San Fran Scoop!
May 18, 2025
Our trip to San Francisco a couple of weeks ago was an absolute blast. I introduced User Co-op to Omidyar Network’s leadership and staff at the partners reception, and we’ve scheduled a meeting in a few weeks to continue the conversation!
As I wrote before, Omidyar Network (“ON”) is a philanthropic organization that supports initiatives that enable humanity to “steer its own digital future and result in shared power, prosperity, and possibility.” So far, ON has committed almost $2 billion to such initiatives. ON’s founders are Pierre and Pam Omidyar. Pierre founded eBay, and Pam founded multiple humanitarian enterprises.
On May 6, ON put on a partners reception entitled “Hardwiring Humanity into Our Digital Future,” which I attended on User Co-op’s behalf. We learned about ON’s five-year strategic plan, met their team, and met some of the folks behind the initiatives that ON supports.
It was an awesome scene. It was held in the Ferry Building in a nice space that overlooked the bay. There was food, drinks, and even a silk-screen printer making some sweet graphic tote bags. (Yes, I took one home.) The energy and optimism in the room were palpable. There might have been 100 or so people there.
The reception lasted two hours. I spent almost all of that time networking. My customary intro of “I’m starting a user-owned web browser company to start putting tech power and profits into the people’s hands” spurred some great conversations and got me routed around the room pretty well. I got to meet ON’s CEO, president, COO, and several other key staff members, and I got to meet folks whose initiatives are supported by ON. It was a great experience.
Like the DC data co-op workshop, this reception enabled us to link up with a larger community of folks who align with our vision of tech power and profits to the people. We’ve got a conversation with ON on the calendar, and we have lots more follow-ups to make. I can’t wait to see where we go from here.
I’ll update you as we go along. In the meantime, I hope you’ll join us, if you haven’t already!
Matt
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May 18, 2025
Matt Martensen
Founder/organizer