EquityShift (Co-founder & COO Will Duckett, CBS’15) provides end-to-end process automation for private securities transfers. Angel capital already secured, market-ready MVP developed, US regulatory approvals in place, and first customers signed.
Will Duckett will pitch EquityShift in the FIRST annual CVC London Demo “Night” at 2 PM EST on Wednesday, October 21st. EquityShift will be one of six teams to pitch.
The all-virtual nature allowed more teams to apply from anywhere and will also allow a larger group of attendees. While we miss the in-person events, we are excited to host all of you that might not have been able to travel to these cities. Remember to RSVP!
What makes Equity Shift unique?
Equity Shift’s founding team has years of experience with difficult conversations related to investor liquidity, and as operators we know first-hand that when value is “trapped” in a company awaiting exit the results can be painful.
In recent years we have seen great software tools in the market that automate customer relationship management (i.e. – Salesforce) and employee benefits (i.e – ADP) but nothing to proactively assist with reducing the complexity of managing investor relationships.
We founded Equity Shift to make investing in private equity simpler and less restrictive, by offering tools that automate the process of securities transfer across a wide variety of use cases.
Our ultimate goal is to democratize private equity investing by lowering the traditional barriers to entry (cost and complexity) for private companies and the growing universe of qualified investors.
What has the building process been like for you and your team and how has the pandemic affected it?
Fast-paced yet methodical.
We subscribe to the "lean" startup mantra of building software through customer discovery and set out early last year with clear goals about what we hoped to achieve technologically, commercially, and with respect to intellectual property and licensing.
Achieving those goals in light of the pandemic has been a challenge, but we have managed to stay on-track with our original goals.
In the end, the COVID pandemic has only amplified the need for a service like ours and will likely drive quicker adoption once we launch commercially in early 2021.
What makes your product superior?
Equity Shift takes the perspective of private companies, so we deliver tools that put the leadership teams of those companies in complete control of the outcomes they desire to achieve.
From a transactional perspective, we understand the contractual requirements of private securities better than anyone, and we have been awarded U.S. Patents for our work.
The delivery of our service is also differentiated in that we help market makers automate their “back office” function.
We drastically reduce the amount of manual work required to complete a transfer, and allow these agents and their clients to focus on outcomes and service, rather than making sure that all the rules have been followed appropriately.
Any words of advice for other founders?
To borrow from Stephen Schwarzman (Co-founder and CEO of Blackstone):
“It’s as easy to do something big as it is to do something small, so reach for a fantasy worthy of your pursuit, with rewards commensurate to your efforts.”
What city are you based out of?
Raleigh, North Carolina
Thank you Will! We look forward to hearing you pitch on October 21th. Don’t forget to RSVP!