4 ms·

I'm a bit confused about the situation... you've been building software, that they need to run their business for free for two years? It sounds to me like you h

I'm a bit confused about the situation... you've been building software, that they need to run their business for free for two years? It sounds to me like you hold all the cards here. If you don't sell it then they have to pay you an ongoing income or rebuild the software from scratch? Do you know how many customers they plan to obtain over the next couple of years? I'm guessing they plan to acquire enough that it's going to be worth their while to spend the money up front. Either that or they've determined there's a huge risk in them not having control of the software (i.e. you could just shut it down on a whim and destroy their business) Either way... you seem to hold all the cards. What do you want out of the deal? You say you believe in them... why not ask to come on board and get a sizeable share of the company?

svennek 6y ago
What cards? If it is two years of evenings and weekends and the OP is a "regular programmer" (as opposed to a rock-star) that is likely in the neighbourhood of two to four man-months worth of dev time (likely on the lower end due to having the good work-day hours). Not nothing, but not a problem either for a larger company... In the end, they will just re implement it themselves if OP gets cross..
- hellweaver666 6y ago
  The card with "I own the software" written on it.
  - svennek 6y ago
    If it is half a man-year of work and not really urgent, that card has zero effect on the other party... OP can sell his software or not, the other party will manage either way.
    - hyuk_ki 6y ago
      I wouldn't say finding quality engineers and building software is simple for any company. If it was simple, they would have already done it on their own or decide to do it right now and not bother making a deal with me.
hyuk_ki 6y ago
I do hold some leverage since it would take them a long time to build software of equal or greater quality. It would also be difficult to have to migrate all of their customers over to another software should they decide to take a different route. They also hold leverage in that as soon as they decide to take a different route, I have $0 in revenue and will have to start doing my own marketing/sales.
- smt88 6y ago
  You don't have leverage. You know they couldn't get software as good as yours in a short time, but they don't know that. Companies always drastically underestimate the cost and duration of software projects. They'll see your 2 years of nights/weeks and turn it into 3 months in their minds.
  - hyuk_ki 6y ago
    There is simply no way to get to the same product in 3 months. There is a lot of business complexity that has been worked out over years of iterations and experience.

svennek 6y ago

What cards? If it is two years of evenings and weekends and the OP is a "regular programmer" (as opposed to a rock-star) that is likely in the neighbourhood of two to four man-months worth of dev time (likely on the lower end due to having the good work-day hours). Not nothing, but not a problem either for a larger company... In the end, they will just re implement it themselves if OP gets cross..

hellweaver666 6y ago
The card with "I own the software" written on it.
- svennek 6y ago
  If it is half a man-year of work and not really urgent, that card has zero effect on the other party... OP can sell his software or not, the other party will manage either way.
  - hyuk_ki 6y ago
    I wouldn't say finding quality engineers and building software is simple for any company. If it was simple, they would have already done it on their own or decide to do it right now and not bother making a deal with me.

hyuk_ki 6y ago

I do hold some leverage since it would take them a long time to build software of equal or greater quality. It would also be difficult to have to migrate all of their customers over to another software should they decide to take a different route. They also hold leverage in that as soon as they decide to take a different route, I have $0 in revenue and will have to start doing my own marketing/sales.

smt88 6y ago
You don't have leverage. You know they couldn't get software as good as yours in a short time, but they don't know that. Companies always drastically underestimate the cost and duration of software projects. They'll see your 2 years of nights/weeks and turn it into 3 months in their minds.
- hyuk_ki 6y ago
  There is simply no way to get to the same product in 3 months. There is a lot of business complexity that has been worked out over years of iterations and experience.