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Please Help Me: How do I deal with this bully?

millerad

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I also posted this on r/entrepreneur but I wanted to get the fastlane perspective on it as well.

We are working on bringing a new App to the Food Truck scene. Lately, we have been dealing with one of the local Food Truck Event organizers trying to bully us. Here is his last email to me:
Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet
What should I do about this, I have half a mind to take his email and post it across Food Truck forums and let Food Trucks see how terrible of a person He has been.

What do you think I should do?
 
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D

Deleted50669

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I also posted this on r/entrepreneur but I wanted to get the fastlane perspective on it as well.

We are working on bringing a new App to the Food Truck scene. Lately, we have been dealing with one of the local Food Truck Event organizers trying to bully us. Here is his last email to me:
Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet
What should I do about this, I have half a mind to take his email and post it across Food Truck forums and let Food Trucks see how terrible of a person He has been.

What do you think I should do?

Calculate return on investment for using graze vs. attending festival. If it's higher, distribute that information to truckers.

Find out what population of people attends festivals, and host a graze-special on the same date.

Would not retaliate with aggression, rather, outsmart with strategy. He's on the offensive because his strategy is defenseless.
 

MJ DeMarco

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What does he mean when he says you're using his SnapChat filters?
 

lewj24

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I feel like we need more information on what is going on. Who is this guy? Why is he important to you? I'm confused on the situation.

But regardless have you tried the Dale Carnegie: "How To Win Friends and Influence People" approach?
 
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GuestUser450

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I know C**ey, I’ve worked with him before - that’s how he does business. It’s also why he’s always struggled to find long term locations, he doesn’t play well with others.

@lewj24 has the right idea, understand that he only wants to grow his biz and sees you as a threat. Maybe he’s angling for a piece too, who knows.

Know your rights and press on - you’re catching heat because you’re on to something.
 

millerad

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What does he mean when he says you're using his SnapChat filters?
When he host's his Food Truck events, I have been running Snapchat GeoFilters during his event at the time of his Food Truck events to gather interest for Graze. If you are at the Gilbert or QC Feastival you will see them this Friday on snapchat.
 

millerad

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I know C**ey, I’ve worked with him before - that’s how he does business. It’s also why he’s always struggled to find long term locations, he doesn’t play well with others.

@lewj24 has the right idea, understand that he only wants to grow his biz and sees you as a threat. Maybe he’s angling for a piece too, who knows.

Know your rights and press on - you’re catching heat because you’re on to something.
If you know Casey, do you know if he is bluffing or not with all of this legal stuff? I know that he couldn't win a lawsuit against me, but that doesn't mean I want to pay to win over something stupid like this.
 
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millerad

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I feel like we need more information on what is going on. Who is this guy? Why is he important to you? I'm confused on the situation.

But regardless have you tried the Dale Carnegie: "How To Win Friends and Influence People" approach?
He is a local Food Truck event organizer, I use his events to do some social advertising. He has been getting more and more aggressive.
I tried to meet up with him so we could sit down and talk about everything. He said that the only time I would talk to him is through his lawyer. (Meaning he would sue me.)
 

Vigilante

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He is a local Food Truck event organizer, I use his events to do some social advertising. He has been getting more and more aggressive.
I tried to meet up with him so we could sit down and talk about everything. He said that the only time I would talk to him is through his lawyer. (Meaning he would sue me.)

What exactly could he sue for? What would the damages be?

Keeping in mind that rarely people ever sue people, but that anyone can sue anyone for any reason at any time.

Why does he not like what you are doing? What issues are it causing him?
 

G-Man

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I have half a mind to take his email and post it across Food Truck forums and let Food Trucks see how terrible of a person He has been.

This... seems like a terrible idea where you create an angry narrative that you subsequently have no control over.

I've seen you post about this in other threads, and still honestly don't really understand what's going on. It sounds like I'm not alone.

Here's what I understand, maybe you can fill in the blanks.

  • This guy organizes food truck events
  • You are promoting your new app that does__________ in relation to food trucks.
  • Dude wants you to stop promoting app at his events because it ______________

Maybe then, someone might be able to help. Just an observer trying to understand. I'm still not a lawyer, same as when I read the other threads. :clench:
 
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millerad

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I met with my team this morning and we have come to a decision. His email last night honestly scared me, which was his purpose. He is scared because our app will essentially make his job obsolete and he will potentially lose income streams. I can understand his lashing out.
We decided to not take any offensive actions. I simply removed him from any email lists he was on, blocked him from all of our social media(he was leaving nasty comments) and ignored his email. We are going to continue to operate as normal.
 

RHL

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What does he mean when he says you're using his SnapChat filters?

MJ

If you're not familiar, snapchat has a neat advertising feature called "Geo Filters." The idea is that you're taken to a geographic location (like on Google Maps), and then are able to draw a bounding box around a certain area. Say I create one for my house that is within the bounds of my property. Anyone who comes on my property and turns on snapchat will be able to frame their photos with a special filter accessible only to those who were there in person, so maybe on for "RHL's Birthday" or something. They're popular at concerts and festivals, since only those who were physically there can get them.

I doubt there is any legal precedent for suing someone for putting their geo filter on a location where a competitor is working (technology is too new), but I can TOTALLY see why this guy is ticked. Imagine if the a Ferrari dealership put their Geo Filter over the Lamborghini dealership's location in town, so anyone who opened SnapChat there would see what is basically a competitor's ad, tied to their location.

