☀️ Good morning,
We took most of September off from writing here. Last month was a big one for The New Company, and we're announcing some exciting things in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, I'd like to introduce a new pricing arrangement we rolled out for startups during September — the sweat equity Huddle. Our customers can now pay up to 25% of their Huddle Team fees in sweat equity, and we'll be serving a limited number of startups for sweat-equity only during November. Read on below.
Mike
The Sweat Equity Huddle 📈
Last month we introduced a new way for startups to pay for their Huddle Team — sweat equity. We're giving founders unmatched access to expert builders, all with startup experience, without exhausting their most valuable resource (cash.)
Our startup customers and freelance builders are equally excited about the move. Here are a few reasons we love the sweat equity agreement:
Speed - Founders spend too much time navigating freelancer marketplaces and interviewing expensive agencies. We give founders access to the flexible talent needed to keep moving cost-effectively.
Reduced paperwork - In the earliest stages, it’s common that startups haven’t yet created any mechanism to issue employee equity. The FAST agreement solves this for advisors but isn't expansive enough for contract-based employees. Using the SAFE, we created a new deal that’s easy to understand, to account for, and minimizes negotiation and related paperwork.
Motivation - The amount of talented freelancers available for hire is rising. Product managers and UX Designers from Airbnb, Snapchat, Uber, etc., are cashing out, freelancing from home, and looking for their next venture. We’re making it easier for startups to connect, hire, and afford this talent.
Aligned incentives - Last month we invested ~$60k+ in sweat equity into startups, allocating over half that sum to our freelancers. Sweat equity ensures everyone has skin in the game. Founders know we're in this for the long haul, while freelancers get to become sweat “investors” by doing what they love. And what better way for startups to acquire motivated, aligned FT employees?
Starting in November, we'll be accepting up to 10 startups on sweat-equity only terms — meaning you'll get a chance to work directly with our builders-in-residence for equity only. Be on the lookout for an opportunity to apply in the coming weeks.
Calling all builders 🛠
The New Company is working on several stealth startup projects, and we're looking to add to our builder community. Builders in the Huddle community have expertise in product, design, engineering, growth, and more. We compensate builders in both cash and sweat equity in the startups we support.
Our group is highly curated, and we add to the group based on a) project demand from our startup customers and b) overall culture fit. Right now, we're looking for builders with the following skills:
Growth marketing - We have room to add freelancers with expertise in data-driven growth marketing. Experience with the Amazon ecosystem is a plus.
Visual design - We're looking for UI designers with experience in early-stage brand building. Product and UX focused designers please apply too.
Copywriting - A few of our projects are moving from product launch to marketing, and we need one or two great copywriters to support us, go-to-market teams.
Apply to be a builder on Huddle here.
Startup Spotlight 🔦
Here's one of the startups we invested sweat into during September.
Denture's Today (New marketing site by us)
Denture's Today is reinventing the dental experience for the denture-wearing consumer. You can think of the company like Candid or Tend for dentures. People who wear dentures need them replaced because they get dirty, lost, broken, or stop fitting. Historically this is a cumbersome and expensive process, and unclean, ill-fitting dentures can cause serious medical issues. Denture’s Today is making this process cheaper and reducing replacement time to hours from weeks.