Equity is a startup’s most valuable resource. It can enhance performance, align incentives, and affect the long-term success of your company.
We all know that equity inspires shareholders to contribute to your success. There’s a reason why many investors require an employee stock option pool — they know that when employees feel like they directly contribute, they perform better.
Early adopters, super users, creators, vendors, and others who believe in your product can help your business grow faster than anyone else can. However, over-dependence on professional investors, lawyers, fund managers — as well as countless intermediaries — have hindered founders from rewarding their community’s contributions with equity.
We make it simple to create equity allocations for the people who believe in you enough to invest time or money. This post will explore strategies for founders to leverage their community equity.
Let your customers and users guide your product-market fit 🧩
Your users, who log numerous hours on your platform and provide invaluable feedback, traditionally don’t reap the benefits that shareholders do. They don’t access the financial upsides of the success that they helped you build. But why shouldn’t they?
Many startups are opting to amass hundreds of community shareholders to help them naturally sell, recruit, and advocate their companies. When your community has skin in the game, they become your best marketers and PR agencies. Incentivize them to contribute to your long term success by giving them a piece of the pie.
Use your community equity as a way to attract attention from investors 👀
It’s hard to be noticed in today’s investment ecosystem. There are countless funds, accelerators, tools, incubators, and resources at every founder’s disposal, which makes the competition that much stiffer. Not to mention inflation and recent economic turmoil.
If you were an investor, would you rather buy shares from a startup no one has ever heard of, or one that has raised over $1 million from thousands of people who have already bought equity?
Let your community invest in you, now 💱
Most startups fail because they run out of money, but that doesn’t have to be the case. By opening up the chance for your community to buy shares in your company, you get their loyalty and their upfront cash. This can be a lifesaver for early-stage startups who need funds quickly before they start generating enough revenue.
We’ve essentially built a store to sell your equity as an upsell to your product, which is why people have started to call us the “Shopify for Equity.” We make it simple for startups to onboard and create their own branded investment portal, put it on their website, and start collecting funds instantly. Founders allocate equity and set their legal docs/offering up with a fraction of the costs that others charge.
So let’s start turning customers into investors with just a click of a button at checkout 🔥 According to our customers, this is the “best loyalty program ever.”
Learn more at www.fairmint.com.
