We know entrepreneurs are having trouble securing funding all over the world, but we’re not sure if selling you soul is the right answer.
However, that’s exactly what British entrepreneur James Layfield has decided to do, according to an article in the Financial Times.
Okay, so he’s not selling his soul, but we’re not sure it’s far off. For £1 million, an investor can buy 10% of Layfield, or more specifically, his lifetime earnings.
Layfield, who has three successful companies up and running, including a business incubator Never Ever Limited and a youth marketing agency called The Lounge Group, reckons it’s a pretty good investment.
“In an environment where no bank is willing to lend, and investors are sitting on their money, I think I have a powerful proposition,” Layfield said. “I’m young, I’ve now got three companies, that are on the right track, and I have ideas for more.”
His grand plan is to increase his net worth to £100m by 2019, when he will turn 45. From an investor’s point of view, that’s a 10-fold increase in less than nine years – not bad if Layfield can pull it off.
This guy has certainly come up with a novel way to get a bit of publicity, which is not surprising given that his hero is Sir Richard Branson, the king of the stunt. (The FT article claims he worked for Branson’s Virgin Group and “became the youngest managing director of one of its subsidiaries” at the age of 29.)
But has he hit on a model that struggling entrepreneurs could actually use to fund the establishment or expansion of their empires?
I am not so sure. While the theory probably isn’t that different to an investment in a fledgling technology company at one level, in practice things might be a bit difficult.
How would you assess the performance of your investment? Their bank balance perhaps, or the performance of their individual companies?
Would you want to know what your “investment” was up to on the weekend? Would you want to see your “investment’s” medical records? Or family history? Or have them psychoanalysed?
How hands on could you be? Could you influence your “investment’s” career path, or would you need to just go with the flow?
And what if you need to cash out? Can you flog your “investment” on the open market?
No doubt there will be a host of contractual conditions and terms to this, and there is a something of a safety valve here, in that Layfield can buy the stake in himself back for an agreed multiple.
We’re not sure his bold plan is actually going to work, but regardless it should force every entrepreneur to sit down and ask themselves a big question – if this guy is worth $18 million, what am I worth?
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
