‘We are not here for the money’: Founders’ manifestos

Abstract

In April 2004, prior to Google's flotation in the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) Stock Market, the company filed its S-1 Registration Statement. In addition to financial details, Google's founders published a personal letter to the company's potential investors in which they discussed procedural issues as well as philosophical ones. Since then, the founders of three other Internet companies -Groupon, Zynga and Facebook -have published similar manifestos in their S-1 statements. This first attempt to explore these manifestos uncovers how they function as a political and persuasive discourse. Using rhetorical analysis, this study identifies shared rhetorical strategies aimed at constructing a new business discourse. The founders' efforts are important not only because they are counterintuitive to traditional business practices, but also because they signal the realization of an alternate business discourse that is informed by and based upon a new managerial style and Web 2.0 cultural values.

The good despot: Technology firms’ interventions in the public sphere

“…These findings are partially consistent with the literature showing that university and public sector scientists have been motivated to engage and share their knowledge with the larger public in order to secure public funding and—among younger scientists—to feel personally satisfied (Martín-Sempere et al, 2008). Furthermore, at the organizational and institutional levels, these findings are consistent with research, suggesting that technology corporations, despite the allure of the sublime technology they develop (Sims, 2017) and CSR strategies (Dror, 2015; Shamir, 2008), do not reduce social and educational inequality (Davidson, 2015) and act primarily as self-serving agents (Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1992). The self-serving public relations aspects of these activities are acknowledged by both program administrators and volunteers as was found with marketing and research staff of British science-based companies (Gregory et al, 2008).…”

“…Some have examined how the products and services firms develop influence various social domains, including the labor market (Gershon, 2017; Marwick, 2013) and politics (Kreiss and McGregor, 2018). Others have investigated how the discourses these firms produce structure their public role (Dror, 2015; Hoffmann et al, 2016). The lobbying efforts this industry employs to shape policy-making in ways that will promote its commercial goals have also garnered some attention (Popiel, 2018).…”

The Solutionist Ethic and the Spirit of Digital Capitalism

“…The moral background "provides the theories and tools that people and organizations employ to ascertain goodness in the realm of morality" (Abend, 2014, p. 30). By drawing on the theories and tools embodied in the current manifestation of the capitalist spirit, capitalists can 'juice up' the persuasiveness of their legitimacy-seeking activities and thereby ensure favorable regulatory and reputational outcomes (Bach and Blake, 2016;Dror, 2015). (Sombart, 1902, p. XXI) and "psychological sanctions" (Weber, 2007, p. 145) underlying capitalist action.…”

The cybercultural moment and the new media field

“…One of the most notable developments in this respect is the incorporation of manifestos in the documents new media companies send to potential investors in advance of an Initial Public Offering (Dror, 2015).…”