Fleet · B2B · laptop rental for companies
Let every employee sell all their shares in the buyout, then grant new ones
Employees cashed out several million euros; now a key recruiting story
Workedteam-processfinancing
What they did
In the Feb 2026 LBO (~EUR 100M valuation, investor took ~25%, all money secondary), every employee could sell 100% of their equity, including those staying. Investors usually want stayers to roll ~half into the next cycle; Fleet refused that as unfair and instead created a new 5% ESOP pool for the next cycle. The founders now tell candidates 'your equity is real money' and that a liquidity event within 5 years is near-certain.
What happened
Employees cashed out several million euros; 'very, very appreciated' by the team and used to attract senior talent
- Stage
- Scale (~EUR 30M revenue)
“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.”
“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?”
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- Fleet: Sell each 36-month laptop rental contract to a bank for cash on day oneFunded ~50,000 devices with no VC; bank keeps ~10%, carries customer credit risk
- Fleet: Have suppliers ship laptops straight to customers; keep only a few spares for swapsAlmost no inventory risk; broken devices replaced instead of repaired
- Fleet: Buy laptops back cheaply when contracts end, refurbish them and resell
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- Fleet: Replace about half the leadership team when revenue dropsGrowth returned the next year (+60%); many changes at once