Well, and even at that, $5k isn't really exorbitant. It basically sounds like, "Now that you actually have some money, how's about paying me for the work that I did?" Whether it was good work or not is another matter, but he basically let these guys off the hook for 1-2 weeks' pay (at a time when the company was valued at a few million). This isn't a story of them getting screwed.
Who was going to write that agreement ... The lawyer they were hiring? Please, their biggest mistake was doing business with an attorney at all. I've made that mistake before and had the same experience where the "big deal" was always one meeting away. 3 years later and this d-bag lawyer was in my office letting me go (I hired him). Lawyers are like hired killers, unless your hiring them to kill someone else, your the one who's gonna get axed.
The fact that you hired and then failed to fire for three years an employee of a given profession does not translate in any way to a general advise to never do business with lawyers.
It DOES, however, translate to a general advise to think hard about what skill sets your startup needs, and when.
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It wasn't the chair that cost $5K. It was the lack of the most basic possible written employment agreement.
Well, and even at that, $5k isn't really exorbitant. It basically sounds like, "Now that you actually have some money, how's about paying me for the work that I did?" Whether it was good work or not is another matter, but he basically let these guys off the hook for 1-2 weeks' pay (at a time when the company was valued at a few million). This isn't a story of them getting screwed.
Very true although I suspect the larger issue was they pretty casually decided to try "him out for the junk drawer job in the startup — CEO."
Who was going to write that agreement ... The lawyer they were hiring? Please, their biggest mistake was doing business with an attorney at all. I've made that mistake before and had the same experience where the "big deal" was always one meeting away. 3 years later and this d-bag lawyer was in my office letting me go (I hired him). Lawyers are like hired killers, unless your hiring them to kill someone else, your the one who's gonna get axed.
The fact that you hired and then failed to fire for three years an employee of a given profession does not translate in any way to a general advise to never do business with lawyers.
It DOES, however, translate to a general advise to think hard about what skill sets your startup needs, and when.
It is a metaphor. A cute title to catch your attention.