The Ownership Economy: Why Consumers Want Equity Over Loyalty Points

NEW YORK, NY – October 15, 2026 – For decades, the fundamental contract between corporations and consumers was strictly transactional. You bought a product, you liked it, and perhaps you received a punch card or digital loyalty points for your continued patronage. But the engines that power global commerce are undergoing a massive, systemic transformation. The modern consumer is no longer satisfied with a ten percent discount code. They want a seat at the capitalization table.

According to new national research published today by DealMaker, an investment technology platform facilitating retail capital raises, a staggering 77 percent of Americans believe customers and brand advocates should be better rewarded for the role they play in growing a business. The survey, conducted by independent research firm Propeller Insights and polling over 2,000 U.S. adults, highlights a structural shift in how everyday people view their relationship with the products they consume. Furthermore, 51 percent of respondents stated it is fundamentally unfair that external investors capture the massive financial gains of growth while early customers do the heavy lifting of building brand reputation.

This is not merely a shift in consumer sentiment; it is a rewriting of the rules of global competition. As the digital infrastructure of capital markets evolves, the barrier between the checkout counter and the brokerage account is rapidly dissolving.

Weaponizing Affinity Against Rising Acquisition Costs

The digital advertising engine that powered the last twenty years of corporate growth is sputtering. Customer acquisition costs are skyrocketing across nearly every sector, forcing brands to bleed capital just to maintain their user base. In this environment, customer retention is no longer just a marketing metric—it is a critical survival mechanism.

DealMaker, founded in 2018, has positioned itself at the epicenter of this shift. The company provides the white-label infrastructure that allows private companies to raise capital directly from their retail communities. The platform recently reported a 40 percent year-over-year growth in capital raised, approaching a cumulative $3 billion across more than 1,000 offerings.

“We’re shifting from an attention economy to an ownership economy, from a world where brands rent attention to one where loyalty is the edge,” said Rebecca Kacaba, co-founder and CEO of DealMaker. “Customer acquisition costs are skyrocketing, but the people who buy into a brand’s mission early stay loyal and tell their friends. Turning those customers into owners is a powerful enterprise asset.”

Market researchers analyzing shareholder consumer behavior support this thesis. Studies indicate that when customers hold psychological or literal ownership in a brand, their lifetime value increases dramatically. Early data suggests customer-shareholders can spend up to 54 percent more on average than non-shareholders, while referring twice as many new customers. By weaponizing brand affinity into capital raises, companies are attempting to build a self-reinforcing ecosystem that is highly resistant to traditional competitive pressures.

The Cultural Shift: From Points to Portfolios

To understand the "why" behind this shift, one must look at the macro-economic narrative of the past fifteen years. The 2010s saw gig platforms and direct-to-consumer darlings explode into the cultural zeitgeist. Power users drove the viral success of these platforms, yet the massive wealth generation was almost exclusively captured by Sand Hill Road venture capitalists.

Consumers have noticed. When asked to think back to their first encounter with their favorite brand, 54 percent of survey respondents were confident it would become a successful company. More tellingly, 56 percent said they would have invested in their favorite brand early on if given the opportunity. The hypothetical pre-IPO interest is heavily skewed toward the tech and logistics engines of the modern economy: 64 percent wish they had bought into Amazon early, followed by DoorDash (47 percent), Uber (47 percent), Airbnb (42 percent), and Tesla (40 percent).

Among the highest-performing verticals for retail investment today are clean tech, robotics, and automated manufacturing—sectors where consumers feel they are funding the future infrastructure of the world. This represents a profound evolution from passive consumption to active, ideological investment.

Democratization or Dilution? The Hidden Risks

While the democratization of private equity sounds utopian, the transition from consumer to venture capitalist is fraught with structural hazards. The regulatory framework enabling this shift, primarily the JOBS Act's Regulation A+ and Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF), opened the floodgates for retail participation, but it did not eliminate the underlying risks of early-stage corporate finance.

Financial analysts and regulatory observers consistently warn that private equity is a highly speculative asset class. Unlike public stocks traded on the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange, shares in private startups are notoriously illiquid. There is currently no robust secondary market for these securities. An investor who buys into a beloved clean-energy startup at the checkout counter may have their capital locked up for five to ten years—if the enterprise survives at all.

"The narrative of democratizing wealth often glosses over the brutal failure rate of early-stage ventures," noted one independent financial researcher specializing in alternative assets. "Retail investors driven by brand love are essentially buying lottery tickets that they cannot easily sell, trade, or borrow against."

Furthermore, while the survey highlights a strong consumer desire for ownership, it also reveals a significant knowledge gap. Among those who have never owned their favorite brand's stock, 19 percent stated they do not invest in the stock market at all, and 27 percent lack the funds to do so. Introducing novice investors to the most opaque and illiquid tier of the financial markets raises serious questions about consumer protection. A survey commissioned by a platform that profits from deal volume naturally emphasizes the optimism of the ownership economy, but the reality of venture returns is heavily skewed toward total loss.

The Corporate Governance Friction

For the companies themselves, the ownership economy introduces entirely new mechanical stresses. Replacing a handful of institutional board members with tens of thousands of retail investors alters the fundamental DNA of corporate governance.

Founders who utilize retail capital platforms must navigate immense communication overhead. Retail investors, motivated by brand affinity rather than pure financial modeling, often possess different expectations than traditional venture capitalists. They demand transparency, frequent updates, and a voice in operational decisions.

"When you bring your customers onto your cap table, you are inviting them into the kitchen," observed a corporate governance expert who advises mid-market startups. "If the company pivots, changes its product formulation, or fails to deliver a timely exit, those loyal advocates can rapidly organize into a highly vocal opposition."

Despite these friction points, the momentum of the ownership economy appears difficult to reverse. Nearly 30 percent of respondents in the recent survey explicitly noted that investing in a company made them a more loyal customer. As clean energy initiatives, robotics manufacturers, and digital platforms increasingly seek alternative funding mechanisms outside the traditional venture capital ecosystem, the lines between consumer, advocate, and shareholder will continue to blur. The structural shift is already underway, redefining not just how businesses are funded, but who gets to profit from the engines of tomorrow.