They are basically right and you are wrong. Perhaps a deep in the weeds law student might see a difference and prefer that they say “bank transfer”.
But it is how I would expect a client to respond to this question. I’m not sure why this bothers you
Was there any indication beforehand that they had a problem?
It is usually a good idea to go to a lawyer for the shareholders agreement, but I suggest you do a lot of research and develop some understanding yourself. If you are just going to some random lawyer and you don’t have much to contribute you are probably just as well off downloading something from the internet, which is probably what the lawyer would do anyway.
Very few landscaping companies ever get sold
There is a lot of good advice here but also a lot of guesswork.
You need to get a clearer idea of what he is offering. What you have now is a messy high-level concept that a lot of people have interpreted.
From my read, this could be a simple offer of $30k for 5% of the business and hence 5% of any dividends. This would seem to be a terrible deal for the investor and I doubt that is the offer.
It could also be equity with a royalty (which sounds like a bad deal for you), equity with a profit share (which could be ok in some cases) or a preferred share structure.
I think you need to:
Now let’s see if you know what “real net” means and how someone is supposed to calculate that.
Are you in a high school and this is really just a project you are mulling?
Or are you adults and this is registered as a business and you have or will have products, customers, revenue etc?
It may not actually matter that much. If you are unable to get the logo and slogan done you gotta can this thing.
But how you end it depends on how real it is if it is real. If you are just kids and it is just a fantasy, then walk away and play a different game.
I like remote work. I just don’t think it is effective
Why did you only spend under $500 on advertising? That doesn’t make it sound like a serious business
I am an employer in a strategy consulting business. I do not think it is possible to build team culture and operating effectiveness in a fully remote environment. In particular brining on and training junior staff is far more difficult.
Hybrid works. Remote doesn’t.
My feeling is that a lot of people who hate the social aspects of work, love WFH and don’t see what gets lost in the process. They broadly set their own KPIs, work to meet them, don’t notice when they diverge from corporate KPIs then whine about how cruel and incompetent egotistical bosses are.
In some fields WFH may work. For the most part, in my view, it does not. And the most rabid advocates of it are often the ones who least understand why.
Of course not. But that isn’t the point. OP may be better off firing them.
You don’t really need to worry about how to tell them. Just say “I’m sorry, we will not be able to do the work”. If they persist you can just claim that you are very busy, and let it slip that you are busy with better customers. Or you can flat out tell them that it is taking too much effort.
A more important point, in my view, is that you need to get much more comfortable using price and other terms to screen out problem customers.
In my old firm we had a “no asshole” policy. Once someone seemed like an asshole, we would not work with them. It is one of the best things I have ever done.
Title doesn’t match story
“The government” is far too broad a term to be of much use. It will make a big difference what agency and what type of agency is launching the software.
It is also very difficult to provide much guidance without knowing more than that it is AEC sector. I find it very hard to believe that you and a co-founded are launching a private sector solution and “the government” is actually doing something that “similar”. Did you just read a headline or do you have detailed insight that would indicate that it is meaningfully similar.
Based on what you have said I feel about 90% sure that this thing you are worried about is completely different and non-competitive.
Exactly. This actually reflects very badly on the founder, who based on this sounds like a complete idiot.
I don’t think it is a quote. It is just something you wrote. I have never heard it and think it is ridiculous.
In my business if I cold called people, I would get zero response.
I have to actually do the work of figuring out how to get to them.
I find resorting to cold calling and messaging to be very unsophisticated.
I still don’t know why you made this post, even after you tried explaining
Set up a contract.
There is no way to make this deal and keep the two sides apart unless you take ownership.
Contracts are common in this sort of business.
You should also check to see if you are allowed to do this.
If everything you have read or watched tells you to “just start and figure out problems later”, not only should you be listening to your wife but you should ask her for suggestions on what to read and watch.