This was definitely a heartfelt subject amongst women professionals who work in the finance and blockchain and one for a passionate debate. Value and equity can be perceived as cousins who don't always get along but when they do its fun all round. What do I mean by this analogy? Equity can be perceived as an investment, a stake, a proof of value, whereas value is something earned, worked, produced, learnt or executed. Don't get me wrong I have just simplified things by determining them in this way. As you read through this article, these female professionals will further define the different types of equity and value in business and working environments.

1. EQUITY VS
VALUE
Women in Blockchain
& Finance Insights

2. This was definitely a heartfelt subject
amongst women professionals who work
in finance and blockchain, and one for a
passionate debate. Value and equity can
be perceived as cousins who don't always
get along but when they do its fun all
round. What do I mean by this analogy?
Equity can be perceived as an investment,
a stake, a proof of value, whereas value is
something earned, worked, produced,
learnt or executed. Don't get me wrong I
have just simplified things by determining
them in this way. As you read through I
will further define the different types of
equity and value in business and working
environments.
Now that we have touched the surface of
what the meaning of true value and / or
equity holds and how it transcends in our
society. Let's discuss why the time is now
to see value and equity that really benefits
the wider community and positively
impacts the world.
Some of us are now seeing the value from
working from home, but parents may
have something to say about that due to
home schooling in current times! It's
interesting to see increased participation
from businesses and employees with a
wider spread of collaborative efforts. The
downturn in ground markets, has seen an
upturn in online investments; interestingly
investments in women have dropped
significantly but there are more women in
leadership roles and entrepreneurship.
Value is the regard of something that is
held, such as importance, worth and
usefulness of something.
Whilst Equity is the value an entity from a
business perspective of in the area of
human capital development in society.
The word equity comes from even, just
and equal. It represents the value that
would be returned to a company’s
shareholders if all of the assets were
liquidated and all of the company's debts
were paid off.
We can also think of equity as a degree of
residual ownership in a firm or asset after
subtracting all debts associated with that
asset.
Equity represents the shareholders’ stake
in the company, identified on a company's
balance sheet.
The calculation of equity is a company's
Equity vs Value
What is the difference between
Equity and Value?
What is Equity?
Equity vs Value 02

3. total assets minus its total liabilities, and is
used in several key financial ratios such as
ROE. Known as return of Equity.
The reason why it’s so important is
because it’s about fairness, it ensures that
each person gets what [the person]
needs.
Entrepreneurs are often driven to create
new ventures by a passion for a particular
industry, but the underlying purpose of a
business is provide income and for many,
to serve as an investment that can be sold
to make a profit. Equity is an important
concept in business and personal finance,
which describes the ownership interest
that a person has in an asset.
An alternative to borrowing money to
fund your business (e.g. a traditional bank
loan) is investing either your own money
(if you have it) or someone else's money
in your business. This is called equity
financing. The main difference between
debt finance and equity finance is that the
investor becomes a part owner of your
business and shares any profit the
business makes.
Why is Equity Important?
Benefits of Equity in a business
Equity finance
The main sources of equity
capital are:
Advantages of equity financing
• family and friends - an important source of
equity for new businesses
• business angels - wealthy individuals who i
nvest their own funds
(typically up to $2 million) into start-up
businesses with strong growth potential
• venture capitalists - professional investors
that invest funds (generally $2-10 million)
in operating companies with high growth
potential
• public float - raising money by issuing
securities (e.g. shares) to the public.
• Freedom from debt - unlike debt finance,
you don't make repayments on investments.
Not having the burden of debt can be a
huge advantage, particularly for small
start-up businesses.
• Business experience and contacts - as well as
funds, investors often bring valuable
experience, managerial or technical skills,
contacts or networks, and credibility to the
business.
• Follow-up funding - investors are often
willing to provide additional funding as the
business develops and grows.
Disadvantages of equity financing
• Shared ownership - in return for investment
funds, you will have to give up some control
of your business. Investors not only share
profits, they also have a say in how the
business is run. While this has advantages,
you need to think carefully about how much
control you surrender.
• Personal relationships - accepting investment
funds from family or friends can affect
personal relationships if the business fails.
• Time and money - approaching investors
and becoming investment-ready is
demanding. It takes time and money.
Your business may suffer if you have to
spend a lot of time on investment strategies.
Equity vs Value 03

4. Equity Examples
Common
stock
Preferred
stock
Treasury
stock
Accumulated
Other Comprehensive
Income/Loss
Additional
Paid-in Capital
Retained
Earnings
Generic Model of an 'Equity Enhancement'
Program based on small businesses.
Private
Investors
Private
Investment
“Uncapped”
Profit share
“Capped”
Profit share
Early-stage
fund
Start-up &
Growing SME
Loan or
Equity Government
This diagram below explains an equity
derived out of a stock.
01
02
03
04
05
06
Equity vs Value 04

5. Founder/CEO at JUUBIX,
Nominee Rising Stars 2021
FCA / US AIR Alliance TechSprint
Collaborator | Shortlist Tech
Women 100 Award 2020
Susan Falola
Susan Falola, Founder / CEO at JUUBIX –
Where are no barriers to opportunity.
Expertise in Finance, Strategy, Innovation,
Cloud Architecture & Blockchain.
Inclusion, Diversity and Social Impact
Advocate. As an inclusive leader she leads
from the back, championing others and
enhancing their skills. She has carried out
extensive R&D in Fintech before creating
her solution. Susan has collaborated with
multiple freelance to C-level professionals
to get their perspectives on existing
models and produced her findings in a
blueprint whitepaper. This paper details
extensively about the problems faced due
to 'bias-decision making' in collaboration
and investment activities.
She has founded the JUUBIX solution,
which eliminates all bias in age, sex,
gender, race, religion and creates equality
in financial products and services. Her
passion is to make sure that people are in
charge of their finance like never before.
Susan has created a disruptive, intelligent,
innovative solution that has been needed
for many years, especially in relation to
gender bias and more recently because of
the Covid restrictions. This solution will
not only help more women be recruited
in the workplace, but also create more
access to financial opportunities. By
factoring accessibility from the outset in
relation to design and functionality, she
has considered all disabilities and how
they can also receive value from the
JUUBIX solution.
When starting a company, it is hard to
relinquish any sort of equity as a new
Founder it can seem quite daunting and
risky to bring on new founders, it may feel
like you will lose control of your company.
This is a common problem that JUUBIX
aims to solve, it is becoming increasingly
difficult to eliminate yourself or
co-founders from legal agreements and
signed off equity. It can pose a reputation
Equity vs Value 05

6. risk to the business and its stakeholders
because founding members will not
relinquish ownership, resign and do not
have a clear exit strategy. This is
something to really look at and the
negative impacts it can have on your
business. I have seen this problem in so
many cases especially when it comes to
CTO provision.
There are several ways to do this, one of
these is to issue Vesting Equity Shares
overtime on delivery of Key Performance
Indicators (KPI’s). “All businesses
should have an exit strategy from
the outset.” This will benefit the
investor too, because it allows them to
monitor the value of their investment.
Similarly, I think an innovative ecosystem
that has ability to automate investment
across the network could be a solution.
So when startups are declining this can
really help the investor to leverage from
their investments faster and more
successfully.
Mortgages are similar to investments, and
something a lot of people are unaware of
is the value in flipping your home for a
few years. Then once you have raised
enough finance you can buy the ultimate
family home where all your needs are
met.
“Ultimately investors are seeking
ROI and need to know founders
also want the same.”
Some individuals such as Jeff Bezoz have
the financial capacity to wait for their
share in the market but not everyone has
the same ability to sustain themselves.
Going forward we need exploit the use of
API, AI, blockchain and distributed ledger
computing to create these various
verticals
With JUUBIX being my second company I
quickly came to realise that having a
passion is key to laying the foundation, i.e.
the grass roots of the company. But if you
are seeking for your company to expand
and grow it is inevitable that some of
those same values will have to be
compromised overtime. Prime example of
this is Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook.
Yes, he is very rich, but Facebook has
become a snatch and grab of concepts of
other similar platforms and now is devoid
of its original concept.
“Everything starts with value and
interest, but to keep a network
actively participating; there needs
to be fiscal incentives it’s just
human nature.”
And also Value means different things to
different people let's not forget that. It's
all a matter of perspective.
Imagining seeing a social media post from
a food bank stating that whilst people are
donating tin food, it would also useful to
Equity vs Value 06

