Hi everyone,
probably most of you have forgotten about me (although I certainly hope that some can remember at least the name) since I haven't been active in the forum for quite some time due to the fact that I had finally managed it to start my own company at the age of 17 (which isn't quite easy in a complicated bureaucratic country like mine) a few months ago.
After that I somehow got overwhelmed with work of all kinds, though I also have to admit that I have never learned so much in such a short period of time...
So I found out that my business model worked for me, even though I had to modify it quite a bit on the way to what it is now. Anyway, In the end I had made quite a decent amount of money, especially when considering that I have to be at school almost all day long.
At some point I asked myself: Hey, why should this system only work for you? Let someone else give it a try and if it works out you could even built a franchising system out of it. So I gave the business model along with personal instructions and training to three different people. One was an expert in this field, the second one had some basic knowledge and the third one had no knowledge at all. The first guy did really, really excellent - even better than me. The second guy did quite good, a tiny little bit worse than me, though, the third guy didn't do too well but he still didn't lose any money in the end. The overall duration of these tests was about 6 months, although they are still working on these 'test' projects now.
The overall conclusion for me was that the tests had obviously been successful and consequently I could become more serious in my efforts to build up a franchising system.
Therefore I have intended to set up an LTD in Britain (going to operate in Germany, though) and to form a board. This is the point where I need your advice.
1.) Which positions/How many positions should the board have?
So far the positions of the CEO, CFO and CTO have been filled since I consider them as really important for my business. I am also thinking of bringing in a CMO and a CBO. However, is it generally better to have a lot of members of the board or is it generally better to have less at the beginning and then extend the board when the company grows? What are your experiences?
2.) Dividing the shares wisely
This is what I have been struggling with the most. So each of the directors will be a shareholder - but how should the shares be divided? As you can probably guess it is imporant for me to keep at least 51% of the shares to avoid a potential throw-out by the other shareholders/members of the board. How can I, however, justify that I hold 51% of the shares and the other 4 members of the board only 12.25% each? I mean if the company grows really big 12.25% is still a whole lot but in relation to 51% it still seems like nothing. The biggest issue I see in this context are motivational problems since the members of the board won't be able to make money until the company makes profits and then their share of the profits will only be that small amount.
Any ideas on this one? Or what's your opinion on the 12.25% share?
Thanks for your help!
Florian
probably most of you have forgotten about me (although I certainly hope that some can remember at least the name) since I haven't been active in the forum for quite some time due to the fact that I had finally managed it to start my own company at the age of 17 (which isn't quite easy in a complicated bureaucratic country like mine) a few months ago.
After that I somehow got overwhelmed with work of all kinds, though I also have to admit that I have never learned so much in such a short period of time...
So I found out that my business model worked for me, even though I had to modify it quite a bit on the way to what it is now. Anyway, In the end I had made quite a decent amount of money, especially when considering that I have to be at school almost all day long.
At some point I asked myself: Hey, why should this system only work for you? Let someone else give it a try and if it works out you could even built a franchising system out of it. So I gave the business model along with personal instructions and training to three different people. One was an expert in this field, the second one had some basic knowledge and the third one had no knowledge at all. The first guy did really, really excellent - even better than me. The second guy did quite good, a tiny little bit worse than me, though, the third guy didn't do too well but he still didn't lose any money in the end. The overall duration of these tests was about 6 months, although they are still working on these 'test' projects now.
The overall conclusion for me was that the tests had obviously been successful and consequently I could become more serious in my efforts to build up a franchising system.
Therefore I have intended to set up an LTD in Britain (going to operate in Germany, though) and to form a board. This is the point where I need your advice.
1.) Which positions/How many positions should the board have?
So far the positions of the CEO, CFO and CTO have been filled since I consider them as really important for my business. I am also thinking of bringing in a CMO and a CBO. However, is it generally better to have a lot of members of the board or is it generally better to have less at the beginning and then extend the board when the company grows? What are your experiences?
2.) Dividing the shares wisely
This is what I have been struggling with the most. So each of the directors will be a shareholder - but how should the shares be divided? As you can probably guess it is imporant for me to keep at least 51% of the shares to avoid a potential throw-out by the other shareholders/members of the board. How can I, however, justify that I hold 51% of the shares and the other 4 members of the board only 12.25% each? I mean if the company grows really big 12.25% is still a whole lot but in relation to 51% it still seems like nothing. The biggest issue I see in this context are motivational problems since the members of the board won't be able to make money until the company makes profits and then their share of the profits will only be that small amount.
Any ideas on this one? Or what's your opinion on the 12.25% share?
Thanks for your help!
Florian
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