With Broccoli, entrepreneurs attract (growth) capital through sharefunding: a healthy alternative to traditional financing. Alissa Van Tongerloo, corporate lawyer, is regularly involved with it and is enthusiastic. Wouter Hagoort, one of the founders of Broccoli, sat down with her.
"Our office is completely carbon-neutral. And for the past few years, we have had a transition team in which specialists from different fields of law work closely together on legal issues relating to sustainability"
Companies of tomorrow
Alissa has been a lawyer with Holla legal & tax for 7.5 years. Because corporate law is her speciality, she mainly deals with (commercial) contracts, company transactions, investments and mergers and acquisitions.
Alissa: "But I am also a member of our transition team, where we work together with specialists from various fields of law to build the companies of tomorrow. We focus on sustainability, energy transition and the circular economy. We are one of the few law firms in the Netherlands to be ISO 9001 and 14001 certified. And Holla as an office is completely carbon-neutral. In addition, we have recently set up a Pro Bono office which organisations pursuing social interests can turn to with legal questions."
Sharefunding as a real co-production
"What I like about our collaboration with Broccoli is that you can see we are all really committed together for the company that wants to sharefund. We shoulder the burden for the entrepreneur so that they can focus on their business. Such a sharefunding project becomes a real co-production, with different professionals in different fields. With sharefunding, the shared goal is crystal clear. And that makes it easier for me as a lawyer to put it down on paper. There is less need to consider conflict of interest scenarios, because everyone has the same mission. That is what makes this form of funding so attractive. On standard projects people each have their own agenda.”
More freedom with a cooperative
Wouter: "How do you view the cooperative model?"
Alissa: "The laws and regulations around cooperatives are less defined than for a private or public limited company. With the right advice, the cooperative model offers you more freedom and endless possibilities. For example, you can set up different arrangements in terms of voting rights for members and depositary receipt holders. Thanks to that differentiation, you as an entrepreneur have the opportunity to offer your ‘shareholders’ just that little bit more, and to engage them just that little bit more, than with regular shareholding. So this model gives you the chance to come up with a tailor-made solution that really suits your business."
Tell us your plans for the next 5 and 10 years. That enables us to help you with a governance structure that is ready for the future.
The future is sustainable
"The sustainability factor is crucial to more and more entrepreneurs. And to more and more advisers. Sustainability is moving ever higher up the corporate agenda. In our transition team we are very happy about that. Every day we try to contribute to that with great projects."
Alissa's tips for entrepreneurs
- Make it very clear to your advisers what you want, but also what you don’t want.
- You’ll be inclined to work with a private limited company structure, but there are many more possibilities.
5.Tell us your plans for the next 5 and 10 years. That enables us to help you with a governance structure that is ready for the future.