guud*

Since its founding in the summer of 2021, guud has been on a mission to inspire people to embrace sustainable lifestyles and conscious consumption. From the start, the company has been committed to self-determination and sustainable growth – but staying true to these values presented challenges when it came to securing funding. Even some impact investors followed conventional models, seeking decision-making power and high return rates tied to future exits – expectations that clashed with guud’s purpose-driven approach.  

To safeguard its autonomy and mission, guud explored steward-ownership. While uncertainties around financing led them to postpone full implementation, they remained committed to keeping this option open. With the prospect of a new legal form for steward-ownership in Germany, guud decided to chart its own path – structuring the business in alignment with steward-ownership principles to maintain the flexibility to transition to this model in the future. This meant finding investors who shared their values and supported their vision of independent, sustainable growth.  

Fortunately, like-minded partners emerged early on. In autumn 2022, three lenders provided initial loans, not only believing in guud’s mission but also offering valuable expertise and access to their networks. Building on this foundation, guud launched another financing round in 2023, partnering with brafe.space – a community of entrepreneurs, investors, and thinkers reimagining investment models. Together with a key member of the community, guud designed a financing structure that ensures its purpose remains central while enabling self-determined, sustainable growth. Their model reflects guud’s values: profit participation with limits, collaborative dialogue over rigid reporting structures, and keeping decision-making in-house.