What happens now

Business
1

Hi SitePoint,
I have a problem that I need an honest, no BS, assessment and advice. I’m going to attempt to keep this short.

I’ve been working on some web automation software for about 7 years (total 15 years in the field). About 2 years ago I met my ex-partner. He was business/sales and I was business/tech. I started with 70%, him 30%. Due to his performance, about six months in I agreed to 50/50. About 1 year ago my partner and I entered into a private equity situation. Him and I diluted down to 25.5/each for 250k. This was to take my ideas/software and crank it up.

I wasn’t keen on this and, now that I look back, wasn’t entirely sold on the concept but I did it anyway.

As soon as the money hit, problems started. We hired guys, started the project, and my ex-partner began to loose focus/miss sales projections/etc. The equity group used an average of 10-20/week for meetings. Started to infuse their own projects/ideas/interests. No BS, the team i brought in missed every deadline. Ultimately, he was bought out by the group six months ago and has since, started his own project (similar idea) with another group.

The equity group has severely cooled over the past 6 months, my team cut, and I’m down to me and another guy. So here I am, killing myself to support and continue a product that 1) the clients are mildly happy with, 2) the investors haven’t seen their “pie-in-the-sky” returns from, and 3) that needs a few 100k to get things back on track. Further, I think that everyone involved is about 20% happy with the situation.

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated, no matter the content.

Thanks in advance.

2

Welcome to Sitepoint and sorry to hear this.

I’ve recently heard a similar story, was pretty much the same except that it wasn’t money from investors but a contractual partnership, i.e. money from a client for a joint-project that forced my friend to employ people. It pretty much turned out the same as in your case, except, lucky for him, since it was just a one-off contract, he could easily go back to how things were before.

I’ll get back to suggestions in your case later on when I’ve got more time, just reply here quickly so that it comes up in my feed again and I won’t forget.