The optimistic yet cautionary tale of Ben & Jerry's
A few days ago, Ben & Jerry's co-founder Ben Cohen was arrested at a US Senate hearing for protesting the Gaza war. This event comes just weeks after the public spillover of Cohen and Jerry Greenfield's ongoing battle with Unilever, which acquired their ice cream brand back at the turn of the century.
What was once celebrated as a miraculous example of corporate stewardship—a parent company allowing an activist brand to remain true to its values—appears to be reverting to the depressingly common pattern of corporate homogenization. The acquisition agreement was remarkably well-crafted to protect Ben & Jerry's ability to continue as a progressive voice while generating profits. For decades, other corporations merely paid lip service to being "purpose-driven," but the little-ice-cream-maker-that-could just kept churning out its Chunky Monkey values.
The past several years, however, have exposed growing cracks in that relationship, and some kind of break-up is probably on the horizon. What remains inspiring is Cohen's unwavering commitment to speaking up for what he believes is right. Thanks to the founders' integrity, the Ben & Jerry's brand should maintain its authentic values at least during Cohen and Greenfield's lifetimes. Unilever, on the other hand… 😒
How can we develop trust in Sunslider?
This cautionary tale highlights precisely why one of my biggest priorities at Sunslider – beyond our core product development – is establishing a foundation of trust that can withstand the test of time and potential ownership changes.
The startup playbook of the past decade emphasized building trust through a founder's personal brand and voice. But in 2025, this approach is insufficient, to say the least. People – rightly! – don’t trust companies that are quite clearly subject to the whims of a few wealthy individuals, no matter how well-intentioned they claim to be.
We have long-term aspirations for larger actions that will transform Sunslider and hopefully build more trust: open-sourcing significant portions of our code, evolving into an employee-run co-op, enabling users to direct our charitable giving. For now, though, we recognize that trust has to be built up using small steps. And we wanted to start taking those steps from day one, namely in our legal incorporation documents.
Embedding values in our legal DNA
As of May 5, 2025, Sunslider is incorporated in France as an SAS (similar to an LLC in the US). The incorporation process requires submitting company statutes to the national business registry (greffe). Crucially, these statutes are publicly available for anyone to review online.
Unlike certain other important documents, such as our shareholder agreement, these statutes are completely public. That seemed like an opportunity to take a step beyond our content guidelines and “No Nazis” policy and formally codify some of our foundational business principles.
Article 38 of the Sunslider statutes now reads:
Translation:
Article 38 - Social and Environmental Commitment
The Company commits to respecting the principles of responsible capitalism and will engage in ethical business practices. This notably includes its commitment to:
Scrupulously respect the rights of all SUNSLIDER users, particularly in terms of privacy and protection of their personal data;
Adopt and maintain a policy of transparency with regards to informing users about how their data is used;
Contribute to protecting the environment through a variety of initiatives;
Promote equitable business and employment practices;
Create equitable and fulfilling work conditions for all of the Company's collaborators.
The means of applying these principles shall be defined in the shareholder agreement as well as the Company's internal policies.
Words as the foundation for action
Right now, these are still just words. But as history repeatedly demonstrates, words can truly matter when they provide the foundation for future actions and accountability. The goal of enshrining these principles in our official documents was to create a binding commitment that anyone joining Sunslider – whether as an employee, an investor, or even just a user – can see right up front.
But again, we know this small step alone is just that for now. In the coming months, we'll share how we're putting principles into practice through our data policies, product decisions, and employment practices. The next installment in this series will put some key clauses in our shareholder agreement into public as well, because we can’t reform capitalism without going to the heart of how profits are distributed.
Building a company that fundamentally differs from the prevailing system requires persistent, intentional effort at every stage of growth. With these statutes, we've laid one guiding line in what we hope will become a new blueprint for building trustworthy companies in 2025 and beyond.
So once again, please hold our feet to the fire and keep us accountable as we continue the journey. Comments/suggestions are always welcome at hello [at] sunslider.social.