News Building a firm of entrepreneurs The Challenger Consultancy's share options 08 Jul 2021 — 6 min read The Team Stephen Newton We’re building the best consulting firm in the world – a firm not of employees, but of entrepreneurs. I have spoken about the culture of entrepreneurialism and ownership as the foundation of Elixirr since the firm was founded – it is crucial to what makes us different. To build and scale our business we seek entrepreneurs; people who are prepared to take risks and share in the benefits as their investment pays off. It’s through our equity participation scheme that we’re creating this team of owners, driven by one shared goal: to generate value for clients, and as a result, the firm. What’s unique about our model? To build the best consulting firm in the world you need to attract the best talent, and the ‘equity for all’ model helps keep this calibre of people on board. Our team choose us over startups, Fintechs, Investment Banks, Venture Capital, and Private Equity. Why, when many of these offer equity return to their people? Because Elixirr offer the best equity participation schemes in the market. How do we compare to other consulting firms, where equity participation is reserved for Partners? At Elixirr, equity participation is offered to everyone, from our newest Analyst to our most seasoned Principal. At Elixirr, equity participation is offered to everyone, from our newest Analyst to our most seasoned Principal. Our people are not satisfied with a predictable salary and bonus. They back themselves to the extent that they’re willing to invest part of their salary into the business whose growth they impact every day. Their investment has paid off – just compare Elixirr’s share price performance to the market. The FTSE has grown by 20% in the past year, and the AIM market has grown by 42%. Elixirr’s shares have now seen over 200% growth. This graph compares the performance of Elixirr’s share price (blue) with the FTSE All-Share (red) and the FTSE AIM All-Share (green) in the past year. This indicates the extraordinary extent to which Elixirr shares have outperformed these markets. Source: London Stock Exchange, 08/07/21. Offering our people an equity stake in Elixirr is deeply rooted in our firm’s entrepreneurial culture. It gives our people a taste of the risk-reward of entrepreneurship. By challenging the concept of employment, shifting to a model of mutual ownership, we’re building a team who think and act like shareholders, seeing tangible return for the work they put in every day. Two ways to earn equity We offers employees different routes to ownership: a Share Options Scheme, which gives employees the right to buy shares in the business in the future, at the current market price, and an Employee Share Purchase Plan (ESPP), which gives employees the option to invest a percentage of their salary to purchase shares, which are 100% matched by the company. Want to know more? Share Options Scheme: A company gives its employees the right to buy shares in the business in the future at the current market price. The ownership of the shares is realised in (typically) a number of years. Assuming the share-price has increased by the time the options vest, the employee can buy and then sell their shares for profit. The options an Analyst receives upon joining Elixirr can grow to be worth 1.3x their salary in 5 years’ time. If they’re promoted in that time, the value can grow to be 3.2x their salary. We grant our team more options each time they’re promoted, pushing their potential gains even higher. These figures increase as you climb Elixirr’s grades. A Manager’s options can grow to be worth 10x their salary over the 5 years, and 20x for a Principal. This can reap payoffs multiple times the gains you can make through other firms’ options schemes. All illustrative figures are based on an assumed Elixirr share price growth of 25% per annum. For many, these shares are the best-performing asset in their portfolio; options awarded in 2020 are up >100% a year later. Our people wanted the opportunity to gain more equity and hold a greater stake in the business they’re building. So, alongside this industry-leading options plan, we also launched one of the most generous stock purchase plans in the market. Employee Stock Purchase Plan: A company gives its employees the option to invest a percentage of their salary to purchase shares in the business. The business then matches a certain number of these shares, which are then given to the employee for free. The employee typically earns the matched shares back from the business over a number of years. Our Analysts and Consultants can also choose to invest up to 10% of their salary into Elixirr’s ESPP. Our Managers (and up) can choose to invest up to 20%. Our scheme is 100% matched, and our team earn these shares over a 5-year period. The illustrative post-tax return on investment in 5 years for Elixirr shares purchased through our ESPP is approximately 438%; this figure is based on Elixirr’s share price growing by 25% per annum. Compare this to other firms where the maximum salary contribution to ESPP schemes is typically 10%, and only one share is matched for every 2-3 shares purchased. We’re a firm of entrepreneurs Plenty of other firms claim to be giving their people a significant stake in the business. Well, we’re calling them out. At Elixirr, we’re building something truly unique – a firm where every member of the team is an owner and behaves like one. And we’re scaling that model as we grow. Sound like something you want to be a part of? We’re hiring