This is a short overview of what I’m building. Not a pitch — a structural snapshot for people whose judgement I trust.
It’s deliberately light on narrative. The structure is what matters. If something in here looks wrong, unrealistic, or interesting — tell me.
— Thibault
Initiative X is a shared operating system for independent hospitality businesses. Five layers: platform, membership, certification, fund, white-label. Entry is free; layers open as operators and members grow with the network.
It exists because independent hospitality is structurally fragmented. Every operator rebuilds the same infrastructure from scratch, staff have no ownership stake in the businesses they build, and capital has no standardised way in. IX is one ecosystem that fixes the three at once.
Not just restaurants. Four business types come through the same certification door.
| Segment | What they are |
|---|---|
| Venues | Restaurants, bars, cafés, hotels, clubs — the customer-facing hospitality layer. |
| Suppliers | Wine, produce, equipment, beverage, F&B inputs. Vinicon is the first. |
| Service Providers | Design, accounting, HR, legal, marketing, ops consulting, IT — the back-of-house layer. |
| Operators & Groups | Multi-unit operators, portfolios, and white-label partners (hotel groups building on IX infra). |
Every segment runs through the same 10-pillar IX Certification assessment: Financial Health (20%), Operations (15%), Growth, People & HR, Customer Experience, Supply Chain (10% each), Economic Participation, Sustainability (8% each), Governance (5%), Community (4%). AI-assisted auto-fill from public and submitted data, human review, score decay if standards slip.
Certification feeds valuation. The fund values each business using stage-dependent DCF (Methodology v2.0) — a discount rate built from four additive layers applied to projected operating cashflows, with capex floor, explicit debt deduction, and lease renewal probability adjusting the terminal value. Quarterly reassessment.
| WACC layer | Range | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Base Cost of Capital | Reference rate | Sector benchmark for UK hospitality |
| Stage Premium | R5 → R1 | Pre-opening (R5) to mature (R1) — lower as the venue de-risks |
| Certification Premium | Foundation / Verified / Excellence | Higher tier → lower premium |
| Governance Premium | G1 → G5 | Lower premium for stronger governance scores |
References standard UK hospitality M&A practice (Christie & Co / Davis Coffer Lyons / Fleurets all use DCF + capex floor + lease probability). Replaces an earlier score-×-multiple-×-revenue formula that produced cliff pricing at tier boundaries and ignored debt and assets — deprecated.
The model rewards two things together: operational improvement (higher certification + governance scores reduce the discount rate) and stage progression (R5 → R1 as the venue trades through). It penalises debt and rewards real capex — so it can’t be gamed by top-line growth alone. Operator and fund incentives align by construction.
Once in, the network does the rest: each member venue is a demand channel for certified suppliers and service providers; each supplier’s book is a demand channel for venues. Shared procurement, cross-referrals, and joint lead acquisition are the compound interest.
Six vehicles sit under an FCA-authorised fund manager (in selection) via two access rails (Layer 1 retail through an ECF partner; Layer 2 direct under the fund manager). InitiativeX Ltd itself remains an unregulated platform operator; all regulated activity sits with the fund manager.
| Vehicle | Profile | Target Return | Lock-up | Min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. IXF Units | Fund equity, NAV-linked, carry waterfall | Variable (NAV) | 5–7 yrs | TBD |
| B. IX Participation Notes | Senior bond, asset-backed. Cash or IXT payout option. | 6–10% fixed | 12–36 mo | £100 (L1) / £1K (L2) |
| C. Direct Business NFT | Venue co-invest, quarterly distributions (Strategic tier+) | Variable | 3–7 yrs | Strategic tier |
| D. PropCo Notes | Property-backed, first-rank mortgage | 8–12% fixed | 24–60 mo | £25K |
| E. IX Cashflow Notes | Short-duration working-capital loan to certified venues. 20% loss reserve held in trust. | 10–18% APR (by R-rating) | 3–12 mo | £100 (L1) / £1K (L2) |
| F. IX Development Convertible Notes | Pre-opening convertible. Mandatory conversion to Business NFT at 20/30/40% discount on Foundation/Verified/Excellence certification. | 12% APR (6% cash + 6% IXT) + NFT conversion | Up to 24 mo | £100 (L1) / £1K (L2) |
Five-stage waterfall: Stage 0 — 100% to Founding Investors until 6% p.a. cumulative preference + principal repaid (per venue, ringfenced) · Stage 1 — pari passu return of capital, 0% carry · Stage 2 — 10% carry during return phase · Stage 3 — 20% post-payback · Stage 4 — 25% after 2×.
Each business contributes a minimum 5% of enterprise value into the IX Growth Trust. That contributed portion is the Business NFT. At exit, the Business NFT returns to the venue at appreciated value. IX takes 10% of the contributed portion (e.g. venue contributes 15% EV → IX receives a 1.5% effective stake), vesting over 24 months.
Target return escalates with tenure: Year 1 = 0%, Years 2–3 = 3%, Years 4–5 = 5%, Year 6+ = 10%. Target, not guaranteed. Paid from fund distributions.
1 IXT = £1, fixed. Earned (not purchased) through member spend at participating venues. Spendable only within the ecosystem. No secondary market, no peer-to-peer transfer.
Phase 2: Patron-tier cash withdrawal at 8% fee, £2K/quarter cap, 12 months post-launch minimum, subject to FCA authorisation. Ecosystem Fund cover ratio min 1.5x against outstanding redeemable IXT. Burn mechanisms across transaction, withdrawal, early-unlock, and secondary-trade fees.
Two-entity split. InitiativeX Ltd (unregulated): consumer membership, IXT loyalty earning/spending, B2B platform, management fees. Appointed FCA-authorised fund manager: all six investment vehicles, IXT cash withdrawal (if e-money), financial promotions, client money.
Honest read of the five workstreams, grounded in what actually exists in the directory.
No ask. Read, ignore, or reply — whatever’s useful. If the structure’s interesting, the flaws more so.