Posts about Insights

If you run a growing, dynamic company you may be considering an initial public offering (more commonly known as an “IPO” or a “listing”) for your company i.e. floating your company on the stock market.

This is the first of a three part series about IPOs. The first summarises the advantages and disadvantages of doing an IPO. The second outlines which of the several UK markets you could consider. The third is perhaps the most important as it gives some guidance about what you should be aware of before you start.

“Lawyers will tell you it’s about incentivisation, accountants will tell you it’s about making sure people stay as long as possible, but for me it’s actually about giving back to the team who are giving us precious years of their lives.”

If you’ve set up an employee share plan or are considering doing so, you’ve probably read plenty about the topic, including several contributing articles in Forbes. One of those in particular, argues categorically against offering equity to employees. However, we think its author only tells half the truth about employee equity.

Nokia is one of the many organisations who believe in the potential of employee share plans. We caught up with Lisa West, Program Manager Long Term Incentives at Nokia, to talk advantages and pitfalls of ESPPs, how she sees the future of employee ownership, and 'Share in Success' - the employee share plan that won Nokia an ESOP Centre award for 'Best All-Employee International Share Plan' in 2017.

Companies are becoming increasingly dependent on the quality and motivation of their employees. Employee share plans are an excellent tool to ensure motivation.

One of my good friends, a lawyer, has a saying “If you think getting good advice is expensive, you have never paid the price for bad advice“. That especially applies to keeping a clean and updated cap table.

As a millennial and digital native who has entered the world of registrars and equity management in unlisted UK companies, I have often been surprised by the lack of digitisation. Share certificates are on the top of my list.

This Founder Series post features Pyynikin, award-winning brewery, funding innovator and long-time Capdesk user. Based in the city of Tampere, Pyynikin is on a mission to bring Finnish craft beer to the World. To date, they have attracted more than 2000 investors to become part of the company. I spoke to co-founder Rauno Pere about their journey. Read and be inspired for alternative ways to finance your business.

Fintech (financial technology) is booming. In the startup community, everybody is talking about the new cool kid in town stealing business from the establishment. You can store money on a mobile-app-bank, invest or lend directly into promising business all over the world. Why not get your own cryptocurrency and buy drinks at your local hipster coffee place? You can even order pre paid cards for your children tracking their spending and allowance. Banks are going down and everything is changing! At least that is what I thought until a recent experience allowed me to have a sneak peak behind the curtain. Here is the story: Last year I invested in a private company through an investment platform and got lucky. 6 months after my investment, the company was acquired by an established player and I got my first startup exit. Hurray! I was super excited to follow the exit-process and what would happen after the company was sold! My excitement, however, was quickly put on hold in utter surprise of the process that followed.

For most startups, fundraising is a complicated and unpleasant task. The entrepreneur has to meet with investors, strangers, who are asking questions, criticizing and saying no all the way until a match is made with the right investor.