BoSUSA25 | Pierre Chamberland | Just Make Everyone a Shareholder

What if you made every employee a shareholder? Pierre shares his unconventional journey building Netgovern, a SaaS company where 90% of employees owned stock.

The results: extraordinary retention, customers who stayed because of the people, and an exit where staff shared in the rewards. Attendees will learn why employee ownership isn’t just a feel-good idea – it drives transparency, financial literacy, accountability, and investability. Expect candid lessons on the mechanics, the challenges, and why the ‘cost’ is far outweighed by the ROI. You will learn why Pierre believes employee ownership builds companies worth owning and we expect his talk to stimulate lively conversation.

1. Just Make
Everyone a
Shareholder!
The best investment
you'll ever make
Bonus: A.I. acceleration
for your company

2. How this all
started...
Accidental PMF
leading to Founder
Chaos
“The story you are
about to hear is true.
Only the names have
been changed to
protect the innocent”

3. •
•
•
Radically simple:
Everyone would have a
stake in the outcome
Fully transparent: Open
the books, eliminate info
asymmetry
Brutally difficult: Nothing
prepared me... living in a
glass house is tough
From the recovery, a new
vision/journey took shape...
www.ggob.com

4. Conventional
route:
A) Raise VC : $$$ / lose control / offer
limited option pool
B) Bootstrap : No $$$ / options /
phantom stock / profit share
Unconventional
path:
C) Offer employee ownership: de-risk
your business / increase engagement &
alignment

5. If your goal is a 2-year flip,
don’t even bother
If you want to build a
strong company &
enduring culture that will
last decades, shared
ownership is a very
powerful foundation.

6. •
•
•
When employee
ownership is real, you
have aligned co-owners.
You will have a business
of businesspeople, who
will care deeply.
Contrast with external
investors who will often
force sub-optimal
decisions.
Actual equity transforms
employees into co-owners,
and co-owners into business
partners.

7. Why?
Neuroscience of Trust
“Joy at work comes
purpose-driven work
with a trusted team”
•
•
•
•
74% less stress
50% higher productivity
76% more engagement
40% less burnout

8. Making it real in 3 phases:
2008 - 2015: Stock Ownership
2015 - 2017: New CEO, Options replace Stock
2018 - 2020: Pivot & Acquisition

13. NetGovern
Manifesto
Transparency
Driven Culture:
•
•
•
Radical Honesty
Full Accountability
Implicit Trust

14. Complexity is the enemy of Enthusiasm
•
•
•
One class of shares
One currency: actual stock + voting trust
90% of employees instantly became shareholders
Did people understand the value?
You had to believe and participate.

15. •
•
•
How much profit from a
$50,000 sale?
What do you think my
CEO salary is?
If your salary is $80,000,
how much do you cost
the company?
Pop Quiz...

16. Teaching Financial Literacy








Open-book management: Taught P&L basics, cash flow, balance
sheet.
No GAAP, No EBITDA, Cash Accounting
Weekly Huddles, Monthly Financial reports / Q&A.
Employees truly understood how the business worked.
Paid attention to our Pareto clients
Co-workers would challenge decisions and drive improvement.
Equity ranking, bank balances & more all public
Result: Transparency AND Vulnerability AND Uncomfortability

17. Simplicity works
best
•
•
•
Track to a specific
day i.e. October 5th
Declare the upside
for everyone
Encourages
intelligent over-
achievement

18. Once upon a time
in Tech Support...

19. Smooth
sailing?
•
•
“It was frustrating when
peers mistook ownership
as giving them permission
to make decisions that
would solely benefit
themselves” - Stephanie /
Head of Talent
“You barely started
something that it got
questioned. Your team
sees, and points out
failures quickly. So you
need double grit” -
Frederic / CTO

20. •
◦
◦
•
•
Simple, imperfect, but
powerful
No detractors allowed
Ownership =
Participation
Company bought back
shares on departures,
zero upside
Departures led to broken
personal relationships
Retrospective

21. Phase 2 - A new CEO
•
•
•
•
Deems current structure "un-investable"
Caps Stock plan, replaces it with options that people
can buy when leaving
Set strike price on options
Value of stock & options now very real
Phase 3 - Boomerang / Pivot / Acquisition

22. •
•
•
•
Employee tenure over 10
years, 16 for execs
Customers loved talking
to "owners" at every level
Customer intimacy &
trust were our
superpowers
PE was impressed by our
financial reporting -
accelerated diligence
Valuation
impact -
25%
upside

23. The ROI...
•
•
•
•
Structure at sale - 50 / 25
/ 25
$1M invested in the
process
$15M in wealth creation
for employee co-owners,
90% of company
Engagement and
alignment you simply
cannot buy with external
funding

24. Sharing Wealth
Life-Changing outcomes for Employees
•
•
•
•
Mortgages paid off
College funds created
Retirement funded
Lifelong financial literacy

25. Advice
•
•
Transformative ownership is a 10+
year process
Staying committed to the process is
tough
Be ready to be really transparent which
may really uncomfortable at first. Its
gets everyone to be "all in", and go the
distance, always. People become ardent
defenders of the culture - Stephanie,
Head of Talent.

26. A.I. Acceleration???
•
•
•
Financial Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence
Growth Intelligence
Helped build a company & culture that was
ultra-resilient. Without ownership, 99%
chance that we would have blown up
Process created "Actual" Intelligence

27. Build a Company worth
owning, for everyone
It’s hard, costs money, energy, and heart.
•The value-add was difficult to recognize through all
the small, incremental improvements. But it made a
HUGE difference in the long run - Nick Stefan VP R&D

28. Just make
everyone a
shareholder...
Thank you
[email protected]