The Limeleaf Podcast

This month, we discuss how to get off of Big Tech's platforms and take control of our digital lives with Andy Bowling and Phil Waller of Comp.coop.

Show Notes and Links

Guests

Andy Bowling, Comp.coop

Phil Waller, Coop Cincy

Resources

comp.coop

Worx Printing

goodpress.coop

Coop Cincy

Colorado Driver’s Coop

NextCloud

Steve Giordano from Interstitial and Ethan Winn from Obran join us to talk about one of our favorite topics: worker co-ops! What they are and, more importantly, why we think they are a great corporate structure for tech startups.

Also...Henhouse is in Beta!

Henhouse, our new privacy-focused, small-tech web hosting co-op, is in private beta. If you want to test it out, contact us. If you want to support Henhouse, donate on Open Collective.

Show Notes and Links

Guests

Steve Giordano, Interstitial Technology

Ethan Winn, Obran Cooperative

Podcasts and Media

Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Stuff You Should Know, "How Worker Co-Ops Work"

The Laura Flanders Show

Upstream Podcast

Cool Co-ops To Check Out

Colab

Colorado Drivers Cooperative

Comp.coop

CoTech (UK tech co-op network)

Hypha Worker Co-operative

Igalia

IOCoop

Platform Cooperativism Consortium

Organizations and Networks

Cotech

Cooperation Works!

Cooperative Economics Alliance of New York City

Democracy at Work Institute

ICA Group

Launch.coop

National Cooperative Business Association

New York City Network of Worker Cooperatives

Patio, Patio chat

Project Equity

Start.coop

US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, USFWC Slack channel

Worker's Co-Op

Legal

CoopLaw.org

Edward P. Swyer Justice Center at Albany Law School

DRGA (Argentine cooperative law firm)

Jason Wiener, PC (cooperative attorney)

Sustainable Economies Law Center

Financial

LIFT Fund

Seed Commons

Shared Capital Cooperative

The Working World

Transform Finance

Events

2026 Worker Co-op Conference (September 26-27, Boston)

Co-Op Events Calendar

Platform Cooperativism Conference

USFWC Upcoming Events

Books

Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice by Jessica Gordon Nembhard

Humanizing the Economy by John Restakis

Humanocracy by Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini

Ours to Hack and to Own edited by Trebor Scholz and Nathan Schneider

Owning Our Future by Marjorie Kelly

The Making of a Democratic Economy by Marjorie Kelly and Ted Howard

We Should Own The Economy by Elle Griffin

This month, software engineer and systems builder Corey Snipes joined us to talk about small tech, digital sovereignty, LLMs, and why he's optimistic about the future of tech. Corey has 25 years of experience across security, cloud, and web-facing technologies. He likes to fix things, spend time in the woods, and play music. He's also a founding member of our Henhouse Computing Co-op. Listen to all our episodes at limeleaf.coop/podcast.

Join us at ATmosphereConf 2026!

We're headed to Vancouver, BC, Canada from March 26-29 for ATmosphereConf 2026! If you'll be there, too, say hi.

Links to Stuff We Mention in the Show

Corey's links

His personal blog

Mastodon (also bridged to Bluesky)

His consultancy, Twomile Heavy Industries, Inc.

His product, Review Star

The Laptop Rehabilitation Project

Other stuff we discussed

Henhouse

“Now is the time to be digitally sovereign” letter to EC

EU Digital Markets Act

Aral Balkan on the Small Web

Small Tech Foundation

Kitten

Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere (POSSE)

Molly White on POSSE and Digital Sovereignty

Molly White at SXSW 2025

US hits record 2.1 million new business applications

atproto.com

Activity Pub

freeourfeeds.org

Eurosky.social

Mastodon

Bluesky

Ghost publishing platform

Micro.blog (Easy publishing and POSSE-style sharing to other platforms)

Bruno for API testing and the Bruno vs Postman comparison

This month, we reflect on some 2025 highlights here at Limeleaf and look ahead at our plans for 2026. Topics include: Bluesky, ATProtocol, apply.coop, owning tech vs. renting it (i.e., SaaS), Silicon Valley's devolution from cuddly unicorn to bloodthirsty monster, tech ICs are the new working class, and more.

ATmosphereConf 2026 Tickets Are On Sale!

ATmosphereConf 2026 is happening in Vancouver in March! Attend in person or online for two days of AT Protocol-focused learning, networking, and fun. Limeleaf will be there, as will folks from Bluesky PBC, Graze, Blacksky Algorithms, Streamplace, Tangled, and many other AT Protocol enthusiasts. Get your tickets now!!

Links

Bluesky Directory

apply.coop

Source Cooperative

Means Media

Panther Peak Studios

Comp.coop

Farox Cooperative

You Deserve a Tech Union by Ethan Marcotte

Seven Myths About AI and Productivity: What the Evidence Really Says

Beyond the politics of nostalgia: What the fall of the steel industry can tell us about the future of America

The Tech Workers Coalition

In this episode, we discuss AT Protocol, a technology that underpins Bluesky and many believe is the future of social media. ATProto pioneer Boris Mann @bmann.ca educates us about AT Protocol, where it's used, why so many people are excited about it, and even how it's pronounced.

Breaking news: In the episode, we discuss software patents as they relate to ATProto standardization. Today, Bluesky published a patent pledge vowing to "not enforce any of the patents on any software invention Bluesky Social owns now or in the future." The pledge includes IP related to ATProto. Progress!

AT Protocol Software Development

Do you have an idea for a Bluesky or AT Protocol product? Build it! Our team can guide you through every step, from defining requirements to launching your product, scaling your infrastructure to handle millions of users, and beyond. Learn more.

Links

Overview of the ATmosphere's potential from Dan Abramov

AT Protocol Specification

AT Protocol on Github

Free Our Feeds, "A campaign to support open, people-powered social media"

Blacksky, "Decentralized tools for creating safe, independent online spaces"

Boris' "Beyond Microblogging: AT Protocol for Building Unique Social Apps" post

Alex Russell's post about web standards

Toronto User Directory

Some Cool ATProto Apps

Leaflet - online publishing

Tangled - source code management

Graze - custom feed creator

Streamplace - video livestreaming

Spark - decentralized social networking

Germ - secure chat

Semble - social knowledge network for researchers

Smoke Signal - event planning

Flushes - uh, wtf?

Anisota - experimental social media interface

Recipe Exchange

Roomy Chat - group chat

Grain Photos - photo storage

Anchor - geo checkins

Find many more at blueskydirectory.com