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Less IPO, more IPA: James Watt, co-founder of independent brewery BrewDog, explains the thinking behind his firm's crowdfunding programme, Equity for Punks.

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There are two main reasons why BrewDog established the Equity for Punks (EFP) scheme (www.brewdog.com/equityforpunks). First, it has enabled us to sidestep the banks. Second, it's put fans of our beer at the heart of the operation, letting them share in our growth. We wouldn't be where we are today without the loyalty of our fans. On top of all the other benefits they receive--including a discount in bars and our online shop, plus an invitation to the annual general meeting--our EFP investors get a say in how the business is run.

We want our customers to be as passionate as we are about our beer. That's the foundation on which our crowdfunding programme is built. We are not only creating a community of people who will profit from our success: we are also building an army of craft-beer advocates who will shun the status quo of mass-produced fizzy lagers.

From the outset, our idea was to move closer to our fans and give them a stake in the future of BrewDog. We are never ones to do things conventionally. When we started out, we funded the business almost completely by bank loans and our savings, so we don't have any ideological opposition to borrowing from banks. EFP was simply an opportunity to do things differently and. potentially, to raise more money than we could have done had we gone back to the...

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