Stapelstein

Steward ownership & aligned financing as a building block for a self-determined start-up

In a nutshell

Founded in 2016 as the joboo GmbH, Stapelstein® was set up to provide children with a playful, creative and moving space for holistic development. From the conception of the Stapelstein® as a research project to a successful and profitable company with 29 employees, Stapelstein® has come a long way – also regarding their ownership and financing structure.

During the founding phase, founder Stephan Schenk took on business angels as shareholders of the organization. By doing so, he gave away a large part of the ownership of the company early on without quite realizing how much decision-making power he was ceding. This became problematic when several conflicts around prioritization and decision-making with the business angels highlighted the discrepancy between Stephan's vision for the company and the angels' interest in an exit and dividend payouts. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Stephan and his co-founder Hannah König turned around a situation that could have led to the end of Stapelstein®. They managed to establish selfdetermination and build a more aligned structure with steward-ownership.

As a pivotal – and necessary – milestone on their path towards steward-ownership, Stephan and Hannah successfully bought out the two previous investors using both free cashflow as well as new, more aligned, investments. In 2023, Stapelstein® completed the transition to steward-ownership, thus ensuring that only people have control over the organization who are actively engaged in and committed to Stapelstein®’s mission and values.

Stapelstein®’s case highlights the significance of early reflection and consideration of ownership and financing and their effects on power distribution early on, particularly in the context of early-stage financing. Nevertheless, the case also demonstrates that opportunities can exist to reclaim autonomy and regain control over a business, even after relinquishing ownership rights, albeit for high financial costs and entrepreneurial energy spent.