When do you pull the plug on your boss?

Sitting here agonizing about loyalty issues...

[grelmar]

So, I've spent the past year at a small startup that does IT refurb/remarketing.

I love my job. It's a geek's paradise. I've got to mess with a variety of systems that wouldn't be available at any other job. I've learned a ton about hacking on everything from PDA's and smartphones to the full gamut of laptops and desktops, all the way up to Cisco backbone gear. We even have a couple of complete Cel sites we're trying to figure out.

The business model itself is fine. We should be making good money.

BUT

The boss/owner/marketing guy... Well. He's quite possibly the worst businessman I've ever met. He figures it's ok to only work 10-15hrs/week. He's absolutely lazy about drumming up sales (we have no trouble getting equipment coming in). It goes on and on.

Now... Cheques are starting to bounce. I just found out yesterday that my last paycheque bounced. I can't say I'm surprised.

I'm sitting in my office, waiting for the boss to come by with some cash (we had a loooooong conversation last night after I'd been to my bank).

The logical thing to do is just to pack up my desk. I know. You don't need to tell me that.

But if (when) I leave, or if (when) the other inhouse "geek" leaves, it well and truly dooms the company. There won't be time to train up someone else on the servers we use for imaging systems, thge ins and outs of the back end of our inventory software... There's just a whole pile of stuff we've custom built over the past year, hacked together out of spare parts, just to make the whole operation go.

If I leave or the other geek leaves... The outfit folds. The time margin to recover and rebuild just isn't there.

If we leave, a few other people lose their jobs. My boss loses his house (not feeling real bad about that last one at the moment). Creditors, businesses we've been dealing with, get left holding the bag on worthless invoices.

Me, personally, I do Ok. A quick "flyer" twitter last night and... It's a big city with a tight IT community. I still have friends.

I'm just feeling kinda sick about the whole thing.

Thanks for letting me vent off.

[LifeinAsia]

The question you have to ask yourself is this: are you an employee who needs a paycheck or are you independently wealthy and just doing this for fun? From what you say, it seems unlikely that the situation is going to change. Yeah, checks may stop bouncing for a few months, but then they'll start right back again.

If it's not your company, then you should have no remorse that other people may lose their jobs because of the bad management of the owner. It's unfortunate, but you are an employee of the company (like them), not a welfare office.

If you truly care about the company, sit the owner down for a serious heart-to-heart and try to get him to understand the situation. Don't be confrontational- just paint a clear picture that without cash flow, the company will fail. (Remind him to look around at all the companies much larger than his that are falling into bankruptcy- if they can't survive without adequate cash flow, how does he think he can?) Work together with him for a solution.

If he is unwilling or incapable of understanding, your only choice is to bail.

[grandpa]

You may (or may not) recall that I once worked for a family operated business in Idaho - for 5 out of 6 years. In that time I literally redeveloped their internet presence, and thus their business. A lot of customized code went into the day to day office tasks, the web site became very dynamic with a lot of database back end.

Then one fine day the owner was arrested, and eventually received a five year prison sentence. I really wanted to see this shop continue, we were at the top of the heap and it felt good. After two years I finally gave in to the remaining family members, who didn't particularly like me, nor could they appreciate the efforts that sustained their business. Last summer (07) I left and haven't looked back. Six weeks after I left the family sold the business for pennies on the dollar because they could not understand how to make the business function. It's one thing to fill an order, quite another to manage the whole process.

The new owners quickly dismantled most of my work on the website - they didn't understand how to use the databases to control products and prices on the site.

It was sad to leave, but it was worse to stay - from a personal point of view. And it was sad to see so much effort dismantled with so little effort to try to understand how it worked.

My former boss gets out of prison next summer (09), and he'll come home to a wife with another man and no home and no business. The current owners have lost a lot of ground in the web business to their competition.

I'm fairly content and quite serene in my new digs. Leaving was the best thing I could have done, for me.

[grelmar]

Thanks guys. I needed some "outside" perspective.

LifeinAsia: The other tech and I have tried to have that "polite" conversation with him a couple of times. His stance is basically "You guys are just the geeks, what do you know about business?"

grandpa: Thanks. Really. You made me realize that part of my hesitation is the ego I have wrapped up in the software and systems. Stability for my family is just way more important than my ego.

The other tech and I had a conversation after the boss came in and laid out some cash. The resumes are in circulation.

I still feel like crap. But I'll get over it.

[LifeinAsia]

His stance is basically "You guys are just the geeks, what do you know about business?"

That, to me, is an invitation to walk out the door and not look back. Not in the sense of being spiteful, but in the sense that your boss isn't smart enough