Capital Units is a governance method for recognising, measuring and recording the value that arises from relationships, commitment and know-how, alongside paid-in capital. The model is open: anyone can read it, discuss it and adopt it.
Four quadrants, not one
Risk capital remains a pillar of the enterprise. But alongside it, every day, a web of energies is at work that the traditional corporate framework has no tools to record: the contract won through a colleague's network, the technical solution that cuts costs, the dedication that goes beyond one's remit.
If money is one of four pillars, then it is worth a quarter of the overall value. This is where the system's unit of measure comes from.
Money
Financial capital, the only kind that currently makes it into the figures.
Relationships
The network of talent, partners, clients and investors activated for the company.
Commitment
Overperformance, strategic dedication, time given beyond one's remit.
Know-how
Technical and operational solutions, processes, expertise made available.
€4 of value generated = 1 Capital Unit
A payment of €10,000 generates 2,500 units. An action whose estimated impact is worth €20,000 generates 5,000. The ratio is fixed: a unit is not a currency that fluctuates, it is a container of constant measure.
The life of a unit
Units do not accumulate for ever. They are allocated by a decision of the board, then follow one of two paths: they are converted when they produce a benefit, or they are compressed if they stand still. It is not a loop, it is a fork in the road.
- Allocation
- Conversion
- Compression
When the accounts are closed, the board of directors reviews the year's stories of value, makes a prudent estimate of their impact in euros and resolves on the allocations. The approval of the financial statements also becomes the moment when the company publicly recognises those who have contributed.
Converting one's units — into cash, into equity, into a stake in a project, into benefits — extinguishes them. Whoever cashes in starts again from zero and is back in play for the following year.
Units left idle beyond one financial year are compressed: the board applies an annual write-down. The signal is simple: value should be kept in circulation, not parked in a position of rent.
Where the money comes from
This is the question that makes any system of this kind either credible or fragile. The answer: a fixed share of distributable net profit is earmarked for a reserve dedicated to unit holders. The 4.76% corresponds to 5 parts out of 105, that is, the additional 5% relative to the starting value.
The existing shareholders give up nothing of their ownership or their votes. They give up a fraction of profit, in the wager that a recognised ecosystem will produce a larger profit.
The reserve is shared among holders in proportion to their active units. Cashing in consumes units at the same ratio: €4 received, 1 unit burned.
The bigger-pie effect
The reserve has a cost, and it is right to say so in figures: on a profit of €100,000 the shareholders forgo €4,760. Nothing compensates for this automatically. The model is a reasoned wager: making the value of relationships, commitment and know-how visible and recognised so that this value grows.
The threshold is precise. If profit rises by 5%, from €100,000 to €105,000, the shareholders' share is worth as much as before; every euro beyond that threshold is a shared gain.
It is the only way the mechanism holds up over time. If the value distributed were not a fraction of additional value generated together, the system would take from some to give to others, and sooner or later it would break.
The scope of the instrument
Four clarifications that define the model as much as its mechanisms do.
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It is not a cryptocurrency
Units are not tradable tokens, they do not sit on a blockchain and they have no secondary market. They are an entry in a company register.
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It is not equity
Ownership, votes and strategic control remain entirely with the shareholders. No dilution, no transfer of shares at each milestone.
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It creates no automatic rights
Allocation and conversion remain discretionary decisions of the board, exercised within the rules the company sets for itself.
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It does not replace your advisers
The Capital Units documents are reference models. Clauses in the articles of association, tax treatment and compliance must always be validated by the company's accountant and notary.
Adopting it
The model is public and anyone may take it and use it as it stands. If instead it needs adapting to a real company, with its own articles, its own board and its own history, the work is done together.
Support with adoption
Defining the scope, adapting the rules, allocation criteria calibrated to the company, preparing the steps through the board and the shareholders' meeting, support during the first annual cycle. The work is done as a project, together with the company's advisers.
For accountants, notaries and lawyers: the framework sheet →
Digital tools
A register of allocations, a personal wallet, collection of contribution reports during the year. They are being built together with the first companies adopting the method: we prefer them to grow out of real use rather than out of the assumptions of a set of rules.
The Foundations
Eighteen pages that explain the model in full: the four quadrants, the cycle of units, the mechanics of the reserve and what it takes to adopt it. It is the document to read before taking the model to the board.
Get involved
Capital Units is not a company's product; it is an open method that needs people to put it to the test. If you would like to contribute — by bringing it into your company, by examining its weak points, by helping to build its tools — write here.
Who we are looking for
- Entrepreneurs and shareholders willing to try the model in their own company.
- Accountants, notaries and lawyers who would like to test its soundness and help make it stronger (the framework sheet is here).
- Consultants and trainers interested in supporting companies through adoption.
- Developers to build the register, the wallet and the digital tools.
This is not a job application and there is no role to fill. It is an expression of interest: we reply to everyone and work out together whether it makes sense to do something.
Let's talk
If you are considering Capital Units for your company, or if the model interests you and you would like to discuss its weak points, write to us. Objections are more useful than agreement.
We reply to everyone, usually within a few days.