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This is my exact thought. It seems "Billy" here won because he paid $200 for something worth a whole lot more? adekok's response is perfect and really shows how

This is my exact thought. It seems "Billy" here won because he paid $200 for something worth a whole lot more? adekok's response is perfect and really shows how to deal with this situation. Be clear about your rights, don't let people like this get away.

nestlequ1k 11y ago
From what I understood, Billy didn't pay Bobby $200 for the code, he just paid out a portion of the prize money they received from Startup Weekend. From the tone of the emails, I'm almost certain Bobby didn't sign over his rights in exchange for that $200. He still owns all the code he wrote. If Billy uses that code in his own business that would be unauthorized and legal action can be taken.
- restalis 11y ago
  Of course actions can (and should) be taken. The OP protected the identity of the parts involved, but I am feeling free to drop in more info about the whole thing: http://www.caledonvirtual.com/2015-startup-weekend-columbia-missouri/ http://www.caledonvirtual.com/2015-startup-weekend-columbia-... The start-up is called StaffedUp and it's site is up and running (with that unlicensed code, I presume): http://www.staffedup.com http://www.staffedup.com
  - joesmo 11y ago
    If he actually managed to build it into something, even better. That's more spoils when they win the lawsuit.
  - jeeva 11y ago
    Out of curiosity: You're feeling free because you're another member of the team or have prior knowledge of the situation, or because you Googled it and just want to?
    - restalis 11y ago
      Because this touches me in a very personal way, regardless the fact that I may or not be a member of the team.
IkmoIkmo 11y ago
No the startup weekend awarded a roughly $200 prize to each member of the winning team. Billy didn't pay anything, he simply started a company without discussing it with anyone, in which Bobby has the right to 0.4%. OP then forfeited it seemingly for the reason of simply being disgusted and not wanting to be associated with Billy anymore. Billy doesn't exclusively own the codebase or product. Any of the devs could reasonably start a company, use the product, as long as they award 0.4% to each of the members in his venture. That's what the handshake deal seems to have been all about. It makes sense for the devs to either say 'buy out exclusive rights to the work and we forfeit the 0.4% share and be on your way, or keep the work, we'll compete with you (and grant you 0.4% in our venture, too, according to the handshake deal) and we'll see who can iterate on the codebase faster and run a successful business.' The devs still have the power despite Billy's asshole move.
- astrodust 11y ago
  If someone offered me 0.4% for getting their company off the ground, I'd tell them to get lost. That's absolutely insulting. If your goal at a startup event is to have fun, jam on something, see what comes of it, then it's easy to succeed. If your goal at a startup event is to make something valuable, you've already lost. There is no winning. This is the worst possible environment to create a new business in, and there are way too many variables. Everyone will feel cheated no matter what the arrangement is.
  - IkmoIkmo 11y ago
    > If someone offered me 0.4% for getting their company off the ground, I'd tell them to get lost. That's absolutely insulting. I think you've flipped the situation around a little bit here. The point is, it is startup weekend, it's time to have fun, to learn, collaborate and do something interesting and a lot of the guys going aren't necessarily interested in ditching their jobs and going full-time startup. In fact most people came to the weekend without any ideas they actually wanted to launch, simply interested to join an existing team and have fun. So one of the developers who is like this basically proposed the 0.4%. You make it sound as if Billy said 'hey guys work for me for 2 days for 0.4%'. When in reality it was a developer who said 'Hey look, this is going to be fun but let's agree on something simple, if any startup actually does come out of this, let's all have a 0.4% share even if you're not interested to invest anything in the startup apart from this weekend's work. This way everyone is rewarded without having to exchange any money, and only if whatever we built this weekend actually ends up having value'. And the others agreed with that. This may not make sense in every situation, but I think it was pretty sensible here and I don't think it was insulting either, particularly when the dev proposed this reward himself, for himself, not as some kind of payment to others for getting his company off the ground.

nestlequ1k 11y ago

From what I understood, Billy didn't pay Bobby $200 for the code, he just paid out a portion of the prize money they received from Startup Weekend. From the tone of the emails, I'm almost certain Bobby didn't sign over his rights in exchange for that $200. He still owns all the code he wrote. If Billy uses that code in his own business that would be unauthorized and legal action can be taken.

restalis 11y ago
Of course actions can (and should) be taken. The OP protected the identity of the parts involved, but I am feeling free to drop in more info about the whole thing: http://www.caledonvirtual.com/2015-startup-weekend-columbia-missouri/ http://www.caledonvirtual.com/2015-startup-weekend-columbia-... The start-up is called StaffedUp and it's site is up and running (with that unlicensed code, I presume): http://www.staffedup.com http://www.staffedup.com
- joesmo 11y ago
  If he actually managed to build it into something, even better. That's more spoils when they win the lawsuit.
- jeeva 11y ago
  Out of curiosity: You're feeling free because you're another member of the team or have prior knowledge of the situation, or because you Googled it and just want to?
  - restalis 11y ago
    Because this touches me in a very personal way, regardless the fact that I may or not be a member of the team.

IkmoIkmo 11y ago

No the startup weekend awarded a roughly $200 prize to each member of the winning team. Billy didn't pay anything, he simply started a company without discussing it with anyone, in which Bobby has the right to 0.4%. OP then forfeited it seemingly for the reason of simply being disgusted and not wanting to be associated with Billy anymore. Billy doesn't exclusively own the codebase or product. Any of the devs could reasonably start a company, use the product, as long as they award 0.4% to each of the members in his venture. That's what the handshake deal seems to have been all about. It makes sense for the devs to either say 'buy out exclusive rights to the work and we forfeit the 0.4% share and be on your way, or keep the work, we'll compete with you (and grant you 0.4% in our venture, too, according to the handshake deal) and we'll see who can iterate on the codebase faster and run a successful business.' The devs still have the power despite Billy's asshole move.

astrodust 11y ago
If someone offered me 0.4% for getting their company off the ground, I'd tell them to get lost. That's absolutely insulting. If your goal at a startup event is to have fun, jam on something, see what comes of it, then it's easy to succeed. If your goal at a startup event is to make something valuable, you've already lost. There is no winning. This is the worst possible environment to create a new business in, and there are way too many variables. Everyone will feel cheated no matter what the arrangement is.
- IkmoIkmo 11y ago
  > If someone offered me 0.4% for getting their company off the ground, I'd tell them to get lost. That's absolutely insulting. I think you've flipped the situation around a little bit here. The point is, it is startup weekend, it's time to have fun, to learn, collaborate and do something interesting and a lot of the guys going aren't necessarily interested in ditching their jobs and going full-time startup. In fact most people came to the weekend without any ideas they actually wanted to launch, simply interested to join an existing team and have fun. So one of the developers who is like this basically proposed the 0.4%. You make it sound as if Billy said 'hey guys work for me for 2 days for 0.4%'. When in reality it was a developer who said 'Hey look, this is going to be fun but let's agree on something simple, if any startup actually does come out of this, let's all have a 0.4% share even if you're not interested to invest anything in the startup apart from this weekend's work. This way everyone is rewarded without having to exchange any money, and only if whatever we built this weekend actually ends up having value'. And the others agreed with that. This may not make sense in every situation, but I think it was pretty sensible here and I don't think it was insulting either, particularly when the dev proposed this reward himself, for himself, not as some kind of payment to others for getting his company off the ground.