#19 - Building Tardigrades, Not Unicorns with Elliot Begoun of TIG Brands

This week, we welcome Elliot Begoun, a 30-year industry veteran, author, podcast host, and founder of TIG brands, and developer of the CARE funding structure. Elliot focuses on empowering entrepreneurs to be nimble and capital-efficient change-makers throughout their journey. He shares insights on building tardigrades, not unicorns (and why that’s a thing), and lessons from developing and deploying alternative funding structures that support tardigrades. We talk about why investors can be slow to adopt new funding structures asd well. Elliot also shares more about TIG's commitment to fostering a supportive community for entrepreneurs through a holistic approach and a constellation of services.

Key Takeaways

[1:45] Elliot’s background. 

[2:13] Why Elliot started TIG Brands.

[3:49] How TIG developed its capital structures.

[6:39] Definition of a tardigrade and how it represents the brands TIG works with.

[8:37] Building a holistic ecosystem for entrepreneurs.

[10:53] Giving entrepreneurs optionality.

[13:29] The different funding structures TIG experimented with.

[21:38] The CARE agreement.

[22:44] Variable based redeemable equity.

[28:29] Alignment funding.

[33:59] Starting a rolling fund and TIG’s mindset of being a venture community.

[41:25] What has surprised Elliot throughout the journey.

[47:05] The future: building allyship.

Resources:
RBF Network
Keith’s Twitter

Keith’s Linkedin
Speaker Series

Elliot: Tig Brands | LinkedIn | X | Tig Talks Podcast | Documents