7. donate tin openers? The need is for
tinned food but how can the tin be
opened? Circumstances 'sometimes'
dictates your trajectory.
Traditional systems are old and outdated,
this is why JUUBIX will serve as a financial
intermediary service for investment. This
will work on getting more females funded
through an anonymous selection process
that eliminates bias at point of
connection, the second approach is
computated connectivity, and thirdly is
the ability to analyze performance in
real-time.
“Blockchain needs to showcase
practical use cases for inclusive
finance and equity and how to
determine which type of
blockchain methods I.e. hybrid,
private, public is the best fit for
different verticals.”
Equity comes from the idea of moral
equality, that people should be treated as
equals. Thinking about equity can help us
decide how to distribute goods and
services across society, holding the state
responsible for its influence over how
goods and services are distributed in a
society and using this influence to ensure
fair treatment for all citizens.
Applying these ideas in a specific country
context involves hard choices and
embedding discussions of distributive
justice into domestic political and policy
debates is central to national
development.
What is Equity in Human Development?
Equity vs Value 07
ECD
Economic Growth
Education Health Equity
Social Capital
Human Development

8. These diagrams below shows sustainable
equity development in society
Human
Development
Social Capital/
Institutional
Development
Nonfarm
Economy
Sustainable
Development
Infrastructure
Development
Poverty
Reduction & Equity
Industrial Clustering
and Small and
Medium Enterprise
Development
Economic
Growth
Human Capital
Development
For equity in human development to be
improved, urgent global challenges of
sustainability and equity must be
addressed together – and policies will
need to be identified on a national and
global level to spur mutually reinforcing
progress towards these interlinked goals.
Bold action is needed on both fronts, if
the recent human development progress
for most of the world’s poor majority is to
be sustained, for the benefit of future
generations as well as for those living
today. Although, living standards in most
countries have been rising – and
converging – for several decades now. But
there is still disturbing reversal of those
trends if environmental deterioration and
social inequalities continue to intensify,
with the least developed countries
diverging downwards from global
patterns of progress by 2050.
The world’s most disadvantaged people
will suffer the most from environmental
degradation, including in their immediate
personal environment, and
Equity vs Value 08

9. In management, business value is an
informal term that includes all forms of
value that determines the health and
well-being of a firm in the long run.
Business value expands concept of value
of a firm beyond economic value, in the
areas of economic profit, economic value
added and shareholder value. More to
this, there is employee value, customer
value, supplier value, channel value,
managerial value and societal value.
disproportionately lack political power,
making it all the harder for the world
community to reach agreement on
needed global policy changes.
However, there is great potential for
positive synergies in the quest for greater
equality and sustainability, especially at a
national level.
It is important to further emphasise the it
should be a human right to a healthy
environment, the importance of
integrating social equity into
environmental policies, and the critical
importance of public participation and
official accountability.
There is a need for bold new approaches
to global development financing and
environmental controls, arguing that
these measures are both essential and
feasible.
What is value in business?
Equity vs Value 09

10. Founder & CEO at FAS |
Fintech Advisory Services and
makeAvent. Expertise in venture
building, business strategies, & finance.
Elena Obukhova
Traditional finance background in capital
markets, derivatives, and knowledge of
various financial products combined with
my passion for cryptocurrencies and
blockchain made me one of the first
runners in the crypto analytics and
valuation field. During my professional
course, I worked with various crypto
projects helping to build asset pricing
models, conduct stress testing and price
discovery simulations.
I had a chance to work in the VC field as
well before I co-founded FAS | Fintech
Advisory Services, a consulting ecosystem
that helps to grow ideas into successful
businesses in blockchain and fintech.
These days I frequently work with SMBs'
business strategies, financial modelling,
and do occasional mentorship sessions
with pre-seed startups on financial
projections and budgeting. I also publish
articles and guidelines on financial and
business topics aimed to help startups
and SMBs with their journey.
Startups and SMBs are the ones going
through a lot of challenges and my
personal goal is to find a way to overcome
them smoother. “Every project is
different and always demands a
different approach.” However,
there're some mistakes that are applied
to many businesses. One of such
mistakes many founders make at the
beginning: taking smaller money for a
bigger equity share than they should.
Being an entrepreneur myself, I can feel
the desire of getting funds now to start
building your project faster.
“Remember, your shares are
getting more and more diluted
with every investment round.”
And if you want to have bigger control
over your startup you would need to get a
Equity vs Value 10

11. better deal. The first round might decide
your future investment route. “If VCs
see that your team shares are
already quite diluted by your 2d or
3d round, that might be a red flag
for them.” Another common problem
I've been facing is misdistributed shares
without a vesting schedule. When you
start a business, it's hard to predict the
future contribution of each founding
member. Some might be very active in the
beginning and their role might be
absolutely essential during the first year
(e.g. a tech developer), while someone
might not be involved 100% now, but will
contribute his/her 200% during the next
year. That's why the vesting shares
concept is something to keep in mind
when drafting your founder's agreement.
In this way, if someone will drop from
your team, you won't be giving up 25% or
even 30% of your company but only
shares vested during the time of
Some analysts prefer to exclude intangible assets (goodwill etc.) from the denomination of the above
formula. In that case, the formula would be written as follows:
Formula:
=
Proprietary
ratio
x 100
Stockholders’ equity
Total assets
=
Proprietary
ratio
x 100
Stockholders’ equity
Total assets-Intangible assets
In economics, the proprietary is also
known as the equity ratio. Its the
proportion of shareholders equity to sell
total assets, and to provide a rough
estimate of the amount of capitalization
currently used to support a business The
proprietary ratio (also known as net worth
ratio or equity ratio) is used to evaluate
the soundness of the capital structure of
a company. It is computed by dividing the
stockholders’ equity by total assets.
Equity vs Value 11
participation in the company. Getting your
financials organised might be a difficult
task if you don't have the experience, but
it's fundamental for the healthy growth of
your business.
I'm always open to chat and assist
startups with their finance-and related
efforts.
Equity Proprietary:

12. “The key is balance. Success must
not just be defined solely on financial
performance but on value creation
and impact too. A strong sense of
purpose isn’t only about making a
positive dent in the world, it is
hugely motivating for staff
and it provides clarity of direction
that drives performance.”
Equity vs Value 12
Founder and CEO, Diversily
Advisor, Strategist, Speaker,
Best Selling Author.
Marissa Ellis
Marissa Ellis is an advisor, strategist,
speaker and bestselling author with over
20 years of experience driving
transformational change in the tech
sector.
She is the founder of www.diversily.com
and the creator of The Change Canvas,
and other visual, business frameworks
that are used around the world by global
brands and startups alike to drive positive
change.
She helps business leaders,
entrepreneurs and change makers do
better business; business that is
purpose-led, human-centered with
diversity and inclusion at the core.
Her highly rated strategic management
methodology, uses The Change Canvas to
connect strategy to execution and
empowers high performing, inclusive
teams that deliver continuous value.

