27, Fed Up, Ready to make some changes.

[Bytesunfish]

If you can't sacrifice a little by moving for a solid job, starting a business isn't the solution. Much more is required of you to get a venture off the ground than simply moving to a new location.

I don't disagree, except getting a solid job isn't the problem. Not being wealthy with extra time to spend as I please is the problem. Getting a solid job would make me not poor, but not wealthy. Starting a business is a possible solution for not being wealthy and I don't need to move to do that. I like my location and I don't see any benefit to moving for my fast lane to be successful.

 

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[Bytesunfish]

I do hope you have everything spelled out in writing. This is not the time to be "overly" trusting.

We absolutely do. We have contracts in place that we have individually had reviewed by our own lawyers. I don't think any agreement is rock solid, but this one is very well spelled out. Our incorporation documents have been filed and the shares have been distributed with a vesting clause that is tied to our contributions. The way we measure our contributions and how they are tracked is well defined in the contracts. The group of guys I'm working with is good, but we've foreseen some of the issues that could crop up and have done our best to forestall them.

 

[Bytesunfish]

It's been a tough month in development. Three weeks ago I met with a semiconductor supplier whose product was not working as they promised. I drove three hours to sit down and go through our application with them only to find out that their technical support and technical sales reps don't really understand the inner workings of their own product. They didn't even have someone higher up we could speak with. We decided to ditch their chip and go with another manufacturer. We went from two months of infuriating development trying to overcome this one problem to a working prototype in two weeks with another chip.

I was on top of the world for two days after successfully completing the migration. Unfortunately, while the software for this chip works like a dream and works perfectly with their development board, our hardware guy has not been able to replicate the success when designing our PCB. We spent 8 hours debugging the board yesterday and were able to detect a number of problems both small and large. We isolated and determined fixes for most of the issues, but there is one big issue that has us stumped. We're reaching out to the manufacturer to see if they can give us some direction. While we do what we can on our end.

It's tremendously frustrating jumping from one issue to the next but we're so close to having a completed product I can taste it!

 

[Almantas]

It's been a tough month in development. Three weeks ago I met with a semiconductor supplier whose product was not working as they promised. I drove three hours to sit down and go through our application with them only to find out that their technical support and technical sales reps don't really understand the inner workings of their own product. They didn't even have someone higher up we could speak with. We decided to ditch their chip and go with another manufacturer. We went from two months of infuriating development trying to overcome this one problem to a working prototype in two weeks with another chip.

I was on top of the world for two days after successfully completing the migration. Unfortunately, while the software for this chip works like a dream and works perfectly with their development board, our hardware guy has not been able to replicate the success when designing our PCB. We spent 8 hours debugging the board yesterday and were able to detect a number of problems both small and large. We isolated and determined fixes for most of the issues, but there is one big issue that has us stumped. We're reaching out to the manufacturer to see if they can give us some direction. While we do what we can on our end.

It's tremendously frustrating jumping from one issue to the next but we're so close to having a completed product I can taste it!

Inspiring story bro! Keep it up, you're guys doing great! Keep us updated when you can!

 

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[OldFaithful]

We spent 8 hours debugging the board yesterday and were able to detect a number of problems both small and large. We isolated and determined fixes for most of the issues, but there is one big issue that has us stumped. We're reaching out to the manufacturer to see if they can give us some direction. While we do what we can on our end.

Set backs like this will happen, but don't give up. Sometimes the solution is to look at the problem from another angle and apply a different "fix". Keep at it and you'll find a way!!!

Best wishes.

 

[Bytesunfish]

We finally figured out the issue with our board. It seems that our PCB had a very serious flaw that we were unaware of. It explains all of our issues. We'll know by Christmas if this round of prototypes has been a success. Lots of progress on the software sides of things as we're refining features and making sure that we'll be prepared when our product hits the market. We obviously are far from ready to go to market, but I truly feel like we're taking all the right steps.

Luckily through all this, our little proto board has been able to stand in for our lean and sleek pcb so we haven't been hampered in our development. I'm really proud of my team for persevering the last few weeks on the hardware issue!

 

[ZF Lee]

Probably the endorphins which is a chemical response likened to drugs -- working out gets them going.

Sticking to a health regime (diet / gym) is probably the BEST thing you could do for your entrepreneurial life.

Thanks for the intro and returning for an update! Most folks post intros raving about "Fastlane" and go back to their job the following day, LOL.

Well, at least they left lots of spots for better, more committed Fastlaners to fill in, to provide BETTER value


I can still remember you screaming in your book:
"DUMP THE DAMN JOB!"

 

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[Bytesunfish]

I forgot to mention. I got a raise at my 9-5 last week. A whopping $3.82 raising my hourly rate of pay to an even $20. I have a guaranteed $0.80 raise in March and supposedly in another six months or so I can expect another significant raise. My employers realize that I'm kicking butt for them and they are worried I could go somewhere else. It's making them pull strings with upper management to pay me a fair wage. I'm not going to lie, the extra money is gonna be a huge help (especially to pay down that school debt), but I'm really hoping I'll be able to replace my 9-5 with a new income stream by then. Fingers crossed that my business takes off before that!