I agree with other posters; other than the fact that I'm sure OP's business model, like all aggregators, involves skimming the profits of the trucks in exchange for leads/sales (sometimes that they wouldn't have made without you, sometimes not) to make money. This guy likely feels threatened because, as an organizer, that is basically his business model, albeit a slow-lane version.

But I'm not sure. OP needs to provide more detail.
 

AllenCrawley

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but I can TOTALLY see why this guy is ticked.
The only legitimate reason I can see him being upset is if this location is his normal location. From what I understood, this is an event that moves from place to place. If that is the case the example of a Ferrari dealership placing geo filters in a Lamborghini dealership is off. Those are locations that are stationary and owned by that dealership. If the geo filters are indeed being used in this guys permanent, rented or owned space then I can see why he'd be upset.
 
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millerad

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@AllenCrawley
Our business model is not a lead generation service. We have a Free, and two monthly paid subscriptions. Our online service will essentially replace his what he charges trucks for (Getting into these local Food Truck Events). He could use our service to schedule his Events, and it would all be free for him. We are essentially just ignoring his threats. I have posted before, and especially last night because he scared me a little bit.
His events are almost always in the same location. So yes, I could see why he is ticked. In the end, we have not broken any laws or caused any damages. Snapchat is an open advertising network that anyone can use. He could go bid for a spot on snapchat the same as me. This is like he is saying he could sue me for advertising to anyone on Facebook that likes his events. He cannot.
 

Scot

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So I saw your previous thread about this.

Like @RHL said, there's really no legal precedent for this. Everything he's doing is virtual as well. It also involves several voluntary steps to even see the filter. A person has to first, want to use snapchat, then take a picture and scroll through available filters, then see the foodtruck one and share a photo with this.

Realistically, this guys getting pissed over maybe, 5-10 people taking a photo with his filter.

Also, I'm not sure that an app that shows locations of food trucks will ruin foodtruck rallles. Apps like untapped for beer haven't ended craft beer festivals.
 

AllenCrawley

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@AllenCrawley
Our business model is not a lead generation service. We have a Free, and two monthly paid subscriptions. Our online service will essentially replace his what he charges trucks for (Getting into these local Food Truck Events). He could use our service to schedule his Events, and it would all be free for him. We are essentially just ignoring his threats. I have posted before, and especially last night because he scared me a little bit.
His events are almost always in the same location. So yes, I could see why he is ticked. In the end, we have not broken any laws or caused any damages. Snapchat is an open advertising network that anyone can use. He could go bid for a spot on snapchat the same as me. This is like he is saying he could sue me for advertising to anyone on Facebook that likes his events. He cannot.
Like I said, I can see why he's upset BUT I certainly don't think he has a legal leg to stand on.
 
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millerad

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I really appreciate everyone's advice on this subject. I will update this thread if I hear anything more from the bully!
 
D

Deleted50669

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Would also peruse NOLO to see if this specific topic has been addressed


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

MJ DeMarco

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That fact this this dude is heavily interested in your activities suggests that your business/app is a legit threat. His opinion, albeit unstated, unsolicited an indirect, is probably more valuable than anyone's opinion here.
 
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Iammelissamoore

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Our online service will essentially replace his what he charges trucks for (Getting into these local Food Truck Events). He could use our service to schedule his Events, and it would all be free for him. We are essentially just ignoring his threats.
I see you have mentioned that the only way the individual is willing to speak with you is through his lawyer, but tell me something, is it that you genuinely wish to partner with this individual? As I am seeing clearly, a partnership with him may result in pushing big business on both ends. He provides a platform useful to you and you provide a platform useful to him. If so, then, possibly you can find a lawyer to provide a legal letter outlining not a lawsuit, but a proposal breaking down the benefits of partnering platforms. I say so, simply because, he sees you as a threat because he sees you as competition, he's simply seeing another individual crowding his space, you know how we humans can be, when we don't understand something, we outright reject it and do away with it, you both are sitting on something regal, and I believe, unless you can find someone else to partner with who shares a similar platform, if you really want to partner with this guy, then meet him on the language he is overstanding - which is through a lawyer.

Sounds crazy, but, sometimes to get through to some people, we got to compromise and meet at their level, then catapult from there. Just a thought.
 
G

GuestUser450

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If you know Casey, do you know if he is bluffing or not with all of this legal stuff? I know that he couldn't win a lawsuit against me, but that doesn't mean I want to pay to win over something stupid like this.
Assume that he would and move forward.

Consider the C and E parts of CENTS (Control, Entry, Need, Time, Scale)

You're struggling with Entry and they're struggling with Control. What if you could solve for both through partnership or rev share? You get distribution and faster entry and they retain control by being the gatekeeper.

This won't be the last time you get pushback from organizers - weigh the pros/cons of being savvy and partnering vs scorching the earth.
 

Iammelissamoore

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Assume that he would and move forward.

Consider the C and E parts of CENTS (Control, Entry, Need, Time, Scale)

You're struggling with Entry and they're struggling with Control. What if you could solve for both through partnership or rev share? You get distribution and faster entry and they retain control by being the gatekeeper.

This won't be the last time you get pushback from organizers - weigh the pros/cons of being savvy and partnering vs scorching the earth.
Oooh, well said, and as we know CENTS is the core of seeing through the success, or failure, of a venture and you have raised important aspects here.
 
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