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by polishninja 3680 days ago
It looks like Gigster will invest (money, time?) in some companies from a predetermined fund, not Gigster itself. In turn, they will share 1% of their fund equity with all Gigster developers who were active at the time, paying out when a fund company or Gigster liquidity event occurs. They will allocate rights to returns to active Gigster developers over a 1 to 5 year period.

It looks like, as a Gigster developer, you would get 1%/total active Gigster developers. If there were 500 Gigster developers over that 1 to 5 year period, you'd get 1%/500 = 0.002% of a liquidity event depending on Gigster's weighting mechanism. If Gigster's equity stake was 20% in a company that exited for $100 million, you'd receive maybe $40,000 depending on how Gigster determines your weighted percentage.

It's not really even the same league as a 401k or pension, contrary to what the page says.

Calling it equity is a bit confusing. On the page it states at the top:

"Gigster Fund provides our freelancers with access to equity from Gigster and select companies in our client portfolio."

At the bottom it states with regards to owning equity:

"No. Direct equity ownership or indirect ownership through a limited partnership has complex tax & legal implications, and the SEC limits the number of shareholders a corporation may have which would make direct ownership impossible after a certain number of freelancers".

And

"No. Direct equity ownership or indirect ownership through a limited partnership has complex tax and legal implications. In the United States, for example, Gigsters would be required by law to be accredited investors."

2 comments

> 1%/500 = 0.002%

That would make it 0.00002

> Gigster's equity stake was 20% in a company that exited for $100 million, you'd receive maybe $40,000

So $400 not 40K. Even a 1 billion exit would only net you 4k, assuming your interpretation is correct.

> If Gigster's equity stake was 20% in a company that exited for $100 million.

Gigster's stake is 20M. They share 1% with freelancers, which is 200K. You get 1/500th of this = $400. Amazingly generous!

How could they possibly get 20% of a company?
My guess: the type of company that would outsource development to Gigster is the type of company that would give up 20% of equity.

Or: the example scenario is too generous, which means a more probable payout would be even lower.

Yes. This is what I was thinking. What are they really giving to companies to deserve that kind of share?

AI engine or not, the only metric that matters are success stories.

Without it, all of these numbers are meaningless.