How to totally F**K up a startup company
More than a year ago I was approached by an individual who asked me to partner with him 50/50 in a company that tailors real estate marketing services to Realtors. The idea was solid, the concept was pitch perfect for investors, and I knew I could bring to the table skills that he couldn't, and he could bring to the table skills that I couldn't. That's in fact what makes a perfect business partnership. My responsibility was to build the website and to complete the automation of our software so that we could effortlessly support as many clients as we needed to. His part was to sell the crap out of the business so that we could grow. He is an amazing sales person at heart and all he has to do is sell and forget. Sell the client, once they signup I take care of the rest.
Six months went by and I finally had the pre launch product in place and we signed a few realtors up with our company. The reviews were awesome. Note: My partner is a real estate agent himself and has only signed two members up with our business who happen to be part of the office he works in. He uses the service for free. Once the product was launched he stopped selling it, he hasn't made more than three phone calls to other Realtors that he knows, and all he wants to do is run Facebook ads and that's it. He claims that if Facebook doesn't work, nothing will. Come on, any business owner knows you need more than one channel of sales to be successful. Ill call my partner out on his laziness and then he begins making more and more promises that he will be better, and that he will donate several hours a day to his part of the deal. What do I get in return? Nothing. Its now been more than a year. A year of doing EVERYTHING, and now that its ready to sell, he isn't holding up to his word.
Here is the problem. I recently got married to my wife on June 6th 2015. I live in Wyoming, she lived in Pennsylvania. She moved to Wyoming so that I could focus on this business, however, now that she's here and my partner is doing nothing im not able to move forward with my business career. I feel devastated because I uprooted my wife from her own habitat, a man should move for his woman, we did things in the opposite order. I feel horrible that I am being held back by my business partner and have nothing really to show for asking my wife to move here. My wife has been seriously supportive, but man, I still feel like crap.
To top it all off, a few weeks ago I had been meeting with a woman who was willing to provide seed capital for our business which is awesome. My partner wouldn't even go to the meetings UNTIL a decision was to be made. The third meeting my partner and I met with our potential investor. My partner laid back in his chair smacking his gum and pretty much tried to own a conversation he had never been part of. Story short, we didn't receive the investment. I've reproached him about re-approaching this investor and now he says he doesn't think we're ready. How can anyone thing anything when they have absolutely no involvement in the company? It blows my mind. Im tired of having a partner in business who only does something when he's pushed. When I push him he says I'm being irrational or unfair. This is not a real partnership. I feel like he did his job. His job is to sell. He sold me on an idea and now hes not holding his part. I'm going to lose all of my work if I walk away. I have more than 250,000 lines of code written, only to be lost.
Guys, my wife makes more money than I do which is fine by me. What isn't okay is that im working so hard on something and getting no return not due to failure, but due to a lazy partner who honest to God shouldn't have his hand in business in the first place.
What do you suggest? Can I get rid of him? Or should I just tell him to screw off and go do my own thing, restarting everything I did, and explaining to my wife that she pretty much moved to Wyoming for me to restart business.
Thanks for any input.
>> For Agency Founders: The Fast Shortcut To Selling SEO, Leadgen, Webdesign & Other Services
>> For Agency Founders: The Fast Shortcut To Selling SEO, Leadgen, Webdesign & Other Services
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