ALL IN

October is Employee Ownership Month, and I marked it by going all in. As of October 1st, I'm working full-time at AllHold Capital.

This isn't a leap of faith. Employee ownership works. Businesses stay open, jobs stay put, and the people who built those businesses get to keep building them. What's been missing on our commercial corridors is the capital and the know-how to make it happen. That's why AllHold exists.

I spent October making that case in every room I could find:

Ownership Economy Summit · Common Share · New York

Philly Ownership Capital Lab Roadshow · Philadelphia

SOCAP26 · Chicago

e.Builders Forum · InBIA and EFN · Detroit

IEDC Speaker Series

I talked with impact investors, CDFI lenders, incubators, economic developers and corridor partners. One question came up again and again: wait, the employees don't have to put up any money? No, they don't. That's the whole point.

ALL ABOARD

• Impact Capital Managers Fall Community Happy Hour · New York · November 11
• TOP26: Steward Ownership Conference · HBS · Boston · November 12–13

If you'll be at these events, please reach out ahead of time.

I'd love to grab coffee, eat cake, compare notes, or just put a face to the emails.

Anywhere else I should be? Tell me - I have serious FOMO!

ALL EYES ON RESEARCH

Employee Ownership Month brought some great new research, and I want to give credit where it's due.

The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program released What Employee Ownership Means to Workers, based on conversations with 85 workers at 12 companies, three of them employee ownership trusts. A few things stood out:

• EOTs are built to last. The report notes they're designed to be held in trust permanently and protected from being sold off. Workers at those companies talked about looking out for the business and for the people who will work there after them.
• Stability matters. One worker joined Optimax Systems after a previous employer was sold, and put it simply: "I'm not coming in to a pink slip."
• It's about more than money. A financial stake is the foundation, but voice, open books, and real participation are what make people feel it's theirs. That's why AllHold pairs every transition with education for owners and employees together.
• The money is real, too. Through Ownership Works, 41,600 workers at partner companies have received more than $234 million in dividends.

Ownership Capital Lab and Transform Finance also released Employee Ownership in Private Credit, a two-part series. They argue that funds financing employee ownership transitions should be understood and evaluated as private credit. That's a big step toward speaking the language of mainstream investors, and it's exactly the kind of field-building that makes deals like ours easier to fund.

ALL SYSTEMS GO IN PHILLY

We’re moving faster than I expected, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

Our first transitions are underway. We’ve finished site visits, and owners and employees at our first businesses want to keep learning about the process. More businesses are coming to us every week through brokers, corridor partners and word of mouth. They’re in retail, food, auto services and event spaces, in neighborhoods across the city. They’re the kind of businesses that make a block feel like home, and the kind that could quietly close if no one steps in.

We’re also building the organization to match. AllHold Capital is now its own nonprofit. Our founding board is coming together, and I can’t wait to introduce them soon.

And we have a brand-new website! Take a look to see how the model works, who we work with and how to get involved: allholdcapital.org

Know a business that fits? Send it my way.

Every conversation is confidential.

THAT'S ALL FOR NOW!

October was AllHold’s busiest month yet, and November is already filling up.

Thank you for reading, sharing, and cheering us on,

Maura Shenker

Founder and CEO, AllHold Capital

Want to chat? Email me: Maura@AllHoldCapital.com

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