We love numbers at Own, and we’re not superstitious, so here’s a numerical view of the way the Own platform will be used by our global users.
3 target audiences
We are focused on attracting three types of audiences to use our platform:
- Businesses — who want to list shares
- Investors — who want to trade shares
- Developers — who want to build share solutions
7 platform users
We see seven users regularly using our platform:
- Big businesses — could be listed on a traditional stock exchange or a big private business, global or local
- SME businesses — small-medium sized enterprises that employ fewer than 250 people and have an annual turnover not exceeding 50 million euro (EU definition)
- Startup businesses — new businesses, typically in year one
- Business investors — businesses, of any size, that choose to invest in other businesses
- Sophisticated investors — experienced or accredited investors with established investment portfolios
- Novice investors — newcomers to investments and share trading
- Developers — technology professionals or businesses who build apps on blockchain
13 platform user requirements
We’ve identified thirteen common user requirements that explain how users will interact with our platform.
How do these user requirements translate onto the Own platform?
Business — “I want to list existing shares on Own (Digital Register)”
Problem = We know that many businesses, small and large, will have investors or shareholders already. Their list of investors might be managed by a share registrar (for a fee), kept on a spreadsheet or just noted somewhere in a dark filing cabinet.
Solution = We help businesses to simplify and digitise their share ownership by moving it all onto our platform in a easy, quick step-by-step process. We call this a Digital Register. Just upload your list of investors or shareholders to Own. We’ll create a digital share register on blockchain for your business.
Business — “I want to sell new shares on Own (Security Tokens)”
Problem = We know that many businesses want to raise capital to grow but they don’t have ready access to investors. And they’re reluctant to pay the fees involved with crowdfunding, banks and going public.
Solution = We enable businesses to list new shares for sale as a Primary Offer on our platform. We call this Security Tokens. We then give businesses access to our community of investors looking to buy shares, or security tokens, in businesses they believe in. All businesses have to do is build their business profile by sharing information about their business and their share offer. And then press ‘go’. Their share offer will be live on our Primary Market Tracker and made available to our investor community straightaway. We will also help businesses to promote their share offer to their customers or community, for an additional fee, if they want support.
Business — “I want to sell new shares on Own (Micro shares) to supplement my listing on another stock exchange (eg LSE/NYSE)”
Problem = Big businesses listed on major stock exchanges around the world sometimes want access to new markets and new investors.
Solution = We enable public businesses to supplement share listings on a stock exchange by creating a new share offering on Own to represent a stock traded on other exchanges. Businesses can then access a new market of global retail investors. They can sell shares in smaller denominations — we call this Micro Shares.
Business — “I want to offer shares to my employees, customers or members (Reward Tokens)”
Problem = We understand that many business owners want to incentivise their employees through giving them shares in the business. Or, similarly, some businesses want to encourage their customers or members to become investors.
Solution = We offer a solution for private businesses wanting to offer shares to a targeted group of individuals, whether employees, customers or members of their group/community. We call this Reward Tokens. We enable businesses to target their share offer and to limit investors to a defined list provided by the business. All the business needs to do is to define the share offer terms and provide the list of eligible people who are invited to invest. We support businesses to issue communications and track the responses.
Business — “I want to view & analyse my share register”
Problem = In many countries, businesses have a legal obligation to tell the authorities who owns shares in their business. Therefore, it’s important that a business has easy access to their list of investors in the form of a share register. We understand that many businesses will be reluctant to pay the fees involved with using a share registrar.
Solution = Our platform keeps a continuous log of who owns shares in businesses. Therefore a share register can be created at the click of a button. No need to pay an intermediary or keep a spreadsheet. The business’ share register will be available anytime, anywhere. And, as it’s stored on blockchain, it is an immutable, tamper-proof record of share ownership.
Business — “I want to engage my investors (eg send communications, ask them to vote, issue dividends)”
Problem = Once you’ve raised capital by selling shares, you then have a group of shareholders that you need to keep updated, engaged and positive about your business. These investors have paid good money to buy shares in your business and they own part of your business now. They need regular communications and opportunities to vote on business decisions. Investors also expect to be paid dividends when a business is doing well. Dividends are a distribution of profits and the amount of the dividend an investor receives is based on the number/percentage of shares they own. It can be tricky for a business to organise, issue and communicate dividend payments to investors.
Solution = We’ll deliver modules for business owners to manage shareholders including a Communications Module (for sending annual reports and business updates), Meetings module (for setting up and running online meetings) and Dividends Module (for issuing and communicating dividend payments). All modules are designed to be intuitive with step-by-step processes and guides for businesses new to investor management.
Investors — “I want to buy new shares direct from a business”
Solution = We enable any investor to buy shares in any business listing new shares (Security Tokens) on our platform.
Investors — “I want to trade (buy & sell) existing shares”
Solution = We enable any investor to buy & sell shares they have purchased on our platform, to other investors.
Investors — “I want to view existing shares & dividends on Own”
Solution = We provide an investor dashboard displaying their portfolio, their communications, their votes and their dividends.
Investors — “I want to interact with the business I own shares in (eg chat, vote)”
Solution = We provide a facility for investors to directly connect businesses offering shares with any questions they have.
Investors — “I want to interact with other investors”
Solution = We provide a facility for investors to directly connect with other investors on our platform.
Investors — “I want to analyse my share portfolio”
Solution = We provide a portfolio analyser allowing an investor to see their investments and changes over time.
Developers — “I want to build apps on the Own blockchain (Blockchain as a service)”
Solution = We enable other businesses, developers and startups to use our technology using APIs or building digital apps on our blockchain.
In our next blog, we’ll focus on our five use cases:
- Security tokens
- Digital register
- Micro shares
- Reward tokens
- Blockchain as a service
