Hi guys,

I've been a member for a while now. Haven't been active as much in the pst year with school and all, but I'm making a comeback. Now I got a little problem ... well it was small now it's escalating to a bigger issue.

I started another GSP with a friend of mine that I know for 12 years now. Got it up and running (site doesn't look the best but it's being redesigned don't worry ;)). We got two locations and a third one with this new partner. Now the first problem is that it's not yet registered (we didn't see that as a problem since we're old friends so we were going to wait another month before we finalize the name and all). This new guy is great and seems really ambitious. He's putting time, effort and money into the company but he seems to have a problem with communication ... he won't go past chatting online.

This new guy heard of us on WHT, claims he's not a member of WHT but I know that's a lie (found him, but I'm not going to post the screen name). That's what's troubling me. Now he's mad because I told him I lived in Canada (which I do) and he saw on one of my old accounts with a Florida address (which was my old partner's from Nationhosts). It had my name on it because it was my paypal debit card but it was at my partner's address. Now he's using that to say that he doesn't feel safe giving out any information or even giving me a call. Sure I said if you don't want me knowing your number yet, use a calling card (which I just bought) then there's no way of me finding out your number. He still won't do it. Won't do web cam or anything past typing text on a screen.

What's the point of this thread? Should I trust this guy? Or should I just keep it safe and not let him get involved one bit?

Thanks guys.

Yazan.

If you can not have the trust of a phone call, do you honestly think you can trust this person you have never met before with money while running a business? I think you need to find someone else. I can see trouble in the future if you stay on the current path.

Regards,

See that's what I was saying as well. He's not dealing with any of my money. He's bringing his own into it, which doesn't make sense. He's willing to invest money but not invest in a phone call to establish a relationship?

I could see things working out in the long run, this is why I decided to post here.

I could see things working out in the long run, this is why I decided to post here.

To me, you're contradicting yourself here. You can see things working out, but you posted here why? To get opinions? The opinion given so far is that bad things will happen and you go on to defend it.

Is this post really about getting different opinions or trying to convince yourself that you've got a good partnership?

You need to run your business like a business...and not a bunch of school friends running a hobby. You should have EVERYTHING in writing and signed contracts outlining every detail of the partnership. Trust no one, not even your friend of 12 years, enough to rely on promises and good faith when it comes to business partnerships. Personally, I would never ever ever ever ever partner with someone I didn't know and have never met in person. No way.

If you continue down the path you're going and your business takes off, you and your customers are in for a world of hurt later on unless you get this thing 100% legal and have all of your documents, agreements and contracts in order.

--Tina

Tina, I could not agree with you more, that is a perfect post that pretty much sums it all up. I was beginning to type what you just said when I read your post ;-)

And just to add to what you said,

Alex and I have been very good friends for over 8 years and before we joined forces to run Fuse9 the first thing we did was put our friendship aside and get our contracts in order.

So, long story short: have everything in writing, and don't partner with someone you don't know.

Good Luck

Yeah, the most important thing to remember is that even when you start a business with a friend of 12 years, you still need to have everything written out and partitioned respectively. It's business's biggest travesty that occasionally a friend of many years can screw the other over, especially if there is not signed documentation of anything. Now back to the op: With that said, how much trust can you put into a person who lives thousands of miles away, and refrains from contact as much as possible?

It's business's biggest travesty that occasionally a friend of many years can screw the other over Exactly.... Alex..... you're no longer needed.... so uh... You're fired. Return your janitors uniform to my office.

On Easter Sunday? Fine, but I'm keeping my initial investment, my percent of the net worth, and my intellectual property as outlined in our operation agreement ;).

I don't mean to burst your bubble but I think I misplaced it.

Well then it's a good thing that I kept a notorized copy for myself. I'll show you mine. I'm gonna put those red "Read Here" stickie arrows next to all the important parts. Like your signature. And the stamp.

It sounds like your partner is hiding his identity purposely -- most likely because of age, if he does not wish to make contact via phone, voice chat, webcam, etc. he's trying to hide his physical appearances.

Adding a partner to your business is a big deal -- make sure you well research into your proposed partner before bringing them to the team, have several phone conversations, and meet with them in person to accurately find out what they are capable of doing for you.

It sounds like your partner is hiding his identity purposely -- most likely because of age


I think your quite right about that Rich, it was my first thought when i read this thread.

If it were my bussines parter i would like to meet them and see what their capable of and how old they are.

It sounds like you now still have a choice about giving the guy a boot, or outline every thing in a legal binding contract and run the business togehter.

Good luck with your choice!

How can you even consider a partnership with someone you haven't even met or at least talk to?

It amaze me how can someone even consider such thing if you are serious about your business.

If the guy is bringing money to the company, do you have an idea where is he getting the money from? If you don't know they guy and he is investing on your company and the money he is putting into is not legal you as business partner can be involve on a very nice situation.

