How to Raise $750k From Founderpath and Increase Your Equity Stake

Voxpopme is a UK-founded video feedback and consumer insights platform for large brands. In 2024 Founderpath financed it with $750,000 over 24 months and made the funding conditional on a board resolution creating a new employee share option (ESOP) pool, so shares could be reallocated to CEO Andy Barraclough and a management team that held only about 8% to 15% between them, according to the interview Founderpath published on October 3, 2024.

Key Takeaways

• Founderpath financed Voxpopme with $750,000 over 24 months in 2024, as both CEO Andy Barraclough and Founderpath CEO Nathan Latka said in the interview Founderpath published on October 3, 2024.
• Before the deal, the four to nine managers expected to drive growth held roughly 8% to 15% of the company between them, Latka recalled from diligence in the same interview, and chairman Lonnie Mayne agreed.
• Latka said Founderpath made the funding conditional on a board resolution creating a new ESOP pool, part of which would go to the go-forward team; Mayne said the board approved it.
• Voxpopme raised a $9 million Series A1 led by Origin Ventures in 2019, which Research Live reported in September 2019 brought its total raised to $16.5 million.
• Barraclough put revenue at about $10 million, roughly 80% recurring, in the interview published in October 2024; the sources reviewed do not disclose the deal’s rate or the final size of the pool.

What Voxpopme does and who runs it

Voxpopme helps large companies collect and analyse video feedback from consumers: one to one interviews, focus groups and video surveys, analysed at scale. Its about page calls it a provider of video feedback capture and analytics used by more than 300 companies, as checked on October 31, 2026; that customer count is the company’s own figure. Barraclough described the same product in the interview, and said Voxpopme works with large businesses, including Fortune 500 companies (watch at 1:35).

Companies House shows Voxpopme Limited incorporated on 3 January 2013, with a registered office in Birmingham, and the company’s 2019 release named offices in Birmingham and Salt Lake City. Barraclough said the company was originally founded at the end of 2011 (watch at 1:03) and that he wrote the first lines of code in November 2012 (watch at 4:47). He started the company with Dave Carruthers, who was its CEO at the 2019 Series A, and Tom Williams joined as a third co-founder a few months in. Barraclough was the original CTO and moved into the CEO role about seven months before the interview (watch at 1:03); Voxpopme’s about page still lists him as CEO.

In the interview he put total revenue at about $10 million, roughly 80% of it recurring (watch at 2:54), with around 60 full-time staff after Mayne first said 70 (watch at 8:57). GetLatka’s page on the interview summarises the same recording, so it is not a second source. They are the company’s own numbers, not audited accounts.

How the management team ended up with 8% to 15%

Voxpopme raised outside money early and often. Barraclough said the founders raised from angel investors very early (watch at 4:47), and MRWeb reported that Mercia invested a seven-figure Series A in 2017. In 2019 the company closed a $9 million Series A1 led by Origin Ventures, with Mercia and NVM Private Equity taking part (£7.5 million, per MRWeb); Research Live reported on September 11, 2019 that it brought the total raised to $16.5 million. Voxpopme’s own release gives the same amount and investors, and Barraclough confirmed the Origin Ventures round of about $9 million when Latka asked about it (watch at 11:24).

The founding team also changed. Barraclough said Williams left during the pandemic and Carruthers later stepped away (watch at 21:40); Companies House shows Carruthers resigning as a director in April 2023. Equity held by people no longer in the business stays on the cap table, so each round and each departure left less of the company with the people running it.

When Founderpath reviewed the data room in February 2024, Latka asked who would take the company to the next level, then checked their holdings on the cap table. He recalled the key managers, somewhere between four and nine people, holding roughly 8% to 15% between them, said he did not remember the exact numbers, and Mayne agreed with the range (watch at 15:14). Mayne explained why the board had not already fixed it:

I think that at that time, just with the investments that were coming in, there was a lot of protection of those investments. And there was some equity that was being rolled out, but not to the point or level that you guys had recommended in an effort to raise the capital with you.

