The Ventures Model: Influence for Equity
Turn a personal brand into a portfolio of equity stakes in businesses you accelerate
- Difficulty
- Expert
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 80%
The Ventures Model is Priestley's route from £100K toward £1M a month for someone who already has a big brand. Keep a core income business that pays everyone's bills, then pursue the real upside through partnerships: find a company doing, say, £20M, apply your brand, contacts and connections to grow it toward £100M, take equity, and exit. Because businesses sell for multiples of profit or revenue, an equity stake dwarfs a fee. The discipline is judgement, review around thirty opportunities before picking one, and fierce audience protection, only endorse what's genuinely good. It can compound into a portfolio of thirty companies over years, and can be levered further by raising deal-by-deal capital from investors on standard '2 and 20' terms so you ride alongside a billionaire's allocation.
Origin
Extracted from Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal, recommended as the chess move for Ali's large-brand, small-team business.
Core principles
- 01A trusted brand can trade influence for equity.
- 02Judgement is the scarce input: review many, pick few.
- 03Protect the audience above any single deal.
- 04Businesses sell for multiples, so equity beats fees over time.
How to run it
- 1
Anchor with income
Keep a core business (like a course academy) that reliably pays the bills and the team.
Pro tip Stable income frees you to be patient on equity plays.
Watch out Chasing equity with no income base is precarious.
- 2
Screen opportunities
Review around thirty opportunities before picking one, protecting your audience and reputation.
Pro tip Judgement is the whole game; only back what you'd genuinely endorse.
Watch out A bad recommendation damages the audience trust the model relies on.
- 3
Trade influence for equity
Apply your brand, contacts and connections to grow a chosen company and take an equity stake instead of a fee.
Pro tip Value each partnership (e.g. half a million) and target a few deals a year.
Watch out Fees cap your upside; equity captures the multiple at exit.
- 4
Build and lever the portfolio
Accumulate a portfolio over years and optionally raise deal-by-deal capital from investors on '2 and 20' terms.
Pro tip One billionaire friend allocating capital can fund many deals.
Watch out Structuring the first deal is hard; after that it replicates easily.
In the wild
A creator with millions of followers partners with a £20M business, applies brand and connections to push it toward £100M, and holds equity. Valuing each partnership at half a million and doing three a year builds a portfolio of roughly thirty companies over four to five years.
→ A portfolio of equity stakes that mature and exit, scaling past what course sales alone could reach.
Common mistakes
Taking fees instead of equity
Fees ignore that businesses sell for multiples, leaving the biggest upside uncaptured.
Under-screening deals
Not reviewing enough opportunities, or endorsing weak ones, burns the audience trust the whole model depends on.
Is it for you?
Best for
Established Key Persons of Influence with reach, connections and sound judgement.
Not ideal for
Early founders without an audience, capital network or a bill-paying core business.
From the transcript
“I would be going with the ventures model so the ventures model would be that you have a portfolio approach”
“an influence for Equity model would be amazing ... you have to be really looking at 30 opportunities before you pick one”
From the episode
Entrepreneurship Masterclass: How to Make $10k - $1M per Month - Daniel Priestley
Daniel Priestley