On 29 January, we hosted our first Startup Networking Workshop. Founders and early project owners came together to talk openly about what they are building, what excites them, and what worries them. There were no pitches and no performance metrics on display. The conversation focused on something more fundamental: how to build startups on foundations that are fair, adaptable, and strong enough to handle uncertainty.
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Very quickly, the discussion moved beyond product features and fundraising tactics. The real questions were structural. How do you split ownership when contributions are uneven? How do you motivate people when cash is limited? How do you grow without creating tensions between founders, early contributors, and future investors?
One team of five students shared their situation. They had built an HR tech prototype as a graduation project and were considering turning it into a company. Some had accepted full time jobs, others were freelancing. No one could guarantee how much time they would be able to commit in the coming months. Roles were still evolving. Commitment levels were uncertain. Yet they needed to decide how to divide equity. Any fixed split felt arbitrary and potentially unfair.
A more advanced founder described a different challenge. Her company was already operating and raising funding in the United States. Her concern was no longer about getting started, but about keeping things fair as the company scaled. How do you reward early contributors without endless renegotiations? How do you manage dilution in a transparent way? How do you give investors clarity without weakening the founding team?
Different stages, same underlying tension: fairness under uncertainty.
How FlexUp Reframes the Problem
FlexUp was created precisely to address this tension. Instead of freezing a cap table at the beginning, it introduces a structured economic framework governed by a Charter. This Charter defines how revenues are allocated, how participants are paid, how risk is measured, and how voting rights are distributed. Everyone operates under the same rules from day one.
During the workshop, participants were introduced to a shared language. The Holder is the legal entity that owns the project. Associates are all contributors working under the Charter, whether they are founders, developers, advisors, suppliers, or investors. Remuneration can be divided into different priority levels. A contributor can choose to receive part of their payment in a secure portion paid first, another part in a flexible portion paid when cash is available, and another part in a higher risk portion that converts into equity.
This structure allows people to consciously decide how much risk they want to take. A founder can defer part of their compensation. An advisor can accept a mix of cash and equity. A supplier can share some risk in exchange for upside. Higher risk leads to higher potential reward. At the same time, the startup reduces fixed costs and protects its cash flow.
Tokens were another key topic. Tokens are internal units that reflect contribution weighted by risk. When someone defers payment or accepts equity based compensation, the system calculates the associated risk and issues tokens accordingly. These tokens grant internal economic and voting rights and convert into shares during a funding round under predefined rules. Ownership therefore evolves over time based on real contributions, not early guesses.
For early teams, this means they can start building without locking themselves into rigid percentages. For growing startups, it creates a transparent and structured story for investors.
Why This Matters for Startups
By the end of the workshop, a clear pattern had emerged. Most startup tensions are not caused by technology. They stem from misaligned incentives, unclear expectations, and fear of dilution. When ownership is fixed too early, it rarely reflects how the journey actually unfolds.
FlexUp offers a different starting point. It separates economic rights from operational control, so founders can maintain leadership while sharing value fairly. It reduces the pressure of fixed salaries in the early stages. It tracks contributions transparently. It transforms difficult equity negotiations into a structured and predictable process.
For the founders in the room, this was not about theory. It was about practical decisions they need to make now. How to move forward without resentment. How to reward real effort. How to attract people when cash is scarce. How to grow without losing control.
Our first workshop showed that when you give startups a clear and fair framework, the conversation changes. Instead of arguing about percentages, founders start discussing contribution, risk, and long term collaboration. That shift alone can make the difference between a fragile project and a resilient company.
Startup Networking Workshop, 29th January 2026