The Work Hard Pittsburgh Cooperative
A Member-Owned Business Incubator
Work Hard Pittsburgh provides entrepreneurs with a resource-rich environment where they can start, scale, and grow their businesses, including:
Tools & Talent
Resources
Access to Capital
Join the world’s first cooperatively organized business incubator. Help build a community of entrepreneurs whose mission is to launch new products in a fair and equitable business environment.
The Work Hard Pittsburgh community provides a structure where entrepreneurs can focus on sales and organic growth, rather than the pursuit of capital.
Entrepreneurs earn units of Work Hard Pittsburgh, LLC as they participate in our community. This empowers our members to collaborate more freely, share leads more frequently, and mitigate their own risk. Over time, members earn units in the cooperative that upon certain liquidity events have the potential to pay dividends or seed new investment vehicles that members can access.
Cooperative Products
Our community takes products to market to generate revenue for operations and to seed new investment vehicles. Members have the opportunity to be founders on these products as they continue to work on their own projects.
Membership Units
Units of Work Hard PGH, LLC the cooperative’s organizing entity, are earned according to our operating agreement. Each year, participants have the opportunity to earn 1 unit of 300 total outstanding units. Members pay an annual membership fee of $540 and must complete 50 hours of community service each year to earn a unit. Service can include member-to-member, member-to-cooperative, or member-to-community capacity building. Upon award of a unit of the cooperative, member privileges come into effect, including the right to sit on committees, vote on certain issues, and access investment funds.
To maintain member rights, annual fees and service hours must be completed in the previous year. Membership units accumulate over time and give members the opportunity to participate in certain liquidity events spelled out in our Operating Agreement. Earned preferred units do not expire and do not require continued participation.
Resources
Deep Talent Networks
Work Hard Pittsburgh is full of human capacity, sourced from Academy Pittsburgh and our freelance community.
Unique Physical Spaces
Members have access to real estate assets that include classrooms, events spaces, and flexible office space.
Media Resources
Leverage a variety of production equipment. Tell the story of your business or nonprofit with our livestream rig and AR/VR lab.