Waldorfshop

Waldorfshop was founded in 2007 by then 16-year-old Waldorf student, Armin Steuernagel, to provide parents, teachers, and educators at Waldorf schools and kindergartens with learning materials that align with the philosophy of Waldorf education. To protect Waldorfshop’s mission and values for the long term, Armin Steuernagel transitioned Waldorfshop to steward-ownership in 2017.

To fuel growth while remaining true to its values, the company issued four rounds of profit participation rights to its supporters. The first two rounds consisted of increments of €100,000 each, followed by a model capped at 20 participants, where up to €200,000 could be raised in total. This structure adhered to the legal limits for issuing profit participation rights at that time. Waldorfshop’s experience with these profit participation rights highlighted two important learnings: First, the company was pleasantly surprised by the strong interest from customers eager to contribute capital. Second, the structure allowed Waldorfshop to delay interest payments until the company became profitable, particularly beneficial during phases of growth and reinvestment. This helped ease immediate financial pressures and allowed the company to focus on building the business. Moreover, because the company wasn’t required to account for these rights on its balance sheet until profits were realized, it added further funding flexibility during the growth phase. And in the event of losses, Waldorfshop had the ability to cover them using the capital raised, gradually reducing the real value of the participation rights while continuing to pay interest based on the nominal value.

Compared to working with larger investors, the administrative side of managing profit participation rights presented a notable challenge. With 73 investors involved, the administrative burden – particularly for tax reporting – became substantial. To streamline the process, Waldorfshop partnered with Genussrechte.org, an agency from the organic sector, which provided useful Excel tools for handling tax calculations. Even with this support, the process still required regular communication with investors and consistent reporting to the tax authorities regarding capital gains tax, adding a layer of complexity to the overall management of the financing model.