He's bringing in money for a new design an new locations. I can still give him the boot and most likely will. I was talking to him last night for a while, seems like a nice guy but I told him that he needs to quit the BS. He keeps saying that he doesn't feel safe because he only lives like 3 hours away from me and is afraid that something might happen. BS excuse if you ask me, but some people are just like that.

He agreed to sign a contract, but until then he doesn't want to show his face or talk over the phone.

The business is going to be registered tomorrow to finalize a lot of things.

hmmm don't simple if i were you, i would like to meet face-to-face, talk abit, see how the other partner is looking fowerd for your company, see how he reacts, and built some friendship. in my opinion thats how it should works.

but thats just my opinion.

Will you register it on your name?

I really wonder why this guy is to afraid of showing him self, he's really afraid something might happen, so is he planning of screwing you or what?

I'm going to register it under a partnership with my friend and I. If he wants to come in, he'll have to meet us and develope a trust. He said he's willing to bind to a contract, but he's not willing to even make a phone call. This guy just doesn't make any sense.

Well I think there's two possibilites. He's afraid to show his face (might be that ugly or something, which I don't care about) or he may be waiting for the right time to just take his share and ditch us. I'd rather have no partner and take my time expanding rather than getting ditched half way through just because I saw a golden opportunity.

I'm getting lots of people wondering why I posted this thread, well lots of scammers try to pull the same scam twice ... if somebody had something similar happen to them, they'd post it here and let all of us know about it.

I told him I'm willing to drive and meet wherever but he's not willing to do anything. So I'm pretty sure I'm just going to go ahead and tell him no thanks if he's going to continue to be this way.

So looks like that's a solution ... he's out and it'll just be my buddy and I.

Thanks guys.

Before going into any business you should at least know the person better then "they contacted us after finding us on WHT". Theres lot of scammers on WHT.

Also, taking money from some unknown person isn't good. As others have pointed the money may be coming from a bad way. Don't risk it.

I am also glad to see you have decided it strictly. And don't be flexible. Go ahead and take it seriously just like your buisiness :)

He saw my post ... I gave him a second chance and told him he had till Tuesday to stop the nonsense and call me or my partner. He agreed to that, but for some odd reason he was trying to come up with another excuse to not call. I told him this isn't even close to a business relation, told him that it's done.

I just can't seem to believe this guy ... he's the one uptight about trust but he doesn't want to know who he's really dealing with.

I think his WHT name is bmwfifa ... not sure though. Nice guy, just can't do business with him while he has a fear of calling people.

Anybody know a site where I can do background checks on employees?

Thanks.

He saw my post ... I gave him a second chance

Why? This is business, not high school drama.

--Tina

I gave him a second chance and told him he had till Tuesday to stop the nonsense and call me or my partner. "Find out what happens on the next episode of "Highschool Hosts" only on the Drama channel!"

Why give him another chance, you don't know him, he doesn't want to talk to you this isn't how business works. (I guess sometimes it's better to learn the hard way)

I just can't seem to believe this guy ... he's the one uptight about trust but he doesn't want to know who he's really dealing with. I think he knows exactly who he's dealing with, hence he is dealing with you.

Anybody know a site where I can do background checks on employees? First of all he's not an employee of yours yet, second of all if you have doubts then why proceed?

... if you have doubts then why proceed?


Bingo. ;)

--Tina

If he signs a contract and he is under the age of 18, which it sound slike he is, it's void for him anyway. He doesn't have to follow the terms.

I'm not doing a background check on him. It's for an employee of mine.

I gave him a second chance because we came up with some agreement that was fair to both sides but then he tried taking his word back and I told him to take a hike.

When I said I gave him a second chance, it didn't mean I went back on my word, he still had to prove his identity, I just gave him a few days so we both would know if we would want this relationship or not.

I'm not losing anything really. He got a new location for the company and bought a design, but since he's gone I just got somebody else to design a site and I don't need the new location yet so I can wait a month or so to get that one.

Whatever this is done now.

Don't know about the rest, but I generally like to have at least the details and normally 2 interview's, face to face, and perhaps one on the phone with employee's!! Let alone a possible business partner(sic). :)

To me, you're contradicting yourself here. You can see things working out, but you posted here why? To get opinions? The opinion given so far is that bad things will happen and you go on to defend it.

Is this post really about getting different opinions or trying to convince yourself that you've got a good partnership?

I totaly agree, i dont think you should trust him though,
if he cant go by a phone call this is becasue in my opinion he is most likely to be of an age such as 13-16. like yes, this is no problem, but in the finincail long run can he be reliable to help you ?
im 19 i wouldnt dare getting my self into something that might affect my finincial life, but as a child you have these big ambition dont you..
i think you should suggest this to him.. do some research, like ask for a domain name he owns.. check the whois records..
www.whois.sc there you can find out a range of info,
hope this helps.

Ya I was thinking about that, but I mean I already told him that it's not happening. I told him that after a month of doing business we'd need to meet in person to get to know each other and he didn't agree to that. He didn't want to meet in person at any point. What kind of crap is that? I'm not doing business with him.

