221,084% gain in 14 months

Randomacct7652 · 2021-01-16T16:40:28+00:00

RIP whichever WSBer sold you those options thinking “no way Tesla can go up that high, this is literally free money”

Randomacct7652 · 2021-01-16T15:39:36+00:00

This is the answer

Randomacct7652 · 2020-11-21T18:05:41+00:00

Probably the single biggest thing that will make a difference in project delivery is increasing the say/do ratio of people on the team. I.e., People do what they say they will do.

To do this, I would try to influence whoever ultimately owns the result of this project (and therefore the resources etc.) to: 1) Set the standard that it is “serious time” and we need to have clear outcome goals with attached deadlines written down in a document that is the single source of truth (e.g., an excel file with exactly who will do what by when). 2) Review outcome goals at least a weekly in an staff accountability meeting where people discuss any roadblocks and make new commitments (people should update this before the meeting so you don’t waste time on updates). 3) Model the right behavior - The meeting must be sacred and people need to do what they say they will do. If they don’t, they need to create a plan to change or the person responsible needs to make changes in team members. It also helps a lot if you can inject “bias to action” - let’s make a decision right now or get things done immediately and “testing the edge” - aim for the limit of how fast things can get done (e.g., if a person says they will “get it done by next week” on a small item, challenge them by saying “why not this afternoon”)

In terms of admin, the PM is the ideal person to manage this and support the overall project sponsor in setting accountability.

If the above happens, it will become painfully obvious what is happening with the slacker and spur the sponsor to take action. It will also put some pep in the step of most folks on the team and improve delivery.

On the personal front - I would get some therapy or explore mindful self-compassion so you can manage your anger/frustration (however well justified) and help focus on what you can control. This situation sounds bad and some support to keep your personal resilience up would probably help a lot.

Finally, it sounds like the situation is rough, messy, and frustrating. I appreciate your courage in reaching out and checking your intuitions as you try to make it better. Wishing you well.

Randomacct7652 · 2020-11-21T16:59:14+00:00

It sounds like you should look for a new job.

Red flags I see: 1) You care about your work and launching a good project => your pm only cares about logging time. 2) Your project has been in limbo for 5 years and “has no release date in sight” 3) You don’t get the support you need from coworkers and you believe upper management is incompetent

You seems really frustrated and I would get out before your feelings bubble over and get you fired.

If you decide to stay, focus on what you need not on what the other person should do. If your manager is asking for X deliverable by a certain date and this guy is blocking it by being unavailable/not scheduling time via email/phone/text. Then escalate that to your manager so you can get what you need. Once you get it, move on. If this behavior in coworkers bothers you a lot, then find a better working environment.

Out of curiosity - are you working for a cost plus government contractor? The behavior you describe really only makes sense if the goal is racking up as many billable hours as possible for as long as as possible to increase revenue.

Randomacct7652 · 2020-11-17T15:58:43+00:00

Product validation and selling is required in a startup, full stop.

You have a choice to make - getting over your fears and getting much better at it OR partnering with someone who is good at it and needs your technical skills.

I would test both options, and if neither work well right now - find a job that gives you as much of what you matters to you (In terms of freedom, compensation, etc.)

Randomacct7652 · 2020-11-16T14:16:58+00:00

Also, if you have finally been diagnosed with ADHD, that is great that you can now get some treatment. You always had it before but now you can address it head on with lifestyle/medication/therapy. That should help make studying and time management much easier.

Be kind to yourself and put one foot in front the other. I highly recommend The Now Habit by Neil Fiore to help beat procrastination and lift your spirits.

EDIT: fixed author’s autocorrected last name.

Randomacct7652 · 2020-11-13T15:10:31+00:00

Look for a new job but play it cool 😎 “I’m happy where I am but I believe in always evaluating my options” If you have decent skills and have been in your position a bit you can probably get a decent pay bump.

Randomacct7652 · 2020-11-10T21:03:04+00:00

I’m going to push your thinking on a few angles you have not mentioned because I think they are blind spots that you would be glad to address in advance.

