“there's a threshold so you know they can kind of pay themselves a you know modest amount of money but once that you know either dividends profits or founder compensation goes over a certain level then they are obligated to pay a portion of that back to us I think we have like 12 companies who are paying a quarterly um uh shared earnings basically a profit share payment”

Shared-earnings: investor only gets paid after the founder pays themselves

When a counterparty only profits after the operator profits, retention of the relationship compounds. Design partner, affiliate, or investor terms so the other side cheers for actual profitability, not just top-line growth. Investors who get paid only via exit actively discourage founders from taking profits — invert that incentive.