I was thinking about this whole deal and an other partner would be good (more to delegate, more money to expand, etc.) but it's also going to be a headache to sort out the percentages of ownership and how to deal with partners that want to sell off their shares of the company or even bringing in new partners. What do you guys do in those situations?

Ask your parents they may be able to help you, consult with an attorney, one can help you setup your documents and work out contracts between the partners. We at Fuse9 have a 30 page operating agreement that outlines the responsibility of each member of the LLC, along with how many units and votes each member has, the agreement is concise and covers almost all (if not all) grounds.

I'm surprised you're running a business without any contracts furthermore I'm surprised you would let someone work with you for over a month without knowing them.

Even if we take something as simple as hiring a tech support person to work remotely we will always do a phone based interview and contact any previous employers.

I urge you to re-consider what you are doing if you have no foundation yet.

You're making it seem like I had that partner for a month. He was barely in contact with us for about a week. I have one tech support that doesn't have much access (restricted access via cp) but that doesn't mean I don't agree with you. I fully agree with the fact that everybody should go through a phone interview (which the tech support guy did) and he should go under a contract.

I mentioned this before, but I haven't made up a contract because it's only my buddy and I. We have everything agreed upon and some is in writting. We will be meeting with a lawyer soon enough to get everything on a legal contract.

I know this seems like I'm being unprofessional and I am because it's not "by the books" but I'm being professional in the sense of dealing with my clients and the way I do business.

Most likely going to go with an LLC, but I'll be starting off as a partnership and grow from there. Doing that mainly because an LLC isn't required at this stage but will be required when we pick up investors.

I'm budgeting about $3500 for the LLC upgrade, but I was wondering if you guys can tell me a more realistic budget from your experiences. Should I budget more?

Thanks for the help.

professional in the sense of dealing with my clients and the way I do business. We have everything agreed upon and some is in writting. We will be meeting with a lawyer soon enough to get everything on a legal contract.

From my point of view I don't think you're right when you say you're professional in the way you do business, You have nothing to protect you or your "partner" how would your clients feel if your "best friend" / "partner" just left and then you would have to run the whole show by yourself, think you'd be able to handle it? Your contract / operating agreement is what binds you to certain terms that promote a prosperous business and allow you to run a "professional business". There is nothing professional about it when you are in court and you tell a judge "He said......" it's heresay and it won't fly.

As for your LLC budget $3500 is fine, depending on your state it can cost between $200 and $900 to file your papers, some states require you to place a notice in the paper which will cost you extra money, lastly you'll want some money to either purchase a template operating agreement or to have a lawyer write one up for you.

i wouldnt do it, we are looking for partners gives us a shout perhaps we cna do something.

It's not all verbal, we have a good chunk of it written down.

As for if my partner left, sure I'd be able to handle it. It would be less sleep for me and a lot more work, but I'm not at the point where I need somebody to help me out. I'm just starting out.

About the LLC, anybody here had experience doing it in Canada?

Thanks.

You should always have everything in writting, take it from me, you'll soon learn once your bitten...

Yes.
If they are so bothered tell him to get Skype!
its fast ad easy and all it requires is a PC with audio and a mic or a bluetooth connection and a bluetooth compatable mobile..
then no personal information is spread,
www.skype.com
Use It!
He shouldnt Be Bothered about sending his personal info unless he is scared or ashamed of something..
has he told you an age ?
if so ask him to claryfy it.. and tell him if he has no trust in you how can you be expected to trust in Him ?
Defdinatly not a good idea on my perspective!

-- Josh

eBoon ... I tried that with him. Told him to use teamspeak or ventrillo and he didn't want to. But that part is done and over with. I told him I didn't want to do business with somebody that wasn't willing to get over his fear of talking to people he met on the net.

He told me his WHT name wasn't the one I mentioned in my above post, but i looked through some of his posts and they turned out to be the same info he gave me. So I'm sure this guy is just trying to hide something, I'm not risking it.

My opinion is you need to run your business on your own, since he doesnt give you no details about him or even doestn want to call you, than you need to run your business on your own or just find a another partner in which you know him well or at least you have a contact with him.

People should real all the posts in a thread before replying.

That guy is gone. Not doing business with him, not even really talking with him. He's most likely a cometitor now.

Getting a new site design soon that I'll post up to get some reviews. I'll post here to let you guys know.

Thanks for the help guys.

Thanks Yaz!
It looks like thats all the thread neds then unless theres going to be some more in put :D
i didnt think he was good >:(

That's ok....

maybe Yazan has found a partner...

Had a few people contact me actually. Nobody really wowed me. I'm not in need of a partner but it would help expand faster.

Trying to also buy out some smaller companies that have clients in TX and CA mainly. Do you guys think it's unprofessional to contact companies and ask them if they want to sell? My opinion is no, but some people are saying that's crossing the line.

Let me know.

Thanks.

Sounds like he probably isnt of legal age.