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If you don't want to read the whole thing, just jump to the Dilemma section.
Long story short, started a new business and it seems to be slowly building interest. There's two people that are part of this story, I'll just call them Dave and Phil.
I came up with an idea that i decided to pursue. It's been a couple months so far and i have spent money on getting the website developed, lawyer fees, advertising, product sourcing, product packaging, brand design, and of course my own time to get social media up and running. On top of this, took about 2 months to figure out how i wanted to do this as it's a tough market to break.
Background on Dave and Phil
DAVE:
Thoughts? Thanks for reading the essay by the way.
Long story short, started a new business and it seems to be slowly building interest. There's two people that are part of this story, I'll just call them Dave and Phil.
I came up with an idea that i decided to pursue. It's been a couple months so far and i have spent money on getting the website developed, lawyer fees, advertising, product sourcing, product packaging, brand design, and of course my own time to get social media up and running. On top of this, took about 2 months to figure out how i wanted to do this as it's a tough market to break.
Background on Dave and Phil
DAVE:
- My best friend and one that i have known for a long time
- I always talked about owning something of my own and Dave just casually mentioned that we should do something together (I said it would be nice but it was a casual conversation, nothing formal).
- I wasn't planning to originally work with him. I just told him the idea because we're good friends. He say's he wants to help, i say sure.
- His help so far has been "emotional support" of him hearing me talk about everything and just bouncing ideas off him and him posting maybe 4 instagram pictures out of 25+ (I did most of them).
- I don't know what "help" entailed so i asked to talk. Explained i'm very serious about this and that it's business first, friends second if we do this. He was thinking its more of a "good friends do something fun" so he backed out when he realized i was serious about it.
- Couple weeks down the line, he starts rethinking his position and wants to meet to talk. (Im assuming he thinks he's part of this project. We mostly only talked about this business, i did 99% of the work. 1% comes from his 5 instagram pictures)
- Pros
- He's very good with people and is extremely patient. (Great for customer service and talking to people in general)
- He's also a consumer in the market we're aiming for so he at least has some idea of what we're selling and industry.
- Cons
- He's in debt and cannot put up capital.
- Hasn't finished school and in my eyes doesn't have much value he could offer. (No business skills, design, presentations, etc)
- Seems to be pretty lazy at times (didn't finish school, works minimum wage job, in debt, etc)
- Met in school through a large project we had. I have a sense of how he works (calm, but can be lazy without a push)
- Comes into this story about 4 months after i start the business.
- When he finds out what im working on, asks what needs to get done and finds a person through his contacts to help with said task (The task i was trying to solve was a large headache).
- Says he wants a 60/40 split of the company (Too soon? Nothing has been done yet.) Says third person is unnecessary (i agree).
- Pros
- Has capital and is willing to spend money to make this run.
- No debt
- Seems fairly well connected and knows someone here and there
- MIGHT have a way to sell to big B2B companies (His dad knows a lot of execs in this market, but this is of course not a for sure thing)
- Cons
- Doesn't use what we're selling, so it seems like he's disconnected from the core product and might not understand it as well.
- Can seem lazy at times without a push.
- How do i explain to Dave that i see no value in what he has done so far and in general no value in terms of what he could offer.
- We're best friends so i would like to do this as clean as possible.
- I dont have a problem being blunt if need be, but trying to find the best answer here.
- Do i ask Dave to see what he truly wants out of this business? (Salary, volunteer, small help here and there). Maybe work something out?
- Is it a dick move that Dave has known about this project from the start and im basically cutting him out now and bringing on Phil full time?
- Is 60/40 split fair with Phil? Is it better to do a vested percentage where i give him 10% each year (up to 40%) as long as he stays on the project and does work?
Thoughts? Thanks for reading the essay by the way.
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