We know that there are many factors involved that turn partners, colleagues, etc. against themselves. I think it is very important to have a solid thread that will possibly prevent such things happening to anyone reading this advice.
This thread's purpose is a collaborative pool of advice to protect yourself from getting "screwed over".
NOTE - I am going to be writing from direct experience and from other perspectives that I know. I am not the person to go to in terms of technical contract security or whatever you want to call it.
My very first piece of advice: IF ITS NOT WRITTEN, IT DIDN'T HAPPEN
Always write a contract/statement where both parties will
1. Understand their outcome
2. Understand their role in the partnership.
Plenty of biding resources available online
Never, never, ever take anyone's "word"; not your friends, not your brothers, not even your grandmas. Not only for your sake, but also for theirs. A lot of times it never begins with the thought of screwing someone over from the start. It grows over time and then turns into greed or pressure, whatever it may be.
Of course taking someones word is okay to an extent, for example things of less importance that do not involve the structure or intent of the collaboration.
Personal experience of this hopefully you can learn from this one. I know was an idiot:
I started a Social Media Marketing company with 3 people. Myself, my brother, and a good friend of mine. Now thank God that we are in somewhat good standing now. My friend brought my brother and I together and explained the idea that he had, he said we will split the company 3 ways, he has the money and expansion, my brother has the management, I have the sales dep. We agreed and went in on this, literally quit our jobs... Soon enough friend says that there are "complications with splitting 3 ways"(complete bull crap). Soon enough our dumb asses were stupid enough to agree to his "word" where he said that we will start off minimum wage and that we will get heavy commissions and then future shares when company gets rolling.
He was throwing unnecessary cash away from the start. Leased a waterfront office for "image". Bought 5 imac pros for in house design service... and much much more. Soon enough his overhead is 8k per month for everything and only making 5k per month. Before all of this my brother and I were trying to convince him to not do any of that to start, unnecessary. Because he was "owner" of the company and thought we didn't know what we were talking about.
Fast forward 3 months. He fires me because he's been spending too much money. No hard feelings though right? And then he announces to my brother a month later that he is shutting the company down the next day... THE NEXT DAY. He knew damn well my brother had a wife and 2 kids, and failed to give him any notice. Just like that, this guy spends 50k+ on all expenses if not more.
Would have had a successful company if we could just have the equal decision power and shut his a$$ up. All the money spending really was a nice touch, but it had to be done at the right time.
Feel free to share your experiences and knowledge of how to protect ones self. This thread will be dead if you dont heh.
This thread's purpose is a collaborative pool of advice to protect yourself from getting "screwed over".
NOTE - I am going to be writing from direct experience and from other perspectives that I know. I am not the person to go to in terms of technical contract security or whatever you want to call it.
My very first piece of advice: IF ITS NOT WRITTEN, IT DIDN'T HAPPEN
Always write a contract/statement where both parties will
1. Understand their outcome
2. Understand their role in the partnership.
Plenty of biding resources available online
Never, never, ever take anyone's "word"; not your friends, not your brothers, not even your grandmas. Not only for your sake, but also for theirs. A lot of times it never begins with the thought of screwing someone over from the start. It grows over time and then turns into greed or pressure, whatever it may be.
Of course taking someones word is okay to an extent, for example things of less importance that do not involve the structure or intent of the collaboration.
Personal experience of this hopefully you can learn from this one. I know was an idiot:
I started a Social Media Marketing company with 3 people. Myself, my brother, and a good friend of mine. Now thank God that we are in somewhat good standing now. My friend brought my brother and I together and explained the idea that he had, he said we will split the company 3 ways, he has the money and expansion, my brother has the management, I have the sales dep. We agreed and went in on this, literally quit our jobs... Soon enough friend says that there are "complications with splitting 3 ways"(complete bull crap). Soon enough our dumb asses were stupid enough to agree to his "word" where he said that we will start off minimum wage and that we will get heavy commissions and then future shares when company gets rolling.
He was throwing unnecessary cash away from the start. Leased a waterfront office for "image". Bought 5 imac pros for in house design service... and much much more. Soon enough his overhead is 8k per month for everything and only making 5k per month. Before all of this my brother and I were trying to convince him to not do any of that to start, unnecessary. Because he was "owner" of the company and thought we didn't know what we were talking about.
Fast forward 3 months. He fires me because he's been spending too much money. No hard feelings though right? And then he announces to my brother a month later that he is shutting the company down the next day... THE NEXT DAY. He knew damn well my brother had a wife and 2 kids, and failed to give him any notice. Just like that, this guy spends 50k+ on all expenses if not more.
Would have had a successful company if we could just have the equal decision power and shut his a$$ up. All the money spending really was a nice touch, but it had to be done at the right time.
Feel free to share your experiences and knowledge of how to protect ones self. This thread will be dead if you dont heh.
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