It's Saturday evening now, and I'm just catching up on the events of the last few days. My friend wrote today to ask how the meeting went with the LLC business partners the other day. Here's my reply:
Well, I hope things will work out ok, I don't know. I already see some problems, but hopefully it won't implode. Jack is running around, presumably talking to lawyers, and wants to immediately know exactly how much I want, etc.
Did I mention that I told them I thought I had some potential outside investors willing to buy my interest? That was pretty much just a lie at the time, but really, I do know a couple of people who might have enough money and interest to buy my shares ... time will tell.
I know I should have put more thought into this process, but I really just wanted to get the ball rolling so I can get out of town as early as possible next year.
One thing that's funny is that within the last month we agreed that we should offer shares of the company to new, inside partners at a certain price, but now that these same guys are looking at buying my shares at this price, suddenly the asking price is too high, lol. They have argued that with me leaving the company will be worth less, and while I appreciate them stroking my ego, I expect they will all step up a lot more if they have larger ownership percentages.
I am meeting w/ my main partner Class A partners and the company lawyer on Tuesday to review a document known as our "Operating Agreement." As mentioned, Jack seems to have gone into panic mode, and wanted to meet with the lawyer today, but I told him that was ridiculous, there was no way I was going to pay a lawyer overtime to discuss this, and I suggested he read the Agreement himself, it's not too hard to read. I also told him I'm not leaving right now, that I fully plan to stay here until the spring, but also no longer than that.
The crazy thing is that he seems to be panicking, and I'm sitting here working on my vacation plans for next spring. I'd love to start with a long motorcycle ride. I mentioned this to David, and he gave me a copy of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", which talks about a long motorcycle vacation trip.
He wrote back:
Dude, consider that book to be a metaphor, lol. The trip may be real, and I think the actual itinerary is well-documented on the internet, but as far everything else, keep your mind open ... :)