The User-Owned Internet Browser | Matt Martensen (TAO Talks: Episode 003)

When a Yale-Rutgers-Wall Street-Silicon Valley-Google for Startups entreprenuer & financial analyst goes rogue in the best way possible :-)

Someone asked me on TikTok if the TAO team could build a user-owned browser.

I said nope — because someone is already doing it.

Then I asked if they’d want to hear an interview with him.

They said yes.

Your wish is my command:

So, I secured a warm intro to Matt Martensen, the founder of User Cooperative, and we had an AMAZING conversation. 😍

Before we jump in, let me introduce Matt properly.

Matt Martensen has a Yale MBA, a finance degree from Rutgers, and spent over 15 years working across Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and international markets.

He’s held leadership roles in everything from high-growth startups to legacy institutions, served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Google for Startups in London, and advised companies like Shopkick (which eventually exited to Trax).

Translation: Matt knows exactly how the current system works — and he’s choosing to build something totally different. 😎✨

Here’s the deal:

User Cooperative is creating a browser (Surge) that looks and feels like Chrome (because most people like Chrome), but instead of your clicks and data enriching a bunch of VCs and ad networks, you get the rewards.

The structure is wild in the best way:

• It’s a true tech cooperative, meaning the users own it.

• Revenue from search engine royalties and unobtrusive ads gets kicked back to members based on actual usage (clicks, not some sketchy points system).

• Eventually, full governance gets handed off to the community once they hit 1.5 million users and $15 million in revenue.

Basically, it’s like if REI and Chrome had a baby... and it decided tech is coolest when it belongs to the People.

We’re not trying to reinvent the browser—we’re defiantly ordinary. We want to clone Chrome and give the economics back to the users.

Why a browser?

It’s simple, familiar, and low-friction, and Matt’s goal is to get people off the Big Tech hamster wheel without having to completely rewire their habits.

And his ethos is very much aligned with TAO when he says:

Why does it cost $15 million?

Good question.

Unlike TAO, where we’ve been able to bootstrap a lightweight app and grow it community-first, building a browser is a whole different beast.

You’re talking about cloning Chromium (the open-source code behind Chrome), building in an ad infrastructure, locking down privacy features, securing search engine royalty deals, and making sure the user experience runs flawlessly across every device and OS.

That level of technical and legal complexity just isn’t something you can hack together with a scrappy MVP — it needs serious firepower from day one if it’s going to compete.

(And honestly, $15M is a bargain compared to what Big Tech throws at this stuff.)

But like with TAO Social or any of these other human-first tech platforms, it’s going to take numbers to pull off. We can’t rely on traditional investors.

Which means we need millions of everyday people united and pulling in the same direction. In Matt’s case, a million people putting down $15 bucks.

What’s the catch?

There isn’t one, except it’s a longer game. User Cooperative is building the community first, before they raise the funds to build the full product. (And yes, apparently one random person already called it “vaporware,” because people on the internet are impatient.)

But real ones get it.

This is exactly how you break the cycle: You don’t wait until after the platform is built and sold to billionaires. You own it from day one.

If you want to get involved:

• You can sign up for free at usercooperative.com

• Sign up for free or chip in a few bucks if you want to help speed it along

• Or just keep an eye on it and spread the word

The more of us who opt out of business-as-usual tech, the faster the new world gets built.

Tech power and profits to the people.

Let’s go. 🚀