Investors in Businesses

[Fireballer34]

Suggestion: Investors in Businesses 

Suggestions Description: A player can invest in another players business, so they give them a decided upon amount of money for the business and receive a certain percentage of the business. They do not have to be on the staff of the org. 

Pros:

• Business owners with not much cash could get the money they need for their org without ever having debt to pay off.
• Good way to possibly franchise an org
• Both parties can profit from this investment

Cons:

• Loans may become irrelevant

 

[Vlad]

This can happen organically, doesn't need a full feature set in-game in my opinion?

[Fireballer34]

I don’t think so, transfers of money would be hard to keep track of and hard to calculate.

[venom09]

I personally have floated startup for new projects purely in the interest of adding to the landscape of the game and filling Org gaps that became present. I'm sure I'm not alone there.

[CelticStryder]

On 3/20/2024 at 11:50 AM, Vlad said:

This can happen organically, doesn't need a full feature set in-game in my opinion?

As someone who has experimented with the whole franchising scenario I can say that yes it can happen organically but it is a nightmare to try and manage and involves an insane amount of trust with the person you enter business with. As is today you end up having to chase franchisees to determine what payment is owed and actually getting them to pay. It be a great feature added to the business side of the game if you could setup an agreement that company XYZ owns 20% of the business in exchange for $X and then the game transfer 20% of any sales/income automatically similar to being on staff.

In terms of trust you are also leaving yourself very open to your brand falling into the wrong hands. For example I enter an agreement with manager XYZ to open a franchise clothing shop using my business name and my product designs in exchange for X% of all sales. That franchisee then goes and sells that franchise shop next week and the new person chooses not to honor your handshake agreement and continues on selling your product using your name with no recourse available.

I just found without a feature set in-game to manage payment automatically and no in-game re-course available like a partnership or a block on franchisees selling a franchise without the approval or all partners made it not worth the effort.

[CelticStryder]

On 3/21/2024 at 1:41 PM, venom09 said:

I personally have floated startup for new projects purely in the interest of adding to the landscape of the game and filling Org gaps that became present. I'm sure I'm not alone there.

I have done this a number of times and also offered up product designs and logos for free to help newer managers. I consider those more of a gift and a way I can help build the community and return the favor for all of the old guard that did the same for me when I was starting out and trying to keep up with those that had millions of dollars and years of experience as an advantage over me.