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Something similar happened. I initiated, built and launched this application over a weekend. I evangelized it within the company (so that I get time and resour

by jtj 18y ago

Something similar happened. I initiated, built and launched this application over a weekend. I evangelized it within the company (so that I get time and resources) and grew this application on facebook to a strong user base ~.5 M in 2 months. The company even changed track from their original business. The founders refused to spare even ~half percent stake in the company. I quit. David Maestri did otherwise. The application got acquired for couple of million dollars. And I made $1000. The size of deal was definitely because of the strong founding team. But I am confident I would have driven it to a self sustaining business or sell it for may be a million or close. The company definitely deserves a lump sum. I used their resources. But I was the one who really bet big and convinced everyone when people actually opposed on time being spent on a facebook application. I largely contributed to the vision - which they eventually are getting to. All I expected was some gratification for myself. How does one deal with such a situation?

ryanwaggoner 18y ago
You do what you did: you quit. You will never get rich working for someone else. You may make a few million over the course of years, but without ownership, you'll never build true wealth. Chalk it up to learning, start your own thing, don't look back. Or come and work for me ;-)
- jtj 18y ago
  :) Thanks Ryan. I never regretted that decision of mine. I believe the dots will connect going forward. If things go well I should be bootstrapping my firm by Oct-Nov. But this incident disturbed the faith in me about work, people and trust. It has been hard to get over it completely.
  - whacked_new 18y ago
    Great to see this kind of discussion with insight and foresight.
  - mrtron 18y ago
    I sometimes get very angry at people that have screwed me over. You don't need to get over it completely - learn from the lessons. But don't let it negatively impact your future decisions, the best revenge is living well.
    - SwellJoe 18y ago
      I concur. Holding a grudge hurts no one but yourself. Anger damages the angry person far more than the target of the anger. It merely distracts you from your goals.
- jamiequint 18y ago
  "You will never get rich working for someone else. You may make a few million over the course of years, but without ownership, you'll never build true wealth." Except for on Wall Street
  - daniel-cussen 18y ago
    There's Wall Street, MBA from Harvard or equivalent + management career in corporate America, medicine, law (if you do well), entertainment (Hollywood plus pro sports plus books plus some other categories), politician turned lobbyist, and crime. I think that about covers it.
    - byrneseyeview 18y ago
      Consulting, sometimes, sales (for really high-end goods -- I think the sales teams at IBM in the 60's and Lucent in the 90's did really, really well). And I'd exclude law. I'm pretty sure the successful lawyers make partner, and then are (to some extent) working for themselves.
snorkel 18y ago
You spend another weekend and write a competing application that solves all of the problems of the original application.
- jtj 18y ago
  I probably could have done that. Unfortunately I was burnt out and just went into recluse at the end of that episode. The traction on these quick evaluation startups (apps) had died down too. Somewhere something did not work. (launched early June, decided to quit in Aug, quit in Oct after mandatory transition period)
TY 18y ago
This is precisely why I quit my corporate job - so that I can work on my application and not worry about them owning intellectual rights to the product when it is done. Eventually, you'll get over the burn out phase. I took me 2 months to shake it all off (read some good books, played a lot of COD4) and now I have plenty of energy and energy to pursue my own project. Good luck to you on your future endeavors.
Tichy 18y ago
That's what I don't like about being employed, no chance to get rich with a good idea. Conclusion: never get employed.

by jtj 18y ago

ryanwaggoner 18y ago

You do what you did: you quit. You will never get rich working for someone else. You may make a few million over the course of years, but without ownership, you'll never build true wealth. Chalk it up to learning, start your own thing, don't look back. Or come and work for me ;-)

jtj 18y ago
:) Thanks Ryan. I never regretted that decision of mine. I believe the dots will connect going forward. If things go well I should be bootstrapping my firm by Oct-Nov. But this incident disturbed the faith in me about work, people and trust. It has been hard to get over it completely.
- whacked_new 18y ago
  Great to see this kind of discussion with insight and foresight.
- mrtron 18y ago
  I sometimes get very angry at people that have screwed me over. You don't need to get over it completely - learn from the lessons. But don't let it negatively impact your future decisions, the best revenge is living well.
  - SwellJoe 18y ago
    I concur. Holding a grudge hurts no one but yourself. Anger damages the angry person far more than the target of the anger. It merely distracts you from your goals.
jamiequint 18y ago
"You will never get rich working for someone else. You may make a few million over the course of years, but without ownership, you'll never build true wealth." Except for on Wall Street
- daniel-cussen 18y ago
  There's Wall Street, MBA from Harvard or equivalent + management career in corporate America, medicine, law (if you do well), entertainment (Hollywood plus pro sports plus books plus some other categories), politician turned lobbyist, and crime. I think that about covers it.
  - byrneseyeview 18y ago
    Consulting, sometimes, sales (for really high-end goods -- I think the sales teams at IBM in the 60's and Lucent in the 90's did really, really well). And I'd exclude law. I'm pretty sure the successful lawyers make partner, and then are (to some extent) working for themselves.

snorkel 18y ago

You spend another weekend and write a competing application that solves all of the problems of the original application.

jtj 18y ago
I probably could have done that. Unfortunately I was burnt out and just went into recluse at the end of that episode. The traction on these quick evaluation startups (apps) had died down too. Somewhere something did not work. (launched early June, decided to quit in Aug, quit in Oct after mandatory transition period)

TY 18y ago

This is precisely why I quit my corporate job - so that I can work on my application and not worry about them owning intellectual rights to the product when it is done. Eventually, you'll get over the burn out phase. I took me 2 months to shake it all off (read some good books, played a lot of COD4) and now I have plenty of energy and energy to pursue my own project. Good luck to you on your future endeavors.

Tichy 18y ago

That's what I don't like about being employed, no chance to get rich with a good idea. Conclusion: never get employed.