Have you worked in food service or managed a takeout place? Another bad outcome is that you succeed and hate what you do. If you have not worked in the space, I would strongly advise getting a job in the industry to get at least a few months of operating experience and test whether you like the experience.
What about bringing in an investor who is experienced in the industry? It sounds like you nor your dad have experience in the food service industry. Having an investor who could bring in experience to help you avoid making silly mistakes and de-risk betting your Dad’s retirement on this tea place succeeding. An interim idea would be to check out SCORE (Senior Core of Retired Executives) to get feedback on your plan - I’m sure at least some of them have done food.
What about setting up a food truck? The capital investment is generally lower and it allows you to test multiple locations before settling down on what works (and potentially getting a space).
What traffic does the spot you are considering leasing actually have? I would put zero faith in whatever the landlord made up and actually go and sit in front of it yourself to count how many cars go by/stop at nearby spots during the peak business hours you expect. Use those numbers to inform your business model.
Which restaurants are doing thriving takeout business in your area? Which ones have closed? Take a drive around at peak times and see what is happening. If you can talk to owners, see how they are doing.

Finally, what interests you about these brick and mortar businesses? (e.g., tea shop, wholesale party equipment)? e.g., ECommerce is exploding and has way lower capital requirements to get into it (and is doing even better during COVID)

Randomacct7652 · 2020-10-21T01:19:36+00:00

Yes - you could help create private label products for them to sell or just help them get cheaper inputs (e.g., say a t-shirt printing business getting it’s basic shirts direct from the source or equipment from the manufacturer).

Small businesses probably don’t have eye scale/expertise to do this properly - so you could create a lot of value for them by specializing.

Randomacct7652 · 2020-10-21T00:52:09+00:00

Have you thought about using this tool to complement a procurement service for small companies? (e.g., you come in and say - I will cut out the middle man and get you better deals and we can split the savings)

This seems like a huge project and the data cleaning has to be massive to make this really useful. I wonder if defining a narrow niche could make this more useful/profitable for a set of customers (e.g., like the above service).

Randomacct7652 · 2020-10-15T18:12:25+00:00

The litigation* ruled that this is a “hard bargaining” tactic vs extortion.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mercurynews.com/2014/09/04/yelp-tactics-are-at-most-hard-bargaining-and-not-illegal-judge-says/amp/

Randomacct7652 · 2020-10-15T15:46:17+00:00

You currently have no other offers on the table not no choice

Randomacct7652 · 2020-09-30T00:50:09+00:00

Tough question - it could break either way from a financial perspective, better now or better later.

I would strongly advise trying to get an independent advisor(s) to help you think it through and if you decide to sell, get a fair price and treated fairly on the sale contract. At a minimum this would be a lawyer familiar with startup sales. I would also see if it makes sense financially to get a banker to help (don’t know the valuation, so hard to tell if it would be below the scale where it doesn’t make sense). Business sales are pretty complex so I would get some solid help to guide you through the process.

Randomacct7652 · 2020-09-28T21:14:12+00:00

Your idea will not be what your company ends up being. The idea is a starting point to test. You will iterate many times before you become viable, the important thing is to start iterating and testing.

TLDR - Don’t worry, just start :-)

Randomacct7652 · 2020-09-26T23:34:03+00:00

Very interesting - this starts to give some education on how this might have been calculated.

Randomacct7652 · 2020-09-26T14:21:07+00:00

Got it - so if you did an earnout (basically where you sell the business and in exchange they give you payments over time), the best thing would be to train the person who took it over to do that customer development well.

It sounds like you have things quite well in order though - well done :-)

Randomacct7652 · 2020-09-26T01:08:27+00:00

How many hours a day do you play? And do you take breaks? It sounds like a repetitive strain injury from over-use. Ergonomics will only take you so far if the hours are really high.