13. First and foremost, value is the monetary,
material, or assessed worth of an assest,
good, or service. It is attached to a myriad
of concepts, including shareholder value,
the value of a firm, fair value and market
value. The benefits are for the financial
performances of a company, estimations,
forecasts and for clarity on numerous
financial metrics.
Types of values:
• Market Value: A company’s market value.
• Book Value: Its the value of a company according to its financial statements.
• Value Stock: Its a company’s stock that trades at a lower price, when considering its
performance and fundamentals.
• Enterprise Value: Its the total value of a company, which includes a company’s cash
on its balance sheet, short term and long-term debts, as the market capitalization of a
company.
• Equal Ownership: is the state or fact of exclusive rights and control over an asset. It
involves rights, such as equal rights. The process and mechanics of equal ownership
are complex and easy at the same time.
The diagram below is an equal weight portfolio, which gives the same weight
or importance to a fund or stock.
Market Cap Weighted
Equal Weighted
Stock
A
Stock
B
Stock
C
Stock
D
Stock
A Stock
B
Stock
C
Stock
D
Equity vs Value 13
Benefits of Value:

14. FinTech - RegTech - GTM support,
Customer Success and
Implementation - LMF Mentor
RegTech Speaker
Maria Phillips
Maria has spent the last 5 years working
in FinTech and RegTech identifying,
solving and navigating the buyer and user
needs/objections as a consultant to GTM
teams.
Proven track record in finding product
market fit and securing initial validation
and traction for FinTechs in the UK and
European market.
Statistics of 30+ FinTech pilots secured
with prospects in 2019 and 15+ in 2020.
LMF mentor, speaker on RegTech and the
Future Of Work in 2LoD. Currently
researching 2LoD in DeFi as part of the
Future of Work.
Offering a small percentage of equity to a
potential cofounder and SME with
experience building your customer/buyer
pipeline plus experience raising
investment, can be a deterrent.
“When a cofounder is on boarded
in the product development stages
and helping to shape it, this
should be a consideration when
defining shares and benefits of
partnership.”
Search for a balance; exchanging equity
for skills, drive, personality fit and
knowledge the senior management team
needs to advance to the next level.
Equity vs Value 14

15. Capital Market:
is a financial market in which long term
debt over a year, or equity backed securi-
ties are bought and sold. Capital Markets:
are developed countries in the area of
economic importance and financial instru-
ments. USA, UK, Canada, Japan and some
countries in EU are capital markets.
Below is a diagram of developed
markets. Note: Middle east countries
and pacific countries apart from Japan,
are high yield countries. High yield
countries are only high in yields. High
grade countries are the other
countries in the diagram.
Vesting Shares:`
It means shares awarded to employers as
part of a compensation package. Through
share vesting, the organization can keep
its employees loyal to the company.
Meanwhile at the end of such a vesting
period, employees can acquire rights over
the shares or the contribution towards a
pension plan.
Equity vs Value 15
Developed Markets
Americas
Canada
USA
Europe & Middle East Pacific
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Sweeden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
Australia
Hong Kong
Japan
New Zealand
Singapore

16. Passionate about education, she's closing
the knowledge gap by offering free Crypto
101 sessions for the world, to learn about
the fundamentals of cryptocurrencies and
blockchain.
“Her motto? Buying a coin is a
political statement”
We can see ShapeShift learning from its
mistake, and they just decided to remove
their KYC! Even though they thought that
in order to grow they added these
processes last year. One thing is for sure,
foundation is key!
“These days, it’s interesting to
observe how companies compete
and which process they adapt or
drop. Collecting every personal
information from your users might
become a habit from the past?’’
The cryptocurrency industry is made of
visionaries and ruthless money makers,
the perfect mix for a monetary revolution,
and I'm all in. Thrilled to be part of an
ongoing social and financial experiment,
Eléonore is passionate about p2p cash,
voluntarism and economic freedom.
With her background in political science
and public management, she could only
fall in love with cryptocurrencies's
disruptive narrative of financial
empowerment and economic freedom.
Engaged with the crypto community in
Amsterdam she worked in the wallet,
mining industry at BTC.com and in April
2019, founded CryptoCanal, to offer
marketing and business development
services, which has led her to work with
industry leaders such as Luno, OKEx and
Bitcoin.com, Cyber Capital, Satoshi's
Angels, Edge Wallet and HubSecurity.
Founder CryptoCanal
Education, marketing & BD
Eléonore Blanc
Equity vs Value 16

17. This diagram explains a company’s grant restricted stock unit awards to employees.
Awards did vest at the end of the restriction period, which is generally 3 years. As of
December 31st, 2014, 12, 414, 000 shares of common stocks were available for future
restricted stock unit awards.
Shares Vesting
Restricted stock units
as of january 1, 2014
Shares in
thousands
4,539 48
1,092 64
(1,867) 42
(70) 52
$
3,694 56
$
Weighted Average
Grant Date Fair
Value Per Award
Restricted stock units as
of December 31, 2014
Activity:
Granted
Vested
Forfcited
Equity vs Value 17

18. Equity vs Value 17
Buyout /Dilution
Strategies:
First of all, dilution shares are when an
organization issues new shares that result
in a decrease in existing stockholder’s
ownership percentage of that company.
Stock dilution can occur when holders of
the stock options can exercise their
options, this is where buyout comes in to
place.
Proprietary Trading
What is proprietary trading?
This is when a financial institution makes
trades for its own gain rather than on
behalf of its clients. It happens when a
company decides to try and make money
directly from the markets, rather than the
commission it can make from processing
trades on behalf of others.
Where have you heard of
proprietary trading?
You might have heard of it being referred
to as prop trading. In 2013, financial
regulators in the US tried to ban propriety
trading under the Volcker Rule as part of
the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and
Consumer Protection Act. After long
delays, the rule was implemented in 2015.
What you need to know
about proprietary trading:
Proprietary trades are usually speculative
in nature. They may be carried out with
normal bonds and shares traded on
exchanges, but more often involve
derivatives and other complex investment
products. The main benefit of this type of
trading for financial institutions is that is
allows them to keep 100% of the gains
they earn from an investment.
When the firm invests on behalf of its
clients, it earns money from fees and
comissions which are usually only a very
small proportion of the total amount
invested or the profits made.

19. Devina Paul is Co-Founder of Angel
Investment Syndicate Galvanise Capital,
sits on various boards as NED or Advisor,
is CFO of Zumo, the self-sovereign crypto
wallet and charity trustee.
If you are coming in as a co-founder
ensure there is enough scope for further
equity or share options as your
relationship with the original founder and
contributions to the product or business
itself develop.
Solo founders will often see themselves
as bearing the ultimate risk and losing
control by bringing in brand-new co
founders – I am not saying this is correct
however it is a common instinct. My
suggestion would be sensible and fair
performance related options so both
parties have time to work together and
grow a relationship.
“Quick exits are not as common as
people think and there is the
potential for exit to be 5, 7 even 10
years out.”
Making sure you can work together for
that length of time is imperative for it to
be worth it.
I would suggest that it would be wise to
have a couple of exit routes as per trends
in your verticals.
I would also suggest that exit plans do not
guarantee exits or particular routes to exit
as things change so quickly particularly in
tech, but they do provide a focus and
ambition to the founders and business as
a whole.
Founding Partner
GALVANISE CAPITAL
Investor, Advisor, CFO,
NED, Trustee
Devina Paul
Equity vs Value 19

20. What is Equity in Human Development?
Pre-dilution Post-dilution
Equity vs Value 20
Meaning
An equity instrument
carrying ownership interest.
A debt instrument with a promise to
pay back the money with interest.
Dividend
Voting rights
in the company.
No
Interest
Preferential treatment
when bond matures.
Yes
Return
Return
Guarantee
Additional
Benefits
Stocks Bonds
Vs.

