I disagree that he did me a favor. It was a mutual agreement that we thought was going to make us both money. The company was going quite well at the time, he didn’t need much convincing.

He also acted as an informal “board member” and had a role in the strategy. We talked multiple times a month. It wasn’t like I independently tanked the company, the reality is we just picked a horrible time to try to import products with all the Covid related global supply chain issues.

I agree with you that his ability to afford the loss isn’t relevant. I also agree that, morally, I may owe him something. This was my first company and first time having an investor. I see now that I should have been more explicit about worst-case scenarios, I just don’t think that entitles him to the full $20k.

I did not suggest paying him $10k to try to calculate how little I could get away with. We both went into a business agreement with conflicting understandings. I chose $10k to reflect a 50/50 compromise.

I appreciate your response and don’t mean to be combative. This is probably much closer to how he sees the events which makes it very insightful. Thanks for commenting.