This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey, what's up? Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. I am so glad you're here. Now, last week I mentioned Income Share Agreements, also known as ISAs.
It's this new thing, well, it's new-ish, where some colleges are letting students pay tuition only after they graduate and get a well-paying job. I think this is great in so many ways, most notably that it shifts the burden for performance to the institution. In other words, if you go through one of these programs, at least one that offers this option, Income Share Agreements, if you don't get a good job after graduation, then you don't pay. And hopefully you actually do graduate and then get a good paying job and so on. I mean, that's the goal.
But the whole idea of, as I said, shifting the burden for performance to the college or the university, I think is so cool. So I'm calling this Q&A episode Personal Shark Tank. It's a phrase I'm borrowing from today's caller, actually. He is looking for investors, but not in the way you might expect, okay? Thus, Personal Shark Tank, thus thinking about Income Share Agreements, et cetera.
So our caller is looking for something similar, but more direct. So I'll let him explain more. I think this is really, really interesting. This is one of many things recently that I think is creating a lot of change in the world of education, starting companies, and so on now. But without further ado, quick shout-out to our sponsor, and then let's hear it from our caller, James.
[Music]
Hi, Chris, this is James, and I've been following your work for a couple of years now. I know you don't talk about getting investors, but I'd like to do it with a bit of a twist. In the world of cryptocurrency and NFTs, why can't a person do their own IPO and sell stock in themselves? My idea is to make a post on Medium about my idea and offer a percentage of profits in exchange for up to 50,000 from DIY investors. I haven't figured out what the percentage should be or if it's all or nothing, or if I allow lots of people to pay small amounts of money.
But in short, think of it like a personal shark tank. Is there any problem with this? Also, do you wanna invest? Looking forward to hearing from you. [Music]
Hey, James, thanks for the question.
And yes, it is a crazy world these days, as we've discussed in a couple of other episodes in the world of NFTs where digital art is being sold for these huge amounts of money. Digital art is being sold for huge amounts of real money, I should say. Not saying the digital art is not real, by the way. It's just one of those things that takes some time to get your head around. So yes, in this world, why can't you just sell stock in yourself?
Do your own IPO. Listen, I'm not so big on predicting trends, but I absolutely believe this is the future. And some people are already doing it in various ways. I read this story recently about a guy named Alex who was living in France and wanted to move to San Francisco. And so he basically did what James is talking about here.
He wrote a post and he offered DIY investors and he raised $20,000 to basically support his move to Silicon Valley, where he was going to work on a startup, but I think he ended up starting his own company because that's how it works, right? So this is the future. One of my predictions is that it will become much more common. So for now, there isn't a single platform or network that comes to mind. It might be just like what James says where he's like, I'm going to make a post on Medium and offer a percentage of profits, but there's not a single platform that just makes that easy.
But to his direct question of, is there any problem with this? No, not at all. I think it's a pretty cool idea. Do I want to invest personally? Well, I need a pitch.
I need some more info. So let us know, James, more specifically about your idea. And listeners, I hope this gets you thinking because as I said, you're going to hear more and more about this in the future, how to recruit direct investors for relatively small amounts of money or for larger amounts of money, but without going through banks and without having to be on a show like Shark Tank. It really is a whole new world. And I look forward to exploring it with you.
All right, that's it for today. If you have a question, sidehustleschool.com/questions. Be sure you subscribe, follow, tune in tomorrow. I'll be here and I hope you will too. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