Lonnie Mayne, then chairman, Voxpopme, Founderpath interview published October 3, 2024. Watch at 12:03

The Founderpath deal: $750,000 over 24 months, with an ESOP condition

Asked to share the deal, Barraclough said Voxpopme took $750,000 over 24 months (watch at 26:27), and Latka gives the same amount and term in the episode’s introduction (watch at 0:00). Barraclough said they looked at a range of amounts and settled in the middle, to fund a plan for the following year: companies moving over from other tools and a new set of buyers. The condition was the unusual part. Latka described it this way:

Founderpath can align with management here and use our capital coming as a forcing function to get a board resolution done to reestablish a new ESOP pool and then reissue those shares however the board wants to the go forward management to increase their equity.

Nathan Latka, CEO, Founderpath, Founderpath interview published October 3, 2024. Watch at 15:50

Summarising the offer later in the episode, Latka said Founderpath needed to see, at the funding date, a board resolution establishing a new ESOP pool, with a chunk of it reallocated straight away to the go-forward management; he said he was paraphrasing and gave only a rough size for the pool, 10 or 15 without a unit, so the final size is not on record (watch at 19:04). Mayne said he took the proposal to the investors on the board (watch at 17:01), and later that the board approved what was done for Barraclough (watch at 25:44).

Term	What the interview says	Where
Amount	$750,000	Barraclough, 26:27; Latka, 0:00
Term	24 months	Barraclough, 26:27
Year	2024; first contact in February	Latka, 0:43
Condition	Board resolution for a new ESOP pool, part reallocated to go-forward management	Latka, 19:04
Board decision	Approved, per the then chairman	Mayne, 25:44
Rate, product and repayment	Not stated in the interview or its resource page; GetLatka’s summary labels it venture debt	Resource page; GetLatka
Pool size and new holdings	Only a rough pool size (10 or 15, no unit) while paraphrasing; final size and new holdings not stated	Latka, 19:04

Founderpath’s terms today are not this deal’s terms. Its revenue financing page lists, as of October 2026, a discount rate from 7% with no equity or warrants, and it lists no ESOP condition; Latka presented the condition as his response to what diligence found at Voxpopme.

Watch the full interview with Andy Barraclough and Lonnie Mayne, with transcript.

How a new option pool raises management’s stake

A new ESOP pool creates new shares or options. Every existing holder’s percentage shrinks in proportion, and the board then grants the new pool to the people it wants to keep. Latka put it the same way in the episode: a new pool with board approval effectively dilutes the whole business and gives more incentive to go-forward management (watch at 24:43). The managers gain at the expense of every other holder, including the departed founders and the investors, which is why it needs the board. To see how pool expansions add up over several rounds, try the dilution calculator.

Latka and Mayne named four ways to give go-forward managers more of the upside when a lot of equity sits with people outside the business:

Approach	What it does	New shares?	Cash needed?
Buy out non-operating holders	The company or managers pay cash for departed founders’ or early angels’ shares	No	Yes
Raise money for a secondary	New capital funds the purchase of existing shares	Depends on the round	Yes, from the new round
New ESOP pool (Voxpopme’s route)	The board creates a pool and grants it to management	Yes, all holders diluted	No
Cash bonuses and other incentives	Pay instead of equity for people who need cash now	No	Yes, from operations

What founders can take from Voxpopme

Barraclough said the problem started with how the team approached its early rounds:

At the time, I think we were concentrating so much on what we wanted to do with that within the business. We were not necessarily thinking about it from our perspective at that early stage when we were going out to do that raise.

Andy Barraclough, CEO and co-founder, Voxpopme, Founderpath interview published October 3, 2024. Watch at 12:46

1. Set your own equity expectations before a round, not after. Barraclough said negotiating for it once the excitement of a raise is over is more difficult.
2. Check who holds the equity, not just how much has been raised. Voxpopme’s key managers held about 8% to 15% after $16.5 million of outside money by 2019, by Research Live’s count, and two co-founder departures.
3. A financing can carry a condition that helps the team. Here the lender used its funding date to get a pool approved that the board had discussed for years.
4. Equity is not the only incentive. Mayne described an executive at another company who needed cash more than equity; they did something different for him, and he stayed five or six more years.