21. Tech Women 100 Winner 2020
Women in Blockchain Talks
(Host & Founder)
Financial Wellbeing Coach
& Consultant
Lavinia D. Osbourne
Lavinia Osbourne is the host and founder
of Women in Blockchain Talks- the UK's
no.1 female-led and award-winning
Blockchain educational and networking
events platform in the UK, open to both
men and women.
She is a recipient of the TechWomen 100,
2020 awards which celebrates emerging
female talent and leadership, in the tech
space.
Empowering women is a staple and
foundational aspect for everything she
does; and her overall aim is to uplift,
encourage and guide people to being the
best they can be with themselves, their
work and their money.
''Ask yourself can I last the
longevity of this partnership? The
essence is that perhaps the way
we raise funds for our business
has to change. What is the
"disruptive" element in this space
if not crowdfunding as a
collective?”
Is anyone familiar with Simon Dixon, Bank
to the Future? In his crowdfunding model,
you still need to plan for an exit but I do
like how he promotes the crowdfunding
model.
“Traditional investment is full of
bias.''
Equity vs Value 21

22. Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them
Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business
Home equity, the difference between the market value and unpaid mortgage balance
on a home
Private equity, stock in a privately held company
The equity method of accounting for large investment interests
Finance, accounting and ownership
The various other forms of equity are
listed below -
Equity (law), a branch of jurisprudence in common law jurisdictions
Equity (economics), the study of fairness in economics
Educational equity, the study and achievement of population-proportionate group
inclusion and credentialing in education
Intergenerational equity, equality and fairness in relationships between people in
different generations (including those yet to be born)
Equity theory, on the relations and perceptions of fairness in distributions of
resources within social and professional situations.
Employment equity (Canada), policy requiring or encouraging the hiring of
disenfranchised minorities
Health equity, fairness and justice in health and healthcare
Equity vs Value 22
Business, justice and law

23. meaningful impact, especially in “today's
startup and increasingly
ESG-centric world where 'what
problem are you solving?” is one of
the first questions asked. However,
intention is one thing, and life
circumstances are another.
Depending on what your business is - if
it’s an actual product - you'll most likely
need external investment to grow, and “a
plan usually forms part of due
diligence.” It depends too on the type
of investor you have on board and what
collective expectations are. But even if it's
just for the sake of contingency as a ‘what
if’, it’s smarter to have a plan.
Plenitude Founding Director
ESG & Sustainable
Finance | Women in Finance
2020 Finalist
Board Member | Mentor
FinTech | D&I
Geilan Malet-Bates
Founding Director of Plenitude, My
expertise is Sustainable Finance and
FinTech Strategy. An exit plan for a
startup is important as it also takes into
account what happens to existing
company stakes in the event that any one
of the founders walks away - investors
don’t like dead shares. It's also important
for a company to consider and express
how it sees its future cap table evolving. I
don’t think having a plan necessarily
means that you want to entirely sell off
the company, as some may view it.
One can aspire to grow with and develop
one's project, seeing it through the
long-term passionately because it has
Equity vs Value 23

24. Value Creation for Business Success
Value Creation is the Foundation of
Business: How to define it, measure it, and manage it.
Equity vs Value 24
Business
Success
Value to
Owners
Value to
Employees
Value to
Customers

25. Bridget is the founder of The Bigger Pie,
an organization focused on supporting
women in blockchain and emerging tech.
As women represent less than 10% of
those involved in this sector we focus our
efforts on supporting the incredibly
talented and pioneering
#womeninblockchain.
Starting as an Independent Financial
Adviser, I pivoted my career to emerge as
a pioneer in financial services social
media. A founding director of Financial
Social Media UK, I attracted multiple
industry awards. Aware that technology
marches forward no matter your view
point on how it might disrupt incumbents
in your market place, especially in
traditional industries, I vehemently believe
that staying in front of technology is
essential to survival and success. She is a
firm believer of having more women
involved with the design, development
and deployment and decommissioning of
tech solutions.
Bridget has worked with different actors
in the blockchain economy since 2017,
both retail facing and servicing
institutional clients, gaining an insight into
the market place, challenges, pitfalls,
regulation and breadth of projects and
businesses in this rapidly evolving space.
Formerly the founding director of
Financial Social Media UK, after being IFA
and serving the financial industry since
2000, Bridget has attracted multiple
industry awards.
''Having key milestones that are
met and then 'unlocked'
pre-agreed equity stakes I think is
reasonable, based on my
Founder at The Bigger Pie
Blockchain and emerging tech
Bridget Greenwood
Equity vs Value 25

26. experience and a shareholder’s
agreement that acts like a
prenuptial agreement. Sometimes
expectations around what needs
to be delivered, by whom, by
when, and at what standard don’t
match. It's great to have these
discussed and agreed before it
becomes a difficult conversation
for both/all parties.”
Key person /partnership insurance should
be part of a business. What happens if a
co-founder of a key person gets seriously
ill or dies? Can you afford to hire a
replacement if they’re ill? What happens
to the shares of deceased? Do you have
the £ to buy the shares from the
beneficiary or are you happy for the
spouse/children of your co-founder to be
your new business partner?
It seems in some circles COVID-19 spring
boarded the need and appreciation for
impact and purpose driven businesses,
and I'm hoping this is a positive outcome
of COVID. Moving away from the idea that
one is mutually exclusive over the other,
but that purpose does indeed drive
profits.
“Separately, the existing financial
funding model isn't serving women
or diverse founders. We definitely
need to come up with solutions
that address these issues. So it's
great to see the conversation. ”
This is something I also want to impact in
2021. Working on getting female founders
funded and with the right type of
investors with impact and value aligned as
well profits.
Equity vs Value 26

27. Business begins with value creation. It is
the purpose of the institution: to create
and deliver value in an efficient enough
way that it will generate profit after cost.
Because value creation is the starting
point for all businesses, successful or not,
it’s a fundamental concept to understand.
Here’s what is to come in this collection of
wisdom about value creation:
In the broadest terms possible, value is
created through work. This work could be
mechanical (cutting a tree down and
turning it into lumber) or creative
(creating a logo or writing a paper). Of
course, not all work is value-creating
(sisyphysian tasks like moving rocks
from one place to another, then back).
The purpose of a business is to create
value (through work), sell or trade it to
customers, and capture some of that
value as profit.
In his excellent book, The Origin of
Wealth (graciously gifted to me by
Nathan Bashaw), Eric Beinhocker offers
a scientifically rigorous definition of the
creation of economic value, based upon
the work of the Economist
Georgescu-Roegen:
A pattern of matter, energy, and/or
information has economic value if the
following three conditions are jointly met:
For those who didn’t take a
Thermodynamics course in college
(myself included), substitute entropy for
‘disorder’ for a decent approximation. So
in more normal-human words:
Value is created through an
irreversible process which gives a
resource’s ‘order’ greater usefulness to
other humans.
Under this definition, almost any activity
can be value-producing, from opening a
door for someone, to writing something,
Value Creation A Precise Definition of
Value Creation
How Value is Created
(Value Defined)
• Definition of Value, and how
it can be created
• Evolution of value creation through
history, and in the future
• How value can be measured and managed
1) Irreversibility: All value-creating economic
transformations and transactions are
thermodynamically irreversible.
2) Entropy: All value-creating economic
transformations and transactions reduce
entropy locally within the economic
system, while increasing entropy globally.
3) Fitness: All value-creating economic
transformations and transactions produce
artifacts and/or actions that are fit for
human purposes.
Equity vs Value 27

