Li Jin and Nathan Baschez interview Dan Teran, founder and former CEO of Managed by Q. Managed by Q is an office management platform founded in 2014 that provides all sorts of services to corporations, including IT support, supply inventory management, cleaning and equipment repair. They were purchased by WeWork for $220 million in April 2019.

What does an office management platform have to do with the passion economy, you may ask? It’s a great question, and the answer gets at one of the subtle but important aspects of the passion economy that most people overlook. The passion economy isn’t just about creators making content on the internet — it’s about a broader shift to de-commodified labor. And that’s exactly what Dan did with Managed by Q.

Dan’s original inspiration for Managed by Q was, in part, the “Good Jobs” framework, which argues that any job — including those typically thought of as low-paying, bad jobs — can be designed for individual autonomy and creativity. The strategy was popularized by Zeynep Ton and the thesis is simple: treat and pay your employees well, and it will end up costing less than if you paid them less. This leads to higher profits, and all stakeholders (managers, employees, investors, customers) will be better off because of it.

In this interview, we are going to talk to Dan about: 

• What the Good Jobs strategy is and if it’s viable for companies today
• How Dan used the Good Jobs strategy at Managed by Q and what he learned from it
• Dan’s take on worker Prop 22 and AB-5, following up from his recent piece on the topic
• How he thinks how worker classification will change in the future
• And more!

Related links:
everything.substack.com
meansofcreation.substack.com

Show theme music: Compassion by Stefan Kartenberg