 

[Bytesunfish]

Lots has been going on in the last month or so since I last updated. We got our new PCBs in. One very very minor mistake that is easily fixed at the office. Migrating onto our custom boards has exposed a number of errors in my firmware. I think as of a few hours ago they're all ironed out. We've started soliciting investors and have been funded our target of $275K. This will be enough to make first production runs and pay for some of our startup expenses. I'm nervous, but I think we're doing okay.

On the more personal side, I really can't wait until I make enough to get out of the slum I live in. I had to put out a literal fire minutes after finishing my firmware tonight. The shoddy wiring in the 90+ yar old house I'm renting caused a small fire in my bedroom at the foot of my bed. I can't say how grateful I am that it happened while I was still awake and not blissfully asleep in that room. A part of me is frustrated that the house had this issue; I had talked to the landlord about the shoddy wiring when I moved in, but more than anything I've been reflecting on MJ's moment of clarity when he was caught in the blizzard. His choices led him there just as much as mine have led me here. I can only hope that the choices I'm making now will lead me to a more secure home in the future, one that doesn't have the leaky roof, is prone to fires, has no water pressure due to the rusted iron piping, and prostitutes on the corner.

Sorry for the bit of venting. Despite it all I'm actually feeling pretty good about things. The business is slowly moving towards being a "real" business that makes money. It's really exciting.

 

[Bytesunfish]

I'm afraid I have bad news. I debated not posting this, but I figure it should serve as a warning to others....

I got pushed out of my own business last week. I was responsible for doing firmware development for my company while we had two guys doing server side stuff, another doing bizdev, and another doing hardware. We've had hardware issues galore for months. One our founding guys reached out to an industry contact he has to see if they would be willing to take over the hardware side of things for the company. They said they'd happily take on both the hardware and firmware for a very cheap price. The votes were cast and I'm left without responsibility in the company I helped start. Technically I am a stock holder with a sizable sum of the business, but there is very little for me to do and the other stakeholders have basically asked me to disappear until work appears for me somewhere down the line. I do believe that the company can be successful and I don't entirely blame them for their decision to outsource in this way. Having one company do both the FW and HW for a project like this avoids finger pointing and makes integration easier. I won't be sitting by the phone waiting for it to ring. I don't expect it will. If I'm lucky, the stock I hold will be a nice (long term) golden parachute someday and might even make me rich, but who knows. I won't complain if it this whole thing makes me rich, but it's a sucky way to make money. If they are successful, my claim to fame will be that I was involved in the company when it started, then rode the coattails of my former partners as they built the business. I don't like that thought.

Lesson Learned: Don't give up control. It'll bite you in the rump every time.

I did learn a lot in the 6-8 months I was doing this and I think I can start fresh building a very different product using some of the skills I picked up while I was working for my first startup. I obviously have to be careful not to use any of the work from there on the new project, but they're different enough products, that won't be a problem. I'm kinda in a slump, but after a few kinda pitiful days of being frustrated and feeling sorry for myself I'm getting back to the grindstone. It's time to start again from step 1.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Was there nothing in the operating agreement that protected you? Who drafted it? Or is there nothing governing your organization?

 

[OldFaithful]

Sooo, let's see if I understand this correctly. Your business partners took away all of your responsibilities, but left you with the same portion of stock in the company??? They do all of the work and you still get to collect revenue when the profits are distributed...or are they setting up payroll for themselves to keep the profits at 0 and thus no distributions?

 

[G-Man]

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but since you don't have a controlling interest, or oversight in daily operations, first thing I'd be doing right now is making sure my name is not currently on any debt.

 

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[Bytesunfish]

Was there nothing in the operating agreement that protected you? Who drafted it? Or is there nothing governing your organization?

We have some documentation that goes through the stock allocation, but we neglected to put much paperwork in place that governs how the business is actually run. The papers we drafted were created by an attorney that we collectively hired.

Sooo, let's see if I understand this correctly. Your business partners took away all of your responsibilities, but left you with the same portion of stock in the company??? They do all of the work and you still get to collect revenue when the profits are distributed...or are they setting up payroll for themselves to keep the profits at 0 and thus no distributions?

My portion of the stock in the company will dip a little bit because we distributed stock with a vesting clause that makes our proportions equal to our investments of time and money. The time period for that vesting will be up fairly shortly so I don't expect my proportion to dip very much. As for whether or not I'll be getting paid, The people still left working at the company will get a salary, but it won't be all of the profits. I'll get a small (or potentially really large) periodic payout. It's not the worst situation financially, but it still feels kinda crumby.

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but since you don't have a controlling interest, or oversight in daily operations, first thing I'd be doing right now is making sure my name is not currently on any debt.

We're funded out of our own pockets and there are no loans. I appreciate you suggesting to check into that.

 

[Bytesunfish]

As of yesterday, this thread is unofficially renamed to "28, Fed Up, Making changes."

 

[OldFaithful]

Thanks for sharing your saga. Hopefully we've all learned something from this...

 

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