28. to turning the sun’s energy into power to
run your ceiling fan.
As there are an enormous (and
ever-increasing) set of possible ways to
create value, how do we decide which
type to pursue? Is each way of creating
value as useful to us as another?
Peter Thiel doesn’t think so. In his
incredibly useful book, Zero to One, he
talks about the conditions of a successful
business. All businesses must create
value, but some types of value (and
methods of value creation) are more
useful than others. His book is
summarized in this talk at Stanford:
Creating value by producing a
commoditized product is not a pathway
to success. Think about the
substitutability of your product or service:
Do customers have a wide array of other
options? Do they have to make a
purchase at all? Are you meaningfully
distinct from your competitors?
If your industry is in competitive
equilibrium, the death of your business
wouldn’t matter to the world: some other
undifferentiated competitor will always be
ready to take your place.
This is the condition for most businesses
— what they sell is not unique, but
generally substitutable. If you want to
create the kind of value that builds a
lasting and successful business, Thiel says
you must be unique:
All happy companies are different: each
one earns a monopoly by solving a unique
problem.
To solve that unique problem, you must
develop unique skills or processes:
In the real world outside of economic
theory, every business is successful
exactly to the extent that it does
something others cannot.
This set of ideas is really to lead-in to
studying Competitive Advantage, the
‘how’ of developing and delivering on this
unique value proposition. What does your
business do that others can’t match?
Thanks to Victor Sowers and Itamar
Goldminz for recommending this set of
Peter Thiel’s ideas!
Note: Delivering a commoditized product
with a radically improved cost structure is
certainly a Low-Cost Competitive
Advantage, and is a very worthwhile
method of value creation.
Value Creation Chain (through an
Organization)
For a visual way to consider value
creation, let’s take a look at Porter’s
Not All Value is Created
Equal
Equity vs Value 28

29. Value Chain. The Harvard Business
School Professor generalizes all business
processes and shows each contributes to
the organizations goal to create value for
customers:
These ‘Primary Activities’ are the process
alluded to in our first definition from
Beinhocker, which do the ‘work’ to create
the value that customers are paying for:
Inbound logistics — These are all the
processes related to receiving, storing, and
distributing inputs internally. Your supplier
relationships are a key factor in creating value
here.
Operations — These are the transformation
activities that change inputs into outputs that
are sold to customers. Here, your operational
systems create value.
Outbound logistics — These activities
deliver your product or service to your
customer. These are things like collection,
storage, and distribution systems, and they
may be internal or external to your
organization.
Marketing and sales — These are the
processes you use to persuade clients to
purchase from you instead of your
competitors. The benefits you offer, and how
well you communicate them, are sources of
value here.
Service — These are the activities related to
maintaining the value of your product or
service to your customers, once it’s been
purchased.
Any business will have some version of each
of these activities, even if it’s just a
one-person service company. This set of
primary activities are the foundation for
creating value as an organization.
Equity vs Value 29
Figure 1: Porter’s Generic Value Chain
Firm Infrastructure
Human Resource Management
Technology Development
Procurement
Inbound
Logistics
Outbound
Logistics
Marketing
& Sales Servics
Operations
M
a
r
g
i
n
M
a
r
g
i
n
Primary Activities
Support
Activities

30. Historic Value Creation
This infographic from Funders and
Founders summarizes the long history of
a wide variety of human attempts at value
creation. ng, from opening a
This is a point raised by Jack Hughes in his
piece in the Harvard Business Review,
contributed by Victor Sowers, called What
Value Creation Will Look Like in the
Future: The value of products and
services today is based more and more
on creativity — the innovative ways that
they take advantage of new materials,
technologies, and processes. Value
creation in the past was a function of
economies of industrial scale: mass
production and the high efficiency of
repeatable tasks.
Value creation in the future will be
based on economies of creativity: mass
customization and the high value of
bringing a new product or service
improvement to market; the ability to find
a solution to a vexing customer problem;
or, the way a new product or service is
sold and delivered.
“We need to understand how to
manage creativity as well as we do
managing effort today.”
Productivity means we’ve wrung cost out
of our operations. Creativity means we
created more value: we sold X units of
something that didn’t exist before; we
increased the sales of Y not because we
made it cheaper, but because we made it
better or we increased our value to
customers by servicing needs we hadn’t
serviced before. Because our economy is
becoming more fluid, more individualistic,
we need to open up our views on value
and allow for the creative work to take it’s
place with other more mechanical forms
of value creation.
The Evolution of Value Creation
Equity vs Value 30

31. Monica is an innovative, dynamic and
passionate C-level executive. Her most
recent assignment are a CEO of Wish and
Cook and she is also part of Naoris
cybersecurity startup as a Co-founder and
COO. She illuminates the way towards
achieving new successful innovative
technology products and manages their
entrance into the mass market. In the past
she was working as a Business area
security officer for Edwards and she has
spent 8 amazing years in AT&T in multiple
senior roles reporting up to VP levels. She
has an obsession to make a positive
difference in the world. Believing
passionately in freedom, empowerment,
equality and sustainability.
‘’Blockchain and security are
naturally connected, like a strong
handshake, and we will finally see
these complex terms intermingling
to a one true platform.’’
During the last 10 years blockchain was a
dream of true early-adopters,
mathematicians, engineers, innovators,
technologists and startups who held the
keys to this incredible technology.
Nowadays we are facing large
implementation and acknowledgement
across the board, including most FTSE
500 companies. Either investing into this
technology directly as tokens of value or
trying to scale up and secure their
operations by using blockchain-based
aspects adapted to their current business
environments.
“Nobody questions the value of
blockchain anymore. Everyone is
trying to hop on this fast-moving
boat which has already left the
harbor.’’
Co-Founder of Naoris
Blockchain-based cybersecurity
Monica Oravcova
Equity vs Value 31

32. In 2010, Justyna Osowska’s long-held
interest in data and databases, and her
background in IT morphed naturally into a
fascination with blockchain technology. A
Research Intern for Foreign Affairs at the
time, Justyna put her research skills to use
as she deep dived into the blockchain and
soon increased her knowledge and
experience to the point that she became a
recognized subject matter expert.
Since then, Justyna has been featured on
the Innovative Economy and the Wild
West Crypto Show where she discussed
the state of cryptocurrency, and she
regularly has speaking engagements and
interacts with the media within the
blockchain space in Canada and the
world. She has gone on to become the
founder of Women in Blockchain Canada
an organization dedicated to inspiring
women to become involved in blockchain
technology through educational
conferences, social networking, and
workshops.
‘’The world is entering a new era
of digital empowerment and
decentralized networks. Blockchain
allows for a decentralized system
to empower users to have trust
between each other. This is a
revolution that has never been
seen before and the world will
never be the same again.’’
Women in Blockchain Canada
differentiates itself by collaborating with
the University of Nicosia, global leaders in
blockchain education and research since
2013. Further, the organization has already
collaborated with startup incubators
including Invest Ottawa and Bonjour
Montreal to host events in Ottawa and
Montreal on topics including social impact
and the use cases of blockchain.
‘’Blockchain solves the tragedy of
the commons and will help
humanity put value on assets
current society
takes for granted. The use cases of
blockchain are boundless and
I keep smiling knowing they grow
by the day!’’
Equity vs Value 32
Founder and CEO at Women in
Blockchain Canada, Passion for Data,
Entrepreneurship, Marketing and
Blockchain Technology
Justyna Osowska

