One team. All shareholders.

Entrepreneurship is an adventurous journey. It’s less predictable and more demanding than joining established corporations. It’s riskier.

This additional layer of risk is partly justified by the upside potential generated from walking unbeaten paths: the high-risk / high-reward equation.

For employees to be fully part of the entrepreneurial ride, to get a real taste for what risk, performance, and reward mean, it is key that they too be offered the opportunity to be shareholders.

I believe in a workplace where all employees are aligned with the reality of this risk-reward equation, and where they are empowered to benefit from the upside potential they help create.

In Europe, the culture of employee ownership is less developed than in the US, and society collectively has a poorer understanding of the financial concepts behind it. This has created a vicious circle whereby, because of the lack of understanding, stock is not proposed by companies to employees who don’t seem to value it, nor is it discussed between employees & managers.

Over the past decade at BlaBlaCar, I noticed that 9 out of 10 of the employees we recruited from top European schools (Cambridge, Ecole Polytechnique, HEC, etc…) did not ask for equity upon joining, while about three quarters of them didn’t really know what it was nor how it worked. This is even more true of profiles that have not been exposed at all to finance in their education, such as engineers. And in most companies, if you don’t ask for it, you don’t get it!

There was a striking difference between my experience in Europe (France) and the Silicon Valley where I worked for 7 years. In 2000, when I got my first job in the Valley, every engineer talked about equity and it was part of any employee’s ask. This probably came from a more risk-loving US culture, but also from the fact that we were already surrounded by (financially) successful early employees from the likes of Cisco, Intel and many of the computing or semiconductor companies that made the pre .com the success of the Valley. But in Europe, the lack of examples of employees cashing out from successful tech companies, combined with a more taboo relationship to risk and money, has put a brake on a more transparent and aligned corporate leadership culture.

Meanwhile at BlaBlaCar, I’ve seen dramatically different attitudes to equity. Here are three eloquent examples:

• Not understanding it: The most striking example and cultural shock for me was when we proposed equity to a new employee who declined and asked if they could have “tickets restaurant” (lunch vouchers) instead. They favoured immediate and certain small benefits, v.s. incomparably higher value but uncertain and less well understood potential.
• Not asking for it: I also remember a key employee who helped run the growth of the company but never asked for equity. We always increased this person’s equity pool because it felt just in light of the impact they were having on the business. This money, once cashed out, eventually allowed the employee to jump into their own entrepreneurial story. It made a real difference. But they were pretty close from missing out on it.
• Going for it: On the other side of the spectrum is the example of an employee being offered 2 different options of remuneration packages and coming back with a 3rd one including less salary and even more options. I loved it of course because it revealed a long-term appetite for what we could build together and the belief that they could impact it.

We want BlaBlaCar to offer an entrepreneurial mindset where employees are empowered to be co-owners. The best way to cut the vicious circle is to educate everyone, and bring them on board with an inclusive equity policy.

Nobody comes with an equal amount of education and knowledge around the issue. Part of being an inclusive company is thus making sure that everyone has equal access to education, resources and opportunities to become informed equity-holders.

Committing to every employee being a shareholder

Historically, we offered the possibility of equity-based remuneration. As we grew, however, so did a natural bias towards equity being part of packages based on seniority or the proactive requests of employees who value equity, and less part of the packages of those who don’t value it for lack of financial knowledge.

This spring we put an end to this and went from about a third of the team being equity holders, to 100% of employees holding equity. We made our equity policy radically inclusive. Everyone in the company who was not yet an equity holder has become so, and all new employees will become so too as they join, getting free shares with a two year vesting period. When everyone has the opportunity to become a shareholder, the team, the founders and the investors are aligned. And as a company thrives to innovate, grow, and create value, this alignment supports great execution.

To give everyone the opportunity to better understand the topic, we organised a dedicated all hands information session — a sort of Equity 101 talk — where we explained the basic principles behind funding a company and employee equity, coupled with a Q&A session. We made resources available to create a more level playing field when it comes to understanding topics such as stock-options, shares, vesting periods, funding rounds, exit possibilities, or company valuation. We’ll continue holding these sessions, and in different languages too. Education and transparency are key.

$15 million employee cash-out across 4 secondaries

Beyond the inclusiveness of an employee equity policy, core to making the value creation real, is to create opportunities for employee shareholders to sell part of their shares and turn that value into cash through secondary deals.

Employee secondaries are the ability for employees to sell their shares although the company is not publicly traded, via a private sale. At BlaBlaCar, over the past decade we have orchestrated 4 such large-scale opportunities, using funding rounds to give the possibility for employee shareholders to sell part of their equity to investors.

Through these secondary opportunities, a total of $15 million was cashed out by 86 employees or former employees (founders excluded). Amounts that made differences in people’s lives whether it was amounts that could finance a unique holiday, a downpayment for a flat, or to kickstart a new business.

717 employees and former employees are equity holders today, and this is only the beginning. We are committed to an equity policy fostering everyone’s entrepreneurial drive.

As a founder, if you want a team member to act like an owner, to have the drive, the sense of initiative, and the dedication typically associated with an owner, well then, make them one!

And to all talents out there with a real entrepreneurial drive, to those who are ready to join that type of adventure hands-on, then go on and ask for equity. Make it part of the conversation. It’s not only legitimate, it’s important and will help you give your very best.

Or you can just join BlaBlaCar :)