I see a lot of discussion about the fear that corporations and VCs will take over the fediverse. The thing is, Mastodon going mainstream will require a lot of capital and development of new products and innovations for this ecosystem…Let’s also allow VC-backed startups to flourish building services for all of us.
This isn’t Silicon Valley. We’re not trying to “innovate” or “scale” or “go mainstream”. We’re avoiding that culture. Granted, most of us aren’t opposed to the idea of going mainstream, but we’re not chasing that goal for its own end.
The kind of growth I’m interested in is being welcoming to new marginalized users (e.g. those from BIPoC, neurodiverse, and queer communities). Venture capital, however, chases growth for a return on investment; this isn’t guaranteed to be in alignment with the extant community’s goals, and will likely come in conflict with time. The history of every “successful” VC-backed social media platform to date (Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, etc) says as much.
The protocols are open; you’re free to do what you will. I only ask that you loudly announce all instances run by people subscribing to your vision whenever you find them, so we can contain the spread.