33. So with value created in various ways —
how can it be uniformly measured? Is it
possible to create comparisons between
value created in a variety of ways through
different processes?
Value Creation as Revenue
The most simplistic way to measure value
creation is through Revenue. This
measure ensures that the process of
value undertaken wasn’t worthless, if
someone is willing to pay for it.
Revenue is the measure of value creation
— not profit. A company can create value
without creating a profit, and many do.
But they don’t do it for long.
Peter Thiel shows this in Zero to One:
Even very big businesses can be bad
businesses. For example, the US airline
companies serve millions of customers
and create hundreds of billions of dollars
or value each year. Compare them to
Google, which creates less value, but
How Value Creation
is Measured
captures far more. Google brought in $50
Billion in 2012 (versus $195 Billion
Revenue for the airlines).
Revenue is not the perfect measure of
value creation — only the simplest. What
Revenue really measures is a floor for
value creation. The total value created
cannot be LESS than the revenue it
generated. Here’s why…
An academic paper contributed by
Robert Hacker was instrumental for me
in understanding this concept. Written by
Bowman & Ambrosini, Value Creation
Versus Value Capture has explored the
possible methods of measurement of
value and created important distinctions.
If something is purchased, the customer
perceives a consumer surplus >0, or they
wouldn’t make the exchange. So the total
value created is the price paid, AND the
perceived value of the consumer surplus.
In graphic form:
Exchange Value vs.
Perceived Use Value
Equity vs Value 33
Total monetary value A
Total monetary value B
Consumer
Surplus A
Price A
Product A
Total monetary value A
Consumer
Surplus C
Price C
Product C
Consumer
Surplus B
Price B
Figure 1. Total monetary value, price and consumer surplus
Product B
Total monetary value B
Consumer
Surplus D
Price D
Product D

34. Sajida Zouarhi began her career in 2014
as a research engineer at Orange Labs
and the Computer Science Lab of
Grenoble on critical data transmission
across complex and heterogeneous
networks. In 2015 she co-founded the
Kidner Project, a privacy-preserving
distributed matching system for kidney
transplants.
“En redonnant le pouvoir au
citoyen, la blockchain constitue un
bien commun » - By giving back
power to the citizens, the
blockchain is a common good.”
She worked as a blockchain architect with
leaders in the field such as Consensys
where she co-founded HellHound in
2018, a decentralized blind computation
platform. In 2019 as the youngest
executive board member, she became
chief technology strategist of Nomadic
Labs, a Tezos core R&D center. In 2020,
she created Philea, a DAO-based platform
leveraging DeFi for sustainable social
impact. In all her projects, Sajida strives to
achieve her vision of Web3: reconciling
transparency and privacy to create a web
that is economically fair and respectful of
the user-citizen's rights.
As a pioneer of the blockchain ecosystem
in France and an internationally
recognized blockchain expert, she was
named by Forbes Top 40 most influential
women in France in 2019. “As an
engineer, saving lives is the
biggest thing you can do with your
career” ROI doesn’t
have to be about money and financial
gain, it can also be about the number of
lives saved and social impact. The sooner
we understand this, the sooner we can
start shifting our business models to
foster innovation in fields that will benefit
to people. “La monnaie a toujours
été une illusion sociale. Qu’il
s’agisse de dollars, d’euros, ou de
bitcoins… ce sont les gens
qui attribuent la valeur à la
monnaie.”
Blockchain Engineer
Currently Product Manager at
Consensys on Besu Mainnet
Client for Ethereum
Sajida Zouarhi
Equity vs Value 34

35. What Is Perceived Value?
In marketing terminology, perceived value
is the customers' evaluation of the merits
of a product or service, and its ability to
meet their needs and expectations,
especially in comparison with its peers.
Marketing professionals try to influence
consumers' perceived value of a product
by describing the attributes that make it
superior to the competition.
Perceived value is a customer's own
perception of a product or service's merit
or desirability to them, especially in
comparison to a competitor's product.
Perceived value is measured by the price
the public is willing to pay for a good or
service.
The marketing of a product or service
involves attempting to influence and
increase its perceived value, which can
emphasize qualities such as its aesthetic
design, accessibility, or convenience.
Understanding Perceived
Value:
Perceived value comes down to the price
the public is willing to pay for a good or
service. Even a snap decision made in a
store aisle involves an analysis of a
Equity vs Value 35
product's ability to fulfill a need and
provide satisfaction compared to other
products under different brand names.
The work of the marketing professional is
to enhance the perceived value of the
brand they are selling.
The pricing of products takes perceived
value into consideration. In some cases,
the price of a product or service may have
more to do with its emotional appeal than
with the actual cost of production.
Types of Perceived Utility
Value:
Marketers who want to influence the
perceived value of a product define its
attributes in terms of its utility, or the
extra benefits and values that the
customer expects to get in using it. The
perceived utility of many products and
services may differ widely even among
similar or virtually identical products.
There are five types of utilities that
companies aim to create through
marketing campaigns for products:
Form utility is the aesthetic appeal of the
physical design of a product. Even a
utilitarian product like a frying pan can
increase in perceived value because of its
appealing design.

36. Task utility is the value attached to a
service that saves the customer time,
effort, or money. Car detailing shops and
laundry services offer utility value.
Time utility refers to the ease of access to
a service or product, such as 24-hour
service compared to 9-to-5 hours.
Place utility is the convenience of the
location, like a fast-food outlet that's
around the corner compared to a
restaurant that's 20 miles away.
Possession utility refers to the ease of
purchasing the product.
A department store that features online
ordering, home delivery, or in-store
pickup is aiming for possession utility.
Special Considerations of
Perceived Value:
A company's brand is meant to
communicate a set of expectations
associated with its products or services.
That's why a well-established brand can
command a higher price than its generic
equivalents. Advil and Motrin both contain
ibuprofen, but both brands are priced
higher than generic ibuprofen.
Luxury goods, however, carry the
perception of value to another level with
the addition of prestige. The highest value
of luxury goods is not associated with
their utility but with the prestige that
owning and using it entails. The perceived
value of a Rolex watch is not based on its
functionality but with its image as a mark
of personal success and refined taste.
At the opposite end of the scale, some
brands are marketed as smart bargains.
The perceived value of a product may be
its low price in comparison with
competitors of equal quality.
Equity vs Value 36

37. Loretta Joseph Financial Services
Commission Fintech Consultant Currently
Loretta is the fintech consultant at the
Financial Services Commission (Mauritius)
and is a board member of the Regional
Centre of excellence (Mauritius) in
collaboration with the OECD on Fintech.
Loretta is an external resource to GIABA,
she regularly advises a number of global
organisations on responsible adoption of
financial technology across policy makers,
governments and industry, specifically
blockchain. She has previously advised
OECD and OSCE on digital assets and
their impact in AML/CFT.
MD of Lo-Jo Consulting. She was the
fintech and regulatory consultant to the
Government of Bermuda, presently,
Serbia and the Premier office of South
Australia . Loretta sits on the papal
council of Humanity 2.0 the Developed in
collaboration with the Dicastery for
Promoting Integral Human Development
at the Holy See and a consortium of
leaders and luminaries.
‘’Own three assets bitcoin (digital
gold), real gold and real estate.’’
Loretta is a highly dynamic, skilled
banking, financial and consulting
professional with over 25 years in
financial markets and related sectors. She
has a worked for major investment banks
at Board, MD or senior management level
throughout Asia and India including, RBS
(India), Macquarie Group (India), Deutsche
Bank, Credit Suisse and Elara Capital
(India), Spanning a long career, Loretta
has tremendous exposure to global
financial markets, multiple asset classes
and emerging market environments.
Loretta has advised many international
banks, global hedge and pension funds
Fintech advisor FSC, RCE board in
collaboration with OECD, senior
advisor Digital assets FIU Nigeria.
Advisory board member The
future of Finance ADC of
Cybersecurity council
Loretta Joseph
Equity vs Value 37

