The right share class can hand someone a real stake in the future while you keep the value already on the table. Get a straight answer on whether growth shares or alphabet shares fit your plan.
A founder comes to us with a familiar dilemma. They've got a brilliant operations manager, the person who actually keeps the business running, and they want to lock them in with a real ownership stake. The instinct is to hand over, say, 10% of the shares. Then the penny drops: the company is already worth £600,000. Handing over 10% of the ordinary shares means giving away £60,000 of value the founder spent years building, before the manager has added a single pound of new growth.
That's the crux of it. You want to share the upside from here, not gift away the value that's already in the bank. And depending on whether your goal is rewarding a key employee, splitting income within the family, or tidying up before an exit, the right tool changes.
This article compares the two structures owner-managers most often weigh up: alphabet shares and growth shares. We won't re-explain each one from scratch, the pillar guide to alphabet shares covers the mechanics and has a section on growth shares too. The job here is to help you choose.