Mike Jokec
New Contributor
Hello everyone.
For the past few months I've been working on a side project with a friend of mine. Long story short, tomorrow we have a presentation at a really big multinational on potentially working together. Great right? Or is it...
See, my intention is to build a replicable business. Something I can sell over and over again, which can potentially bring me millions. The market is there, it's a niche market, but it's there. Yet, to get access to the market, I would need a partner who is already working in the niche and basically sell them digitalisation of the said business.
Enter the multinational. It just so happens that my partner in this project landed a job there. Very quickly it turned out that they have a need for what we have. We agreed that we have common interest to join forces and "work out the details as we go".
Then they sent me a contract draft which from my perspective is a joke and I really didn't even read through, as it was simply not worth my time. I have my vision and I'll continue to go my way.
Anyway, my partner who works there is telling me what is and what isn't acceptable to them*. Apparently they want IP rights on the product (not gonna happen), or at least market exclusivity.
The thing is, they are a gorilla. They currently need me for this one project, and they want to be price aggressive, and they want to control the product. Seems like a really, really bad deal to me. Yes, they could open some markets, but it seems their pricing is not aligned with my vision, essentially slashing the market price and even killing the market in the process.
I really have no problem of walking away from this. Somehow I'm under impression that if I take that route, I will forever be their monkey, with no control over my own work. And worse, they could just put the thing in a drawer once the current project is done, forget about it, and I could do nothing about it.
So I'm inclined to play it hard, and even say no. I'm not heavily invested into it. I'd much rather recognise the market is going to shit and walk away as to be someone's monkey.
So unless they could bring me to the fastlane, my plan is to say no. It sounds crazy, because well, plenty of people would kill to be able to present to such clients. But at my current position, I just don't care. Any thoughts?
Thanks
*My partner is suddenly in panic mode as what is and what is not acceptable to the multinational, essentially advocating them instead of our business. I guess playing it hard with his employer made him nervous, but it's got really ridiculous, as he's only taking about them and their interest and 0 about our. Worse, I figured what is bad outcome for me is still god outcome for him, so we now have a conflict of interest. Fun times. I guess there is a lesson there, just not sure yet what it is.
For the past few months I've been working on a side project with a friend of mine. Long story short, tomorrow we have a presentation at a really big multinational on potentially working together. Great right? Or is it...
See, my intention is to build a replicable business. Something I can sell over and over again, which can potentially bring me millions. The market is there, it's a niche market, but it's there. Yet, to get access to the market, I would need a partner who is already working in the niche and basically sell them digitalisation of the said business.
Enter the multinational. It just so happens that my partner in this project landed a job there. Very quickly it turned out that they have a need for what we have. We agreed that we have common interest to join forces and "work out the details as we go".
Then they sent me a contract draft which from my perspective is a joke and I really didn't even read through, as it was simply not worth my time. I have my vision and I'll continue to go my way.
Anyway, my partner who works there is telling me what is and what isn't acceptable to them*. Apparently they want IP rights on the product (not gonna happen), or at least market exclusivity.
The thing is, they are a gorilla. They currently need me for this one project, and they want to be price aggressive, and they want to control the product. Seems like a really, really bad deal to me. Yes, they could open some markets, but it seems their pricing is not aligned with my vision, essentially slashing the market price and even killing the market in the process.
I really have no problem of walking away from this. Somehow I'm under impression that if I take that route, I will forever be their monkey, with no control over my own work. And worse, they could just put the thing in a drawer once the current project is done, forget about it, and I could do nothing about it.
So I'm inclined to play it hard, and even say no. I'm not heavily invested into it. I'd much rather recognise the market is going to shit and walk away as to be someone's monkey.
So unless they could bring me to the fastlane, my plan is to say no. It sounds crazy, because well, plenty of people would kill to be able to present to such clients. But at my current position, I just don't care. Any thoughts?
Thanks
*My partner is suddenly in panic mode as what is and what is not acceptable to the multinational, essentially advocating them instead of our business. I guess playing it hard with his employer made him nervous, but it's got really ridiculous, as he's only taking about them and their interest and 0 about our. Worse, I figured what is bad outcome for me is still god outcome for him, so we now have a conflict of interest. Fun times. I guess there is a lesson there, just not sure yet what it is.
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