in the age of billion dollar-plus
evaluations and splashy IPOs it's rare
to hear a founder say he never wants to
sell his startup or go public that is
the case with Kickstarter over the
weekend the crowdfunding platform
announced it was reincorporating as a
public benefit corporation a distinction
that means the company is now legally
bound to do good for the public joining
me now to explain this move is
kickstarter co-founder and CEO gansley
Strickler with me from New York Yancey
really interesting to hear you know the
way you guys made this decision first of
all why are you doing this and how did
you how did you come to decide that you
were indeed going to reincorporate well
this is actually something we've been
working towards from the very beginning
we were always very focused on building
an organization that reflected our I our
ideals and was trying to chart its own
course a public benefit corporation
didn't exist the way that it does now we
first started Kickstarter you know six
plus years ago and so when Delaware
passed the law in 2013 where a company
could become a public benefit
corporation we were excited to take that
step and so we've drafted a charter
that's available on our website today
Kickstarter slash charter that details
the commitments we are making both to
our community and the public and for the
most part these things just reflect the
way that we've always operated the
company trying to be very values driven
and very idealistic we have a new a new
commitment we announced a day of
donating 5% of our annual post tax
profits and supportive arts of music
education and to organizations fighting
inequality but overall we were excited
to inscribe in the legal founding
documents of the company the sorts of
things that we care about and the sort
of company we want to continue to be you
know there's so much talk of unicorns
right now and I wonder what's your take
on the the path that all of these other
companies are pursuing is it wrong to
pursue a big splashy IPO and what should
the
these companies be doing for the public
good if they go the public route no I
don't think that's wrong at all I think
as an entrepreneur you just have to be
aware from the very beginning what
you're doing it for you know what is the
goal for your organization for us it's
been sustained long-term growth you know
we want to be a service that's around
for a very long time we've thought of
ourselves as operating as if we were a
public trust and so we have the benefit
of taking this step because we have a
revenue model we've been a company
that's operated in the black for the
past five years and we have shareholders
and investors who are deeply believed
the things that we do and so when you
have that sort of alignment at the
management of the investor level you can
make a choice like this you can make a
decision that certainly cost the company
potential profits but we believe is in
the long-term better interest and so for
you know an entrepreneur is just
especially important that you and your
investors have that kind of alignment
where everyone knows exactly what the
outcome you want is and so yes for some
companies that is an exit through a sale
or an IPO and that's traditionally what
venture capital is looking for we always
wanted to do it quite differently and so
we've been fortunate to have great
investors like Union Square Ventures and
Fred Wilson who are aligned around the
same sort of the same sort of approach
you've also got Chris Sacca Jack Dorsey
backing you guys and I'm curious how did
they take this decision and how much
convincing did it take to get them to a
point where they were like okay we're
behind you on this well we've always
been open about who we are and you know
I think that people have enjoyed that I
mean Saka is someone that we have great
respect for and and vice versa you know
we put this this was put out to a vote
among the Kickstarter shareholders which
includes current and former employees
and our investors and there was not a
single dissenting voice this is very
consistent with how we've always
operated and I think collectively we've
felt a sense of pride to be able to make
this statement today and to so clearly
communicate what it is that we stand for
any concerns about how this could impact
your recruiting my expectation is that
this will be very powerful for
recruiting I mean this is a this is a
framing we've given every every person
that we brought in and we've hired them
to be very clear about our values in
way that we think about the long-term
prospects of the business but I strongly
believe that this is gonna attract a
certain sort of person to us and so you
know we are regularly bringing in high
quality talent and we pay market
salaries and you know we have a great
team of just over a hundred here in New
York City and I think this is just gonna
be a boom for the sorts of candidates
were able to attract and quickly do you
think there's anything more than other
technology companies who maybe they
don't go go for the PVC thing but but
what do you think other technology
companies should be doing to give back
to the community to give back to the
public well I think really reflecting
upon your operations and ensuring a
consistency is very important you know
you don't want to be professing one
value in one channel and actually doing
something quite different elsewhere for
people who are starting companies now
young entrepreneurs I would consider
them to can consider I would encourage
them to kids that are becoming a benefit
corporation from the start that way
you're able to identify those values
from the very beginning you don't have a
shareholder vote and actually doesn't
restrict you in any real ways you're
still a for-profit company if we have
that the option to do that you know ten
years ago we would have interesting
stuff Yancey Strickland thank you so
much for joining us today on Bloomberg
West's Kickstarter co-founder and CEO