Power in steward-ownership-aligned financing

One factor that we only want to touch upon quickly:  Even in steward-ownership-aligned financing, where governance mechanisms limit formal investor control, the power dynamics of capital remain. The ability to fund – or withhold funding – creates a form of influence that goes beyond legally legitimized power. Simply the position of “Will I give money or not, today and in the future?”, independent of whether this money is structured without any formal control or with a lot of control, is a powerful position for investors. The “soft” power of money can be very hard sometimes.

→ See more on the dangers of the “soft power of money” in the blog post on OpenAI.