Just over a week ago we revealed that we intend to offer up real shares in Singletrack this coming September. We intend to do this using the CrowdCube system with investments set in a number of tiers. Each tier will come with an increasing number of special perks and below we have our preliminary investment list. This is our early perks list and may very well grow more over the coming weeks as we build up to the big launch in September.
Hundreds of you have already signed up to our investment newsletter and by now you should have received our first email. If you’d like to ensure you don’t miss out on our Singletrack Owners’ Club updates then make sure you add yourself to this list.
Our Investment Tiers
Level 1
£75 investment
- Official Singletrack Owners’ Club Certificate
- Name on online owners’ listing page
Level 2
£125 investment
Latest Singletrack Merch
Buying and wearing our sustainable merch is another great way to support Singletrack
- Owners’ club embroidered badge & certificate
- Name on owners listing page in every print issue of Singletrack & online
Level 3
£250 investment
All above plus enamel STW Owners’ Club lapel pin
- Owners’ t-shirt
Level 4
£500 investment
- All above
- Annual owners’ ride out priority invite
Level 5
£1000 investment
- All above
- Owners’ hoodie
- 30 min Zoom with Benji about your bike setup or ‘Taking better riding shots workshop’ with Heather
Level 6
£2500 investment
- All above
- STW Photoshoot for you and three friends
Level 7
£5000 investment
- All above
- STW Photoshoot & profile/interview with you and your riding crew
Level 8
£10,000 investment
- All above
- Week riding with Chipps in the Pyrenees (Excl. transport)
- £1k of marketing spend from our media pack
Level 9
£20,000 investment
- All above
- £1.5k of marketing spend from our media pack x 2 years
This list is subject to change as we come up with more or better ideas. Adding your email address to our list does not commit you in any way to invest. It’s just a way for us to keep you informed as we move towards our launch date. It’s important to understand that the perks are just that – they are extras. The value of each tier is the equity it will grant in Singletrack (Gofar Enterprises ltd).
We will have more fine details for you as the weeks tick by. Remember to stick your email address in that box above if you want to make sure you don’t miss any of our Owners’ Club updates.
Shareholder annual get together is something we really want to do.
How are you supporting 7 salaries on that, no matter how meagre?
Mark what’s your print / digital split (for both income and expenditure) and how has it changed over time?
I wondered that.
I read that as each year? So £64,250.00 annual salary each?
you didn’t put a smiley so I guess that’s a serious question. Turnover is before any expenses are taken off. Deduct rent, electricity, phone, costs of producing the mag, servers, etc, etc, etc then see what is left to pay salaries
How are you supporting 7 salaries on that, no matter how meagre?
I think the answer to that is they cant and hence why they are doing this ‘share issue’!
I love this forum and subscribe to the magazine just to support it and in the hope it continues.
But (and I may be alone in this and apologies to the owners) the recent request for donations via raffles seemed a bit off to me. This share issue seems even worse – especially with the release information given to date. I think pushing this as some kind of investment is a bit off – given the figures mentioned above and the state of the media industry I really struggle to see how this is likely to realise any real dividends or profits.
Maybe it will all seem a lot clearer when full details come out but at the moment it feels like people are basically just being asked to fund the wages of the existing team in a business model that isnt working or at least has no long term future.
Sorry, bit harsh but this type of scheme opens you up to it I’m afraid.
May be not all staff are full time?
And despite the demographic on this forum, not everyone needs £75k+ to live on.
Many people run businesses for the pleasure of it and the freedom it gives them.
Well equivalent full time = 5.4.
And we’ve managed to sustain those meagre salaries for 25 years and like I said earlier the choice is do we continue as we are, look for a corporate buyer and hand it all over and walk away (we’ve had valuations and looked at options there too) or invite you to own a piece and use the money raised to grow. Investment is for growing the business and allowing us to do what we need to do to be sustainable and profitable. It may work and we raise the funds we need to do that or it may not. It’s a risk all round. If it doesn’t work for us then I’ll have to come up with a new plan.
If you are looking for a calculated investment to give you a return then this sort of offer is very risky – as is clearly laid out all over the Crowdcube website. If you are looking to own a piece of a media brand that you really like and want to see continue and thrive with the possibility of a return if we get into comfortable profit or if we sell it on down the line.. or if you just want to be part of a community owned media brand with a real stake in it, then that is what we are planning to offer.
My mum and dad are in.
@rockbus – not alone in your views, the donations thing was really clumsy – when it came to last subs renewal was the tipping point in the decision not to renew. Suppose with the crowd cube option it should be more transparent in terms to risks etc.
In your view. From our perspective we are still here. The Guardian has been relying on donations and constantly asking for such for many years. We’ve done it once, because it was necessary and we’ll be ever grateful to those that donated. It’s why we are still here now.
Thanks for discounting my view. Well I do donate to the Guardian as has value to me in doing so, it is not a niche publication, and is a model that works for them (and by media accounts successfully).
Had been a mag buyer in shops, whsmith/lbs etc. and then later via subs since mid 2000’s so about 20years of support, but only recently stopped – times have just changed.
But wish you well and hope you make it work, would be a shame to see it disappear even it it does not have to appeal to me personally it once had.
Bit touchy, he didn’t discount your view, just offered his own as the business owner.
Thanks rootes1 and apologies if you thought I was discounting your view. I really wasn’t.
That feels like the design for the Owners T Shirt sorted.
The Guardian point is very well made and like others here I’m happy to donate to them when needed as well as subscribing. I would also be very sad if this place disappeared not only because of the forum but independant journalism itself is becoming tougher. I was talking to a friend from one of the major UK newspapers at the weekend and he was saying that journalists themselves are now just a commodity (apart from big names of course). I don’t read all of the magazine when it comes in but I definitely read it. Thanks Mark for the explanation and the long poster earlier and I’ll watch for what happens. None of the perks have really excited me (well apart from the weeks riding) but I’m really more excited by what the possibilities are to get out of the hole you are in so will be interested in that
Some people seem to be quite touchy about the proposals and past fundraising efforts. From my perspective, and I’m not a massive user or posting big hitter, I am happy for Singletrack to ask me to participate, donate, buy shares, whatever. If I like the proposal, have the funds and value the outcome of increased investment in the service, I will join in… if I don’t I won’t. Nobody is forcing us and I certainly don’t think it’s “off”.
In terms of funding in general: I do understand that I can’t have something for nothing for ever and if I want to continue to use the forum someone will have to pay something… and as a user that should probably include me. I’d get a bit anxious if I sat in a cafe or pub for ages without buying a drink so I have the same feeling here.
I would also like the Mag to thrive. I feel the same about Bikepacking.com and subscribe to the collective… mainly in that case to use the site. The publication is a nice addition but in their case it’s the website I value most.
The perks are just that.. perks. No one should be investing on the basis of a perk. They are just icing on the cake. We have tried to come up with perks that reflect the point of the exercise, which is that Singletrack is a community. Badges are neither here nor there in terms of an incentive but what they do convey is belonging to something, which I hope many of you feel about this place.
Thanks for the updates. The box to add yourself to the mailing list is missing for me on both articles, both on my pc and phone.
Ah. New theme glitch. I shall fix that shortly