38. on managing portfolio and exposure to
derivatives and related products. For the
last decade, she has been paramount in
successful transaction facilitation for
Foreign Investors in India and other
emerging markets.
She has operated in many multi-cultural
organisations. Loretta sits on the advisory
board of UWS (Business School), Blume
Ventures (India). She is also an adjunct
‘’Equities to overvalued and
blockchain startups are great but
be prepare to lose your principle’’
fellow at UWS (Australia). She was
previously Director of market
development at SSX, is a Lifetime fellow of
ADDCA (Australian Digital Currency and
Commerce Association) chair of the
Sebian blockchain Association.
Collaboration brings value and is
now the new survival.
Blockchain technology is about data. Over
2 billion humans do not have access to
banking because they do not have
identification. Blockchain presents an
opportunity to give identification to
billions of us without it – allowing for
greater value and equity access.
Collaboration brings value and is now the
new survival. All we need is for
governments, policy makers, and industry
tech giants to adopt this new technology
so humanity can derive from equitable
opportunities.
In regards to equity proprietary founders
should keep a proportional amount of
equity to keep their vision. When it comes
to benefits of value - value distribution is
important
Now that Blockchain is becoming more
mainstream, equal ownership can be
gained through decentralisation and
provides more equality to the world. The
internet democratised Media and bitcoin
is democratising money.
With DeFi and automated system capital
markets are evolving into more fair,
equitable capital structures and is evolving
into a democratic way of investing.
Give incentive models over investors to
keep capital vested to ensure there is
operational capacity.
My advice would be 2-3 yrs straight
buyout, dilution isn’t the answer for most
founders as your vision gets diluted as
does your equity strategies, I think bonds
with yields so flat should be a long term
strategy/
Equity vs Value 38

39. A former Canadian Diplomat, Katherine
specialized in climate and human security
for nearly a decade before she began
collaborating on initiatives at the nexus of
innovation, policy and sustainable
development out of Switzerland in 2004
She has held leadership or advisory roles
at global climate and impact innovation
and entrepreneurship programs,
initiatives and partnerships including the
EU Climate-KIC, the World Bank, the
Green Digital Finance Alliance, the UN
Secretary General Task Force on Digital
Finance for the SDGs, several startup and
has just been nominated to Consultative
Working Group of ESMA’s Financial
Innovation Standing Committee and the
EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum.
She currently serves as the Executive
Strategy Advisor of the Open Earth
Foundation (USA) and as a lead
consultant on the UN Dialogue Papers on
Digital Currencies and on Big Fintech
Impacts on Sustainable Development.
We generally have these formalized bios
and they do not reflect the professional
and personal elements that underpin our
career shifts. Yet for me these
underpinned my path towards working in
emerging technology and impact
innovation. I left the Canadian Foreign
Service after my country withdrew from
Kyoto having served as the climate and
multilateral representative to the USA. I
could not support the new policy and I
was turning 39, wanting to start my family.
I moved to Switzerland where my kids
were born and raised, and used the
opportunity to leverage my climate,
human security, sustainable development
diplomacy experience along with my
environmental management education to
begin building out innovation initiatives in
Switzerland. I undertook any contract or
role to deepen my knowledge and joined
the EU Climate-KIC asin 2013, initially as
the Innovation Lead for Switzerland and
then as the Business Development Lead
one of its four thematic pillars across
Europe. I spearheaded key partnerships
and initiatives for the EU program which
Executive Strategy Officer of
Open Earth Foundation / Lead
Katherine Foster
Equity vs Value 39

40. has, to date, accelerated over 1000
startups and 300 collaborations and saw
first-hand the integrated nature of impact
and equity as well as the barriers to
elevating and funding impact initiatives
and the issues around equity and value.
I had to leave my position with the EU
Climate-KIC in 2017 when my family
moved to Washington DC for my spouse’s
diplomatic posting to the World Bank
Group by the Swiss Government. Again I
bridged my experience with my long
standing interest in emerging
technologies and blockchain to make a
career shift. I joined forces with one of
the startups I was coaching, Blockchain
Labs for Open Collaboration (BLOC)
serving as Chief Strategy Officer and as
team lead for the 2018 MIT Solve
Fellowship for its maritime fuel traceability
solution. I went on to serve as a
consultant for the World Bank Carbon
Markets Blockchain Pilot and as Chief
Intelligence Officer for the Green Digital
Finance Alliance (UNEP-Ant Fianancial
NGO) focusing on fintech for sustainable
finance and emerging technology for
climate and SDGs including as knowledge
partner and sherpa to the UN Secretary
General Task Force on Digital Finance for
the SDGs. In my role with GDFA I became
keenly aware that there are three tracks
that need to be integrated: green finance,
fintech and emerging technology for
Sustainable Development.
In my current roles with the Open Earth
Foundation we are crossing these silos
and focusing on Earth Systems
approaches with an emphasis on open
collaboration. If we think of the current
blockchain impact solutions as separate
websites, we are building out the internet
that connects those important projects.
I am examining these impacts at a more
holistic level in my current papers for the
UN Dialogue.
‘’The current impact landscape is
building out in separate tracks of
green finance, fintech and emerging
technology for sustainable
development. And these need to be
purposefully merged to scale impact
and connect that to equity and value
of the innovations and services.’’
‘’The current challenge in the
emerging technology space is that
we are building out within the same
paradigms and culture that created
the inequalities we are trying to
address with blockchain and thereby
perpetuating silos and the gap
between equity and value of impact.’’
The combined narrative of the
Fourth Industrial Revolution and of
Digital Inclusion is premised on the
enabling capacity of achieving the
SDGs through emerging technology.
And while the overall impact is
generally positive, there are broader
risks addressed due to the integration
of services, business models and value
chains particularly of Big Fintechs and
particularly for developing countries.
Equity vs Value 40

41. Genevieve led AgriLedger’s collaboration
with Haiti’s Ministry of Commerce and
Industry to deliver a Distributed Ledger
Technology pilot sponsored by the World
Bank.
Genevieve was nominated by the
Financial Times to the top 100 BAME in
UK technology in 2019 and was a named
a winner of the ComputerWeekly 2020
Women in Software and one of the top
five finalist for Quesnay’s Female
Founders in FinTech 2019. She has
spoken on emerging technologies at
numerous high-profile conferences
around the world.
It is always best to ask for a base and get
'' As a solo founder the inverse of this
is that there are many times people
come to ride on our coat tails and do
not deliver what they promised.”
to an agreement. This can be a low
amount of equity that will increase based
on milestones being met most
importantly by the securing of investment
and/or capital injections in the form of
new business and grants.
It is important to figure out for oneself
what is fair in terms of equity and then
put a formal ask where maybe you get a
non-dilution share amount and then add
the difference as you meet the milestones
and expand the business.
“The key truth that everyone knows
is that 100% of 0 is ZERO. So giving a
share to grow the value is crucial. ”
Startup Life to me is worse than a
marriage, as you cannot get that divorce
fast at times and the sweat and tears can
be so difficult.
Innovative Entrepreneur
Global Speaker
2019 FT Top 100 BAME in
Technology in UK
2020 FDM Everywoman Finalist
Genevieve Leveille
Equity vs Value 41

42. 1. Can they do the job?
2. Can I trust them?
“Without a plan one is just kicking
a ball down the road.”
think one needs to realise that founders
see their companies as their baby. Like a
child you suffer to carry it and birth it. As
such, when someone comes in and says I
want to support you with your child care,
you worry:
So like a parent, one is very cautious.
However, that does not mean that you do
not realise you need the help.
Let’s recall that Jeff Besos did not have an
exit plan!
When one builds something, the first
thought is not about looking for a way
out. What one looks for is the ability and
aspiration to grow and evolve.
It is evident that a plan is required.
This is not about “exit plans” but a plan for
delivery and deployment which entails
both risk appetite and capitalisation.
This capital plan could entail VC (capitalist
or catalyst) and your growth.
The topic in question is not about the
founder, but around the value. What
needs to change?
In my point of view, Exit is also what
happens if one were to die tomorrow - so
a succession plan is required. This is part
of running a business. But that does not
mean an exit by getting someone else to
buy from me. We need to adequately plan
for the right insurance to be in place,
something which is missing for most
startups.
Equity vs Value 42