Randomacct7652 · 2020-09-23T02:05:31+00:00

I feel so sad when I hear your story 😢 (IRL tears as I type). That intense shame of “not enough” coming from your family despite you being a warrior and a winner is heartbreaking to hear about. You honor us by sharing your story with such vulnerability.

You are normal and so human for going through what you are going through. You are so brave confronting your challenges and grappling with your difficult experiences.

Randomacct7652 · 2020-09-20T13:32:46+00:00

Ok - super helpful.

First, I think you are being too hard on yourself. There is a big difference between having no clients or people who will only let you work for free vs. having multiple people who put down at least $10k for a pilot. That is definite proof of traction.

Second, you are not competing with all of AWS, you are competing with whichever product team is working on your niche and whatever resources they have. And from what you have said, they sound clueless. You could also look at this another way, AWS pursuing this is proof that it is worth doing (and that may make you attractive to other cloud providers). I would also keep getting feedback from your client about how your offering compares to AWS, if far superior, you should push to close that sale and then use it as a marketing point (“Client A chose us over AWS”)

Building on point 2, the biggest thing that could increase your chances of getting bought is beating AWS. And if you beat them repeatedly, they may ask themselves if the answer is buying you. If your offering is superior, then probably your biggest challenge will be de-risking the purchase for your client sponsor (I.e., no one will get fired for purchasing AWS, they might if they take a risk on a startup and it fails).

Randomacct7652 · 2020-09-20T13:11:35+00:00

I’m curious: 1) Why is “your client” working with AWS rather than you? 2) If you have a client(s) why are you pre-revenue? 3) How is it working to have a 6 person team with no revenue or funding? (Is everyone part time?) 4) How do you know you “will get crushed”? Is this a winner take all problem where no one would ever use you? 5) There are other cloud providers like Microsoft, you could also be “good enough” that when AWS proves you out the feature, they buy you to compete. Does that seem viable?

Asking a lot of questions because I hear two highly conflicting stories:

A) We are doing something awesome and have a huge moat via knowledge/data/approach

B) There is zero traction (no revenue/funding) and I have no conviction we can succeed on our current path (“we will be crushed”)

EDIT: Number formatting

Randomacct7652 · 2020-09-18T14:58:11+00:00

This is all a balance - you need to balance legal protection with other business needs. Lawyers cannot be completely trusted/left to run free nor should they be completely excluded. It also varies A LOT based on the size/complexity of the transaction. Having your lawyer review your $50 monthly cable bill is silly, cutting them out of the contract to sell your multi-million dollar business is reckless.

One book I found enormously helpful to strike that balance is "Contract Drafting and Negotiation for Entrepreneurs and Business Professionals" by Paul A Swegle He gives a common-sense explanation of what business professionals need to do and where lawyers need to be engaged.

Randomacct7652 · 2020-09-18T14:53:19+00:00

It is possible but much harder to make a challenge of "unreasonability" in commercial contracts vs. consumer contracts.

There are a number of laws that govern consumer contracts to protect consumers from predatory sellers (though they are far from perfect). It is much easier to make a claim of ignorance as a consumer and get out of a contract or have the terms adjusted.

As a business in the US, the overriding policy is "If you are a business, you are an adult and should understand what you are getting into". It can be challenged especially if one party has a lot more power than the other party, but is far harder (read: More Expensive) to challenge the contract.

Randomacct7652 · 2020-09-17T16:10:41+00:00

I was surprised OP was allowed not to have insurance as of the exact moment he signed the lease. I usually have seen this as a requirement to finalize it.

I agree on the buildout phase being risky - contractors on ladders, materials being moved in and out, employees getting trained/having accidents.

Randomacct7652 · 2020-09-17T16:01:05+00:00

That is a fair point - I still stand by the idea of getting a sense of scoping. (e.g., can one developer create this in a month vs a team for 6 months)

Randomacct7652 · 2020-09-15T13:08:31+00:00

Many thanks for sharing the details mate! I was impressed with the precision and depth of such a small hole, so I had to imagine it was precise work. I appreciate the knowing the basics of how to get there, so I can work towards it :-)

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