The Sharefunding Arena - the rules of growth, community and capital with Oscar Kneppers

Long-read in response to the Eyevestor podcast "The Sharefunding Arena ", in which Eyevestor founder Gijs Dalen Meurs talks to serial entrepreneur Oscar Kneppers (Emerce, Bright, Rockstart).

Introduction

Anyone who builds a company today sooner or later comes to a tipping point: ambition exceeds resources. Are you going to hunt for venture capital, wait for bank credit or choose a path that better suits your brand and your customers? In the podcast "The Sharefunding Arena", Gijs Dalen Meurs investigates exactly that question together with serial entrepreneur Oscar Kneppers.

Kneppers, who started out as editor-in-chief of MacWorld, founded Emerce, Bright and startup accelerator Rockstart in recent decades. In all cases, he used curiosity as a compass and the public as a co-architect. That makes his lessons very relevant for entrepreneurs who not only want to attract money, but especially allies.

In this article, you can read how he and Gijs dissect the well-known growth paradigms and outline an alternative in which brand, community and capital form one ecosystem. Do you prefer to listen rather than read? Then you can listen to the entire podcast here! ⬇️

1. Curiosity as a nuclear fuel

As a journalism student, Oscar didn't dream of spreadsheets or investment rounds. He dreamed of stories and connection. In the nineties, when the internet was still squeaking and creaking, he saw how technology broke old patterns. He left the publishing world, launched Emerce and discovered: every new fascination can be the basis for a new company.

"An entrepreneur follows his nose," he sums it up himself. Curiosity forces you to ask questions continuously: What is happening here? Who is affected by this? How could it be otherwise? It is this attitude that ensured that he grew from magazine maker to tech accelerator founder.

For Gijs Dalen Meurs, this resonates with the origins of Eyevestor. There was also a provocative question at the root of this: why is ownership so often shielded, expensive and complex? Curiosity and vision became a product, and that product a platform.

2. The Growth Triangle: brand • community • story

During Rockstart, Kneppers' vision crystallized into what he calls his "tripod": strong brand - vibrant community - consistent story. Compare it to a kitchen table: remove one leg and little more is left than a shaky leaf.

2.1  Strong brand

A brand is not a logo, but a promise. In the same breath, it tells what you exist for and what you leave behind - for customers, but also for future shareholders. In Oscar's words: "You can print a good title on a T-shirt."Short, sharp, indestructible.

2.2  Vibrant community

Community is the place where customers, employees and partners meet around the shared belief that your solution matters. For Rockstart these were early-stage founders, for Eyevestor they are entrepreneurs and investors who believe in shared ownership. A community only really flourishes when it can help build and that's exactly where sharefunding comes in.

2.3  Consistent story

Your entrepreneurial story is the glue between brand and community. Who you are in a pitch deck should be reflected in your customer experience and all the expressions you make. Consistency creates trust; Trust drives growth.

3. Stakeholders instead of speculating shareholders

In traditional venture capital models, the emphasis is on high returns in a short period of time. This often leads to tensions: between founders who want to monitor vision and investors who want to drive performance meters into the red. Kneppers therefore argues for a different division of roles. A shareholder, he says, should be a partner in the arena - a stakeholder who not only owns a piece, but also feels responsibility when things go wrong.

The conversation with Gijs exposes how sharefunding makes this possible: by fractionalizing shares and making them digitally accessible, customers, employees and relations can become co-owners with relatively modest amounts. This creates a network of stakeholders who do not watch from the sidelines, but actively contribute to product development, marketing or simply word-of-mouth advertising.

The effect? Not one investor with a lot of pressure, but a company of allies who all have something to gain from your success.

4. Discipline and the 'calm mind'

Creativity without structure is like wind without sail. Kneppers describes himself as "extremely lazy when possible, disciplined when necessary." This translates into a daily rhythm in which he gets up early, starts offline and consciously makes time for reflection and exercise. His mantra – calm mind, steady hand, light gait - is a reminder that focus, consistency and endurance are the silent engines behind every growth spurt.

Gijs recognizes the pattern. In Eyevestor's pioneering days, the to-do list was endless, but structure brought clarity: weekly goals, monthly reflections, quarterly OKRs. Discipline may sound boring, but it forms the protective layer around creativity.

5. Community Capital in Practice

Capital is more than numbers in the bank account; It is also the goodwill that you build up. By opening up shareholding to your community:

• you lower the entry threshold. Fans can co-invest for an amount that suits them.
• Increase your brand loyalty. Every new shareholder instantly becomes an ambassador.
• Spread your risk. Pleasure and burden are shared.

Eyevestor digitizes those processes, so that companies are not swallowed up by legal hassle. In this way, the entrepreneur stays where he belongs: in the middle of the arena, close to product and customer.

Conclusion

The conversation between Gijs Dalen Meurs and Oscar Kneppers shows that growth does not have to be a lonely sprint. By linking a strong brand to an engaged community and democratizing ownership, a self-reinforcing flywheel is created. Curiosity shows the way, discipline keeps you on track, and shared capital takes you further than you would ever get on your own.

The Sharefunding Arena is therefore more than a podcast title; It's an invitation to rewrite the rules of the game and share the value of your business with the people who are most motivated to drive that value further.

Background to the title: The Sharefunding Arena

The Sharefunding Arena is for every entrepreneur who wants to grow and succeed. For the entrepreneur who is the misfit, the crazy one, the man or woman in the arena. 

115 years ago, Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech that has become known for one paragraph and has thus come to be called the man in the arena. Google it and you will find the quote. Below is the Eyevestor free translation anno 2025.

It's not about the people on the sidelines. Not about the critics, the complainers, or the people who know exactly how you should have done things differently or better – but don't do anything yourself. The real honor belongs to you, the one who dares and continues. 

You standing in the middle of the arena, with the sweat on your forehead and the sleepless nights of work and fear. Who fails, falls, gets up again and continues. Not because it's easy, but because it matters. Maybe you win. Maybe not. But at least you fought. Mood, with passion, with everything you have. And even if you lose, you do so with your head held high – because you tried. Better to fail in trying, than to stay safe on the sidelines. Because that's where – in that arena – it happens. That's where we grow. That's where we make a difference.

Every day the entrepreneur is busy with his or her passion and especially with the acute SME challenges and problems to solve. Fund your growth & Financing is always the biggest challenge, at every stage. How do you do that your husband or wife are in The Sharefunding Arena?

To finance your growth, you need preparation, connection, and moments of fire and celebration. The ultimate way to do that is by strengthening your own assets. Because only then are there other opportunities to grow, finance and connect.

We discuss what is involved.  

The Sharefunding Arena is for every entrepreneur who wants to grow. In 30-40 minutes, we dive into a specific theme or the story of the entrepreneur per episode. No superficial conversations, but sharp insights from entrepreneurs and experts.