Equity in shares is rarely based on equity
Equity from aequus “even, just, equal. The uniform relation of one thing to others, equality, conformity, symmetry (From Etymology Online)
Equity in a venture means you have shares in the venture, where one share of yours is equal to a share of someone else.
Equity is often assigned to people who have made a financial investment. In a startup, the founders might get equity to account for the risk, time, and energy committed.
But equity is rarely based on equity – rarely uniform, rarely equal and rarely symmetrical.
Why?
Because we fail to consider and account for the multiple ways people can and do invest in a venture.
We assign more value to money than we do to decades of knowledge that makes a task take 5 minutes rather than 2 days. Or to the thoughtfulness and care of the person who builds relationships and community naturally. Or to the person who has spent a lifetime building a global network of strong relationships that will benefit the venture.
When we give someone investing money more equity than someone investing other profound expressions of value, we debase the values of other-than-money contributions.
This is not creating equality. Or justice. Or fairness.
Rather, it is reinforcing a very broken system of investment that debases the amazing and diverse contributions humans have to make when invited.
In the Syntropic Foundations Masterclass, we teach you the Synergistic Accounting tool, which ensures we account for multiple domains of value and contribution. And in so doing, creates a context for people to be diversely different and synergistically effective, knowing they are seen and acknowledged for their contribution.
At its core, Synergistic Accounting seeks real equity and equality, absent any form of exploitation.
For a world with a future where justice and equality are the ground.
PS. The Syntropic Foundations Masterclass commences next week. https://syntropic.world/masterclass/
Photo March 23rd 2025, Article written March 27th 2025
