An SI friend investing in another friend and it not going awry.
I approached our esteemed Dave several months back asking if he'd be willing to take on the role of Admin on a temporary basis, see if he liked the job and was up for it, and if he did, make it a paying fulltime job. The purpose being so I could focus on programming for the new version without the distractions that'd often have me going a week or longer without writing a single line of code.
After he'd been on the job for a while and found it suited him well, he told me that he wasn't so much interested in a salary as he would be an ownership stake.
We talked about it now and then, but not much until he and Matt and I all got together in Boogerville a few months ago to discuss strategies, where we were going, and corporate governance (I'm not a finance guy so am clueless about a lot of the metrics Dave is expert at).
Dave and I have known each other strictly in the SI sense for a long time but he got a chance to get to know Matt and I better during his brief stay out here, and he got a chance to know the companies very well.
So much so that shortly after he got back home, he offered to buy a small stake in Investors Hub (SI's parent company) and he wanted to buy it directly from us rather than having the company issue him new stock.
Matt and I agreed. So Dave is a minority shareholder in the company, works gratis, and has paid for the "privilege".
On one hand, Dave bought into a solid company that he knew was profitable and that had a solid future and whose future he could actively influence.
On the other hand, his investment in the company *does* have a chance to become worthless. The only chance he has of recouping his investment is by selling his shares to an acquirer or in a future offering. And we're not currently for sale. We don't pay dividends but we do pay bonuses based in part on ownership stake of people who actively work for the company. That won't make a dent in his investment. Much less actually compensate him for the value of the work he does right here and behind the scenes.
So, Dave and I are an "SI friends investing in each other" story that is still playing out. The upside can be good but is certainly not guaranteed. The downside is, as with any other investment, never seeing a penny of that money ever again.
If we don't manage to pull it off, will Dave be pissed at me? Oh, probably. Especially since, with the new version rollout, we're all having to wear shades around here. But will he feel that I scammed him? Doubtful. He put some risk capital on the line and he knows as well as I do that he might never see a penny of it ever again.
Edit: Please do not construe this message as being glib about money lost in such investments. I do not take lost money lightly, no matter who loses it where. Well, unless it's lost investing in a stock that trades in tenths of a cent and is purported to be the next Microsoft. |