For other Founderpath case studies, see CyberSmart and BetterComp.

Funding growth without giving up equity

Founderpath provides non-dilutive capital for bootstrapped software founders. Connect your billing, banking and accounting data, and Founderpath shows you what you qualify for, with every figure disclosed up front. There’s no pitch deck, no equity and no board seats.

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Sources and method

We checked every fact on this page on October 31, 2026. The deal facts come from one recording in which Founderpath (the lender) and Voxpopme (the borrower) both speak, so they are dated first-party accounts, not independent verification; each is attributed where it appears. Quotes are continuous excerpts from the reviewed transcript on Founderpath’s resource page, with punctuation added and fillers removed. Companies House shows no charge registered in Founderpath’s name against Voxpopme Limited, so the UK register does not confirm the financing; its two registered charges, both in favour of Mercia, were satisfied on 11 January 2024. The Series A1 is supported by Voxpopme’s release and by Research Live and MRWeb.

An earlier version of this page said the management team’s stake rose by 10%, that Voxpopme had raised $13 million from venture capital, that a six-person team held under 10%, and that the company had $10 million in ARR. Those claims are removed or corrected: the interview gives no figure for the increase, Research Live put the total raised at $16.5 million in 2019, Latka recalled four to nine people holding about 8% to 15%, and Barraclough gave about $10 million in total revenue with roughly 80% recurring (the old $8 million ARR figure is consistent with that share, but no source states it).

• How Voxpopme Hit $10M in Revenue and Reset Equity for Its New CEO, Founderpath interview with Andy Barraclough and Lonnie Mayne, published October 3, 2024
• Voxpopme Limited (08346204), Companies House overview, officers and charges, read October 31, 2026
• About Voxpopme, Voxpopme, read October 31, 2026
• Voxpopme raises $9m in funding, Research Live, September 11, 2019
• Voxpopme Closes £7.5m Investment Round, MRWeb Daily Research News, September 10, 2019
• Voxpopme Raises $9M in New Venture Financing Round, Voxpopme release, 2019
• Voxpopme 2024 founder interview, GetLatka, October 2024

Voxpopme and Founderpath FAQ

What does Voxpopme do?

Voxpopme is a video feedback and consumer insights platform. Large companies use it to run one to one interviews, focus groups and video surveys with consumers and to analyse the responses at scale. Its about page, checked in October 2026, says more than 300 companies use it.

Who founded Voxpopme and where is it based?

Andy Barraclough and Dave Carruthers started Voxpopme, and Tom Williams joined as a third co-founder a few months in. Voxpopme Limited was incorporated in England on 3 January 2013 with a registered office in Birmingham, and the company announced offices in Birmingham and Salt Lake City in 2019. Barraclough is its CEO.

How much did Founderpath fund Voxpopme?

Founderpath financed Voxpopme with $750,000 over 24 months in 2024, according to CEO Andy Barraclough and Founderpath CEO Nathan Latka in the interview Founderpath published on October 3, 2024. The sources reviewed do not state the rate or the repayment structure.

How did the Founderpath deal increase management’s equity?

Nathan Latka said in the interview that Founderpath made the funding conditional on a board resolution creating a new ESOP pool, with part of it reallocated to the go-forward management team, who held roughly 8% to 15% between them by his recollection. The then chairman, Lonnie Mayne, said the board approved it. The interview does not give the final pool size or the managers’ new holdings.

How much had Voxpopme raised from investors?

Voxpopme closed a $9 million Series A1 led by Origin Ventures, with Mercia and NVM Private Equity, in 2019. Research Live reported in September 2019 that it brought the company’s total raised to $16.5 million. Mercia had invested a seven-figure Series A in 2017.

Does a new option pool dilute existing shareholders?

Yes. A new ESOP pool adds shares or options, so every existing holder’s percentage falls in proportion. That is why it needs board approval, and why it moves equity toward the people who receive the new grants.

Is Lonnie Mayne still Voxpopme’s chairman?

No. Mayne was chairman at the time of the 2024 interview, but Companies House shows he resigned as a director on 11 February 2025, and Voxpopme’s about page, checked in October 2026, lists Joe Cohen as chairman.