At this moment I’m finalizing the documents to sign-up a Co-funder for Mbassador. Hell yeah!!
Co-Funder? I wrote a Medium article with my vision about ‘How to fund a bootstrapped startup’ before. I call the investor a Co-funder. To address the mentality of the investor. It should be one with a founders mentality. Not an investor chasing quick return on investment.
So, I’m going to Fundstrap Mbassador. Fundstrapping means following the bootstrapping path, using external funds to build the MVP. And from there aiming for no extra funding until sustainability. And that’s exactly what I’m pursuing here.
Back to my Co-Funder: Jorrit Drenth. I know Jorrit for years know. We have a good connection, both personal as professional. Although his type of businesses are completely different from mine, main thing is our shared values. A year ago I already said to him he would be the type of guy I could start a company with.
So we have shared values, a good personal connection, and both a great feeling about Mbassador’s purpose. But we never worked together before. And the best way to really get to know each other is to work together. That’s why I created a convertible construction.
We start our journey with a convertible loan. This means the loan will convert over time in Mbassador shares. Different from a Convertible Note our convertible loan is linked to a specific moment in time, not an investment round. In one year the loan will be converted into shares. And we both have the opportunity to cancel this right to conversion in the next year.
This construction gives me focus on building Mbassador, getting to know my Co-funder while working together and I will have the funds to hire experts. At the same time I don’t have to agree all ‘shareholder terms’ upfront. And I don’t have to worry much about money for the next 18 months.
I think I created a great construction for Me, Jorrit and Mbassador. Looking forward to build Mbassador and to work with my new Co-Funder.
