Let every employee sell all their shares in the buyout, then grant new ones

HostWhat were you saying to those new folks you were recruiting to your leadership team who, when they said, "Okay, I'm ready to join, but let me see your P&L first," they see the revenue decline, they still decide to join, what were you telling them?

Sevan Marian… tell, no? Like, okay, we decreased, but it was a very difficult and challenging environment. The market is going down, but we have ex- we have other le- lever, you know, uh to grow uh including uh you know, going to new markets, going also uh upmarket in term of size of companies we want to target. So, we had a clear stra- strategy in mind. Also, we gave uh equity to people, you know, uh which is also a very good things to attract talents. So, when we did the LBO, uh we allow all our employees to cash out 100% of their equity, which is also a great story. Um so, our employees cash out uh several million euros. We have very young employees that became rich thanks to thanks to our our LBO. And it's also a great great thing to attract talent because now when I when I need to attract a huge talent, I I tell this story of, you know, your equity is not bullshit, no? Uh uh people cash out, and uh and so it's uh it's real paper, no? It's real money. I think what's like make great founders is their ability their courage, you know, their boldness of uh making difficult decisions, especially regarding uh people, and be very, very tough on uh on uh talent density, culture inside the company, meritocracy. Because when you start letting people average people inside the company and you you don't make those decisions, then everybody uh, you know, in the team think that uh finally there is not so much meritocracy because when uh they see people, you know, being average uh that don't get penalized for it, no? Uh so, for me, I think it's very important uh in …

HostToday, how many folks are full time at the business?

Host… value. You don't have to wait 30 years for maybe when we IPO." So here's my second question on that. When you pass 30 million in revenue in February this year, 2026, and you do the 30 million LBO, and you email all your employees who have some amount of options, how do you write that email so they understand how much they can sell? Can they sell 100% of their vested shares? Do you accelerate unvested shares? Like, how did you structure that?

Sevan MarianAs a traditional LBO, uh the investors, they say that people that stays after the LBO, so that re-engage for a new cycle, uh they shouldn't be able to cash out 100% because they want them to be skin in the game. So, to reinvest almost half of their uh shares into the new cycle, you know? I think it's very unfair because it means that you penalize people that stay with you. You know what I mean? Like, people that leaves, that say, "Okay, after the LBO, I want to leave," they are able to cash out 100%, and people that stay, they are not able to do it. I don't I don't I don't think it makes sense, you know? Uh what makes sense, I think it's to allow everyone to cash out 100%, to make everyone happy, and then the one that stays, you you do a new equity plan for the next cycle. So, this is exactly what we did. It was very, very appreciated by the team. I think it's a huge mark of trust also as a founder to do this. This is also my case, you know? I cash out a lot of money, but I still I stay CEO of the company, and the the the investors they they trust me to be re-engaged for the next cycle and and still motivated, no? So, I don't know what it would be different for employees. You also tell your employees, "Hey guy, man, we are almost sure that we make uh we'll have a liquidity event in the next 5 years. Unless the company go almost bankrupt, there will be a liquidity event."

HostWhen you did the 30 million raise earlier this year as you passed 30 million of revenue, what valuation did you raise at?