a highly opinionated company that basically throws out the whole established business rulebook. It’s clear that this setup is not for everyone, forever. If you eventually don’t feel empowered by this self-organizing structure of collective ownership, then it’s a totally valid and understandable, even encouraged, decision to jump ship.
In fact, we expect this to happen—after all, that’s where our name comes from: We chose being a “village” as our core metaphor for the company, meaning a democratically governed place that residents shape together, as equals. Occasionally, people will move out and new people move in. That’s normal, that’s healthy. We make the most of our time together, but change is expected and embraced.
Christoph, with a heavy heart, we say good-bye for now, wishing you all the best for your next adventures! We know you’ll absolutely crush it! Thank you for three exhilarating years of shaping Village One into the unique organisation it is today and everything you’ve done for and with us. You’ve left a permanent mark here and we’re grateful we got to spend all this time together! We’ll soon cross paths again, for sure!
Looking ahead, we’ll be busy onboarding our new mystery designer in January—look out for a proper announcement soon! But before we get into all that, we wish you all a calm start into 2025! See you next year!