Basically, Team Perpetually will pay $0 for rent — in Manhattan — for about a year.”
– Darrell Silver
Darrell Silver of Perpetually writes:
“New Work City started 18 months ago as a shared office for entrepreneurs, and has grown alongside New York’s tech scene ever since. Today they’re announcing an upgrade and new home in Tribeca. Personally, I’m ecstatic because I’ve been given the opportunity to personally contribute and help Perpetually at the same time.”
“From Perpetually’s perspective, the deal is a great way to help the community that’s helped us grow, while also saving money. In exchange for a large percentage of the cash necessary to open the new space, I’ll own a few memberships until NWC has enough paying members to buy them back.”
Let’s say you’re a business that rents desk space, and you want some investment money to grow to a bigger better space. You sell the rights to, and the profits from, some desk space. Find someone who wants to buy/invest, and you raise money. The “dividend”, because we’re thinking about this like it’s your own company’s stock market, is free desk space, or the rent charged on the desk space.
Later, you can buy back the desk space at the going market rate. Or maybe someone else will want to buy the block of desks for a higher price, and your investor can make a profit!
The basics:
1. Tony wants money to grow his company, New Work City.
2. Darrell has money to invest.
3. Tony and Darrell want to be creative.
4. Tony’s company rents desk space in an office.
5. Darrell buys some desk spaces from Tony’s company.
6. When Tony’s company gets more money, Tony’s company will buy back the desk spaces from Darrell.
Intermediate-level:
5. Darrell buys some desk spaces from Tony’s company.
5a. While Darrell owns the desk spaces, he can rent them out at any price he likes, or, since now he owns the desk spaces, his company can use them for free.
Advanced:
6. When Tony’s company gets more money, Tony’s company will buy back the desk spaces from Darrell.
6a. Darrell and Tony can agree that if Darrell finds a higher bidder, Darrell can sell the desk spaces to them instead.
(6a) means that investing in the desk spaces becomes like investing in stock, but even better, it’s like investing in anything that you can resell… baseball cards, stamps, real estate… We call this ‘currency’ or ‘local currency‘. It’s legal in the United States for companies to make their own currency, whether it’s frequent flyer miles, VIP cards, Second Life Linden dollars, Ithaca Hours, Ven virtual currency, or many others.
Tip #91: Let people literally invest in your personal reputation.