Synthasite announced this morning, that it will be giving away 1,000,000 free shares in Synthasite (Pty) Ltd to it’s community. As far as we are aware (and correct me if I’m wrong), we’re the first Web 2.0 company that has ever offered to give away free shares to it’s web community in exchange for helping to build the business. I’ve often thought that early adopters for startups should share in the successes of the companies that they support. I know how much I would have liked to be given free shares early on in Yahoo, Google, YouTube, Digg and other such companies, when they were still fledgling. Well, luckily, I can now deliver to our users, what I’ve always wanted to receive. In the true spirit of Web 2.0, we want to empower our community and make them feel like stakeholders in the business, with all the upside.
Synthasite aims to build a very strong and devoted community over the next few months and years, and to that end, we will be releasing free shares for certain development projects that the community can assist us with, in today’s example, Template Design, but in future, it will include stuff like language translations, component development, activity in the forums, etc.
Please help spread the word to designers out there – this is a milestone for us, and with the upcoming Beta, you can play a part in building out our template library, and see your templates used by thousands of people (and get free links back to your site, in addition to the free shares!).
Update:Â Synthasite’s share offer just got featured on TechCrunch
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Comments On This Post
September 4, 2007 at 12:45 pm
This is a great win-win, isn’t it? Those who get shares have a direct incentive to spread the word, and make the company a success, and are probably the best suited to do so, anyway.
I seem to recall, off the top of my head, that webmail tried the same tactic.But I don’t think the concept was ever properly marketed, managed or explained.
This will be an interesting move to watch …
September 4, 2007 at 1:52 pm
I believe Cambrian House beat you in being the first to offer free shares to it’s community members. Check it out here, Community Owned and Proud of it, but it wasn’t much. I got a ridiculous 1 share for being a member of Cambrian House. I think you did it in a much better way.
Great stuff.
September 4, 2007 at 1:53 pm
[...] Innovation, Spider Web skip to comments Are you a web designer? You could get 1,000 shares in Vinny Lingham’s new startup, Synthasite, by helping prepare for their upcoming beta launch. The first task: [...]
September 4, 2007 at 10:45 am
This is a great win-win, isn’t it? Those who get shares have a direct incentive to spread the word, and make the company a success, and are probably the best suited to do so, anyway.
I seem to recall, off the top of my head, that webmail tried the same tactic.But I don’t think the concept was ever properly marketed, managed or explained.
This will be an interesting move to watch …
September 4, 2007 at 11:52 am
I believe Cambrian House beat you in being the first to offer free shares to it’s community members. Check it out here, Community Owned and Proud of it, but it wasn’t much. I got a ridiculous 1 share for being a member of Cambrian House. I think you did it in a much better way.
Great stuff.
September 5, 2007 at 12:04 pm
It may not be that Vinny was first to come up with the Share Idea, but he’s certainly the first in the 2.0 space to do so. In the process he’s scooped BlogKits.com, one of our businesses, which is planning exactly the same move for blogger members! Well done Vinny!
How’s about flinging some shares my way
September 5, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Cambrian house is in the “2.0″ space, but I do think that Vinny’s done it better, more tangible way than Cambrian house.
September 5, 2007 at 10:04 am
It may not be that Vinny was first to come up with the Share Idea, but he’s certainly the first in the 2.0 space to do so. In the process he’s scooped BlogKits.com, one of our businesses, which is planning exactly the same move for blogger members! Well done Vinny!
How’s about flinging some shares my way
September 5, 2007 at 11:05 am
Cambrian house is in the “2.0″ space, but I do think that Vinny’s done it better, more tangible way than Cambrian house.
September 5, 2007 at 11:12 pm
I have been suggesting the shares idea for a while now for various startup ideas, and the one in the background I want to create.
I think it is brilliant as long as you can create a structure that complies with regulators.
Vinny, I think you are being a little too strict on the licensing.
It would be much better to leverage open source which mainly would come with a creative commons or GPL license.
September 5, 2007 at 9:12 pm
I have been suggesting the shares idea for a while now for various startup ideas, and the one in the background I want to create.
I think it is brilliant as long as you can create a structure that complies with regulators.
Vinny, I think you are being a little too strict on the licensing.
It would be much better to leverage open source which mainly would come with a creative commons or GPL license.
September 6, 2007 at 6:23 pm
I believe it’s a great idea to get as many talented developers / designers / translators / marketers to each play a part in the development of Synthasite.
September 6, 2007 at 9:45 pm
This makes a lot more sense to me now VL – hadn’t looked at the original post when I read the Tech Crunch post. I think it’s a great idea.
September 6, 2007 at 4:23 pm
I believe it’s a great idea to get as many talented developers / designers / translators / marketers to each play a part in the development of Synthasite.
September 6, 2007 at 7:45 pm
This makes a lot more sense to me now VL – hadn’t looked at the original post when I read the Tech Crunch post. I think it’s a great idea.
September 7, 2007 at 7:14 pm
Vinny, how does giving away shares in a (Pty) Ltd bypass the fact that there is a limit on the number of shareholders one can have in a (Pty) Ltd, per the companies act?
September 7, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Found it. There is a limit of 50 shareholders for a (Pty) Ltd. You you plan on issuing 1000 shares to 1000 more shareholders which would make Synthasite have 1000 + n where n is the current number of shareholders.
September 7, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Vinny, how does giving away shares in a (Pty) Ltd bypass the fact that there is a limit on the number of shareholders one can have in a (Pty) Ltd, per the companies act?
September 7, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Found it. There is a limit of 50 shareholders for a (Pty) Ltd. You you plan on issuing 1000 shares to 1000 more shareholders which would make Synthasite have 1000 + n where n is the current number of shareholders.
September 8, 2007 at 5:14 am
Jacques – read the fineprint – the shares will only be transferred if we go public, or else the company is sold and the proceeds paid out. We’re investigating using a trust as well, which means that we can have 1 shareholder, in the trust, and multiple beneficiaries.
September 8, 2007 at 3:14 am
Jacques – read the fineprint – the shares will only be transferred if we go public, or else the company is sold and the proceeds paid out. We’re investigating using a trust as well, which means that we can have 1 shareholder, in the trust, and multiple beneficiaries.
September 10, 2007 at 9:30 am
Between this post and the one on Tech Crunch, who knew there were so many online lawyer wanna-be’s?
September 10, 2007 at 7:30 am
Between this post and the one on Tech Crunch, who knew there were so many online lawyer wanna-be’s?
July 26, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Cambrian house is in the "2.0" space, but I do think that Vinny's done it better, more tangible way than Cambrian house.
August 16, 2009 at 11:21 pm
thank you for sharing
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