EXCLUSIVE: Gamevy, an organisation that builds online game shows, has been set up as an employee-owned model, offering its staff a stake in the business rather than a salary.
Four of the eight-week-old start-ups’ five employees do not receive a salary.
Paul Dolman-Darrall, chairman of Gamevy, said: “Every single person in our organisation earns less than they could out on the market.
“My wage prior to joining Gamevy was about £150,000 [a year] and, if I add the other three employees who aren’t taking a salary, we’re up at about half a million pounds per year.
“We’re saying that if you want to work for a cool start-up and you want to help build a business from scratch, our compromise is that you will have to take a salary cut, but, in return, we’re going to give you a meaningful stake in the organisation.”
Dolman-Darrall added that the idea of employee ownership is simple. “The major expense for a start-up is people. Employee ownership is a potential way to get around that cost.
“We’re moving away from the idea that capital is the number-one thing. Knowledge work is beginning to make more money than the investment of capital.”