I recently attended my first official CoTech gathering as Agile Collective’s Account Manager alongside Kate, Richard, and Simon, hosted at Space4 with Outlandish.
CoTech, a network of technology cooperatives, has supported and connected worker-owned tech businesses for the past eight years and is now part of the workers.coop, the federation of worker cooperatives in the UK.
As the newest Agile Collective team member —and a self-proclaimed (and proud!) ‘co-op nerd’—I was excited to reconnect with friends, put faces to names after many online conversations, and meet new colleagues in the tech co-op space. There’s something special about being in a room full of people who share a passion for cooperation and collective ownership—it reinforces why, out of the many reasons, I chose to join this team.
Balancing values and financial sustainability
One of the standout moments for me was the session “From Services to Products: Navigating Capital, Control, and Values,” led by Szczepan from Animorph Co-operative. The discussion around balancing financial sustainability with cooperative values and maintaining control over our direction left me reflecting on how Agile Collective can continue to grow while staying true to our core principles. Szczepan’s insights into how Animorph tackles these challenges were motivating, and it sparked meaningful conversations with fellow co-operators about shared strategies for balancing impact and co-operative identity.
Wearing my Account Manager hat, I also had the opportunity to learn from other cooperatives during the session “Post-Project Client Support,” hosted by our own Simon. The conversation about client support raised crucial questions for me:
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How can we create smoother transitions from project work to ongoing support?
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What best practices from other co-ops can we adopt to strengthen client relationships?
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How can we improve client up-skilling to build stronger, long-term partnerships?
Reflecting on my initial weeks at Agile Collective, I recognize the strong foundation we’ve built. However, the shared challenges discussed in this session underscored the need for collaborative learning and resource development within the CoTech community.
Looking forward, I am eager to dive into this network to answer some of these lingering questions, grow connections, and products that steward a more resilient, values-driven tech ecosystem.
A big thanks to Outlandish and Space4 for hosting us so warmly—and if you find yourself in the area, we can definitely recommend stopping by to check out their fantastic space.
