THE FINANCE GHOST: Altvest: The difficulty is democratising private equity
The company’s first challenge is that the target investor market is anything but cash flush
If share prices were based on the cool factor of company branding, Altvest would already be one of the most valuable companies on the JSE. Alas, investors tend to care more about performance than exciting billboards that dish up the nostalgia of old-school comic books. In case you need final proof of this, just refer to the Berkshire Hathaway website. The most powerful investment holding company in the world has a website that looks as if someone built it in DOS.
Of course, Altvest is putting itself out there as a disruptor. It therefore needs to look and feel completely different from everything else so that it can grab enough attention in the market. There are lots of empowering images on the website, with cartoon rockets and evocative language like “Let’s own the economy” and “Help me raise capital” — the kind of stuff that speaks directly to a new generation of investors and basically every entrepreneur out there...
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