RESERVE
min $100
The Elysian will pay investors 40% of revenues each quarter until 100% of your principal is returned plus 9,900% on top.
We need to change who owns capital.
Private ownership of capital has created a lot of wealth and prosperity, and for much of the past centuries that has been a good thing, but now we need to create more owners of it. Not just the founders and executives and already rich, but everyone.
This is no longer Adam Smith’s economy—wealth has consolidated into the hands of a few. Those rich enough from businesses, real estate, and investments bought more businesses, real estate, and investments, until they owned most of the capital. Today, the wealthiest 10% of Americans own 92% of the stock market. The bottom half owns 1%.
That means when the economy does well, it benefits an increasingly few.
Our wealth imbalance has created a power imbalance. The world's wealthiest individuals have steadily claimed our companies, our homes, our banks, our media, our satellites, our technology, our governments. Wealth is cementing at these levels, with the already rich and powerful becoming even more so, and those not already wealthy unable to catch up or ever have a say again.
If we don’t do something about it we could lose democracy. We already are.
We need to expand Adam Smith’s model for future generations—to create an elevated vision for capitalism in which everyone gets richer from capital, not just the few who got in decades ago. If we can shift our wealth imbalance, we can shift our power imbalance—creating an economy owned and operated by us, and a democracy that better represents our interests.
That’s why I’m devoting the next couple of years to studying capital and how we can create more owners of it. I’m researching profit and how it can be owned by workers, invested in communities, and fund innovations that will benefit our future. I’m studying government structures that incentivize pro-social businesses, invest in our long-term growth and prosperity, and protect and advance the future of democratic governance.
I’m writing a vision for an economy that creates a better future for all of us, not just a bunch of shareholders.
My goal is to create, not just a book, but a movement: We Should Own The Economy, a vision for the future of capitalism (and the world).
I once wrote that I’d rather have an investor than a publishing contract, that’s still true. Instead of pitching this idea to publishing houses, securing a book advance, writing it in secret over the next several years, then hoping people read it when it comes out; I’m pitching it to you. You can listen in on my interviews as I have them, read chapter drafts as I write them, contribute comments and help me crowdsource my research as I go, and even earn a share of the profits when it sells.
In other words: I’m giving you ownership in a book project about creating more owners.
I'm currently raising a book advance to fund my research over the next several years. Once I've finished the book, 40% of sales will be distributed among investors as an annual distribution. I will donate the remaining 10% as an annual donation to GiveDirectly. If the project goes on to sell to a traditional publisher or becomes an audiobook, podcast, or documentary, we will retain that same profit-sharing split.
I'm crowdfunding my book advance using WeFunder, a platform that allows businesses to crowdfund investment from supporters and share profits with them. We have reached 50,000+ in pledges and are now in the process of officially opening a community round.
This book advance will allow me to:
My goal is to pre-sell 10,000 copies before launch (10% of my projected subscriber base in January of 2028), and sell an additional 10,000 in the six weeks after publication through a coordinated marketing campaign and podcast circuit. Split between $20 ebooks and $30 print books, sales of 20,000 books would net $500,000 in revenue, with $200,000 going back to investors and $50,000 donated to GiveDirectly.
The minimum amount I am raising is $50,000 and the maximum I’m raising is $124,000. The more investment we have, the more support we have to sell more copies and to expand this project into future mediums. For instance, with $124,000 raised, I will put a lot more money into marketing and pre-selling copies. With that level of support, we could also attract a traditional publisher interested in expanding sales to 100,000 copies. It would be a condition of any future contract that our revenue sharing would remain shared in that split.
This isn't just about selling books, it's about creating change. As stakeholders in this project, I'd love to invite you to participate in it:
All content produced by funding partners will be noted both online and in print. Partner content online will be limited to once a month. Partner content in the book will appear on pink-tinted pages.
Workers should own a share of the value they help create, just like founders and executives do. I want to study how we can massively incentivize and expand worker ownership structures, including:
Sources include: International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA), The National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO), Employee Ownership Expansion Network (EOX) Co-op UK, Social Capital Partners, Transform Finance
New financial platforms allow broader participation in ownership. I'm interested in studying how we can create more owners of the economy through:
We have a stake in the land we live on, the energy we consume, the technology we use, and the governments we are part of—we should participate as owners and ensure they act in our best interests. I want to study:
Sources include: The UN’s Social & Solidarity Economy, Conscious Capitalism, The Purpose Economy, Nathan Schnieder, MEDLab, New_Public, Social Media Governance Initiative, Who Owns the Future?
The products our economy produces should contribute to human progress and wellbeing. How can we fund an economy that advances science and technology? That advances climate tech, medicine, and humanity? That advances renewable energy and more equitable business structures. I want to study the avenues that could best serve this goal:
Sources include: Mariana Mazzucato, Tyler Cowen & Emergent Ventures, Renaissance Philanthropy, Schmidt Futures, MacArthur Fellows Program ("Genius Grants"), Fast Grants, Salim Ismail
Broad-based wealth ownership isn’t just about who holds financial assets—it’s about who has the power to shape the economy. We can reinvent democracy to distribute economic influence more equitably. A few ways I want to study:
Sources include: Audrey Tang and Plurality, Democracy Collaborative, Participatory Budgeting Project, MIT CoLab, The GovLab, Nesta, World Bank's Citizen Engagement, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Radical Markets
Government policy can structure markets to create long-term shared prosperity. I particularly want to study:
Sources: Mariana Mazzucato, International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds, Future Investment Initiative Institute, Rutger Bregman, Thomas Piketty