43. Lubna is a result-oriented leader,
visionary, & enabler backed by 25+ years
of identifying & delivering innovation. She
thrives in complex, rapidly scaling, high
energy & groundbreaking environments;
bringing proven commercial skills,
uncanny foresight, & a gift for motivating
teams. Her enthusiasm & drive are both
contagious & inspiring, energizing every
moment with spontaneity & passion.
As an international speaker & author,
Lubna publishes viewpoints on the
opportunities created at the intersection
of disruptive tech from, distributed
ledgers, self-sovereign identity, ICO token
design & AI to data visualization, (AR/VR) &
digital fabrication; such technologies
when combined, are fueling the new wave
of innovation. Her insights into data
science, mobility, cryptography,
authentication, security, HMI & other
emerging tech help her create digital &
organizational transformation in a vast
array of industries & companies from
start-ups to multi-billion dollar, including
nonprofits & NGOs.
She regularly shares her lessons learned
to inspire & support young professionals
who are following STE(A)M. She is a
founder, board member & advisor of
several organizations including Music
TechFest, AEC Hackathon, & Mobile
Monday & others. Often described as a
consummate professional, unique thinker,
charismatic influencer, creative designer,
trusted advisor, vivacious, witty,
inspirational & smart. They said, in
essence
“Look, I don't really know where we
should take this bus. But I know this
much: If we get the right people on
Digital Innovation OG, Design
Thinker, Trusted Advisor,
NED Girls in STEAM Champion,
Social Investor, Connector,
KindHuman
Lubna Dajani
Equity vs Value 43

44. the bus, the right people in the right
seats, and the wrong people off the bus,
then we'll figure out how to take it
someplace great.” Jim Collins, Good to
Great, Why Some Companies Take
The Leap.”
There are several factors that impact the
level of success of any endeavor,
especially an innovation based startup.
Perhaps most importantly to succeed,
secondly to believe in oneself and thirdly
your vision as an entrepreneur to be well
matched with a team who have a shared
sense of purpose.
If the past 12 months of Covid lockdowns,
has taught us anything; it is how fast
things can change. How important it is to
recognise when your assumptions or
dependencies are challenged, and to have
the elasticity and agility necessary to
adapt when needed.
Even in “normal” times, growing a
successful company is never free of
unexpected twists, turns and pains and
often takes longer than planned. It is
therefore important for the founding
team to agree, how the company is to be
structured and ran, how shares and
options may be issued and even explore
what would trigger an exit.
“It is always easier to reach
agreements early with understanding of
the funding growth, potential dilution
or exit triggers and strategies.”
It is also important to consider if and
when to seek external funding, and what
type (organic, grants, loans, Angel, VC,
etc.). Make sure you create an agreement
on a success metrics, desired outcomes,
and individual gives and asks.
Equity vs Value 44

45. Josina (Josy) is the first holder of a Ph.D.
specialized in blockchain in Portugal. In
her thesis, she focused on blockchain as a
new social and financial model and
analyzed the impacts this technology
would have on business models and the
ecosystem. By conducting expert
interviews and publishing a survey, she
was able to amass results from 49
countries and, thus, build a database.
“Blockchain creates opportunities
for different agents and
stakeholders. This instrument
is easily transferable to various
sectors and industries. Blockchain
has the power to resize the global
financial market through
its characteristics.”
Before starting as an investigator in 2016
to formalize her knowledge in blockchain
as a tool, she worked for over 20 years in
the corporate world as a Marketing &
Finance Director and as a Consultant &
Advisor for several enterprises.
During this time, in 2011, while developing
a project for the entry of a global brand in
Latin America, namely in Brazil, she used
escrow agreements as a financial
protection instrument for the transaction.
Josy identified the possibility of this tool
becoming a smart contract. However, this
position was still an avant-guard for the
financial market. Josy, with her experience
as a consultant and with clients, started to
observe and experiment with blockchain
in sectors that started to immediately gain
with innovation.
She then became a mentor for start-ups
and fundraised by preparing decks that
Blockchain Ph.D. Public Speaker.
Advisor. Top 25 Blockchain Speaker
Josina Rodrigues
Equity vs Value 45

46. reflected the strategy of each business.
With her experience, she believes that
human capital is blockchain’s
differentiator and added value for
businesses.
“The conceptualization of equity
proprietary, benefits of value,
and equal ownership change
when using a business model
that uses blockchain infrastructure.”
At this moment, with regulatory definitions
and legislation, in an (almost)
post-pandemic era where we have to
overcome and experience
never-seen-before challenges, blockchain
is definitely a tool for redesigning your
business.
Josy is currently a blockchain trainer at
Blockchain SVCS, a digital business
transformation and blockchain specialist
for companies and startups, as well as a
lecturer and advisor at various institutions
and VCs. Furthermore, she is an
international speaker and member of the
Academic Advisory Body at INATBA
(International Association of Trusted
Blockchain Applications).
Josy is open and available as an advisor
and consultant for your business in
particular, as she is able to clearly and
objectively explain the costs and benefits
of this new framework for your business
model with blockchain.
Equity vs Value 46

47. talks about exit plans. Whilst including an
exit plan for the investor is reasonable,
planning for my own exit is very sad for
me personally.
I'd have a tough time thinking how I’ll
become irrelevant for the business I
created from scratch.
Maybe people have started thinking too
much about making money instead of
creating value. “Value should bring
profit with it.” I feel the next generation
will change that slowly.
It would be great if contractual
agreements were based more on value
than equity.
Unfortunately, many founders are pushed
in a different direction once they have to
finance.
Private Investor at Aggero
Veronica Mihai
Mentor for individuals interested in
starting/growing their career in
blockchain, crypto and fintech. Public
speaker supporting the narrative for BTC
adoption and financial services
decentralisation and inclusion.
Angel investor in tech and blockchain
start-ups, former hedge fund co-founder
and enterprise grade cryptocurrency
mining farm entrepreneur.
“VC’s care about profits and how
they’ll make their exits.”
You’ll find that exits are a must especially
if going to VC funding. Your passion and
your plans for expansion are not always
their priority.
They care about profits and how they’ll
make their exits. Before we realised, this
became the norm and now everybody
Equity vs Value 47

48. DPhil (or PhD) in Engineering Science with
an interest in machine learning applied to
finance.
Currently I am working on the relevance
of measuring the effectiveness of financial
crime controls in the presence of a
growth of the mobile payments market
that promotes financial inclusion.
This study is particularly important during
the covid-19 pandemic health crisis that
has accelerated the shift towards digital
payments.
Due to the interdisciplinary nature of
financial inclusion, to provide a significant
solution it is required an overall
perspective that incorporates the
technical and social issues e.g. cultural,
geographic, financial and regulatory
context.
Within a sustainable mindset, businesses
can be both profitable and socially
responsible.
Researcher at Ealax
Tesco Commercial Finance Analyst
DPhil Engineering Science (Oxford)
FCA/AIR Alliance TechSprint
Miroslawa
Alunowska Figueroa
Exploring decentralization solutions,
from reclaimed water systems to
digital economy, can help
communities.
If we think outside the box, companies
can solve social and environmental
challenges, while ultimately making
money.
Equity vs Value 48

49. Equity Proprietary
Benefits of Value
Equal Ownership
Capital Markets
Vesting Shares
Buy Out / Dillution Strategies
Bonds
KEY TAKEAWAYS: