Klout is partnering with a startup called Wahooly to offer high-ranking members the ability to become investors in startups in return for helping publicize the young companies.

In about two weeks, Klout will approach users with a score of 45 or more to check out Wahooly. In January, those users who opt in will be able to choose from 200 startups in which they’d like to invest. Dana Severson, founder of Wahooly (the name refers to the wahoo, arguably the world’s fastest fish, which travels in schools), gave the following hypothetical example of how the service will work:

“Say Startup A wants to offer a 5% equity arrangement to 5,000 users. We’d give 25,000 the opportunity to join and choose 5,000 among them.” Once that cutoff is reached, Wahooly will track the investor’s social media activity. Severson says investors don’t have to talk about their startup, but “that’s what our model is all about.” Their equity stake will increase or decrease based on their perceived brand advocacy in social media channels. “If they choose to do nothing and don’t mention word one, then their share is diluted,” Severson says.

Joe Fernandez, CEO of Klout, says his users will embrace the opportunity. “Klout users tend to be some of the most passionate early adopters on the web and love having access to exciting new products like Wahooly,” he says.

The concept, says Severson, will help startups desperate to get the word out and Klout users who are looking for an investment opportunity. The idea has some precedent, most obviously with Kickstarter‘s crowd-funding platform. Earlier this year, a Danish man also invented a concept called Startuplotto that offered 1% stake in participating startups to thousands of people who agree to become part of the startup’s user base.

Nevertheless, the proposition may raise some ethical issues. Do stakeholders have to disclose their relationship with their startup? Severson says no, as long as the company hasn’t gone public, bought back shares, gotten acquired by another company or sold any shares on the secondary market. As for ethical concerns, Severson points out that people who own shares of Apple are not required to disclose that relationship if they discuss the iPhone or any other Apple product in social media channels.

What do you think? Would you talk about a company in exchange for a piece of it? Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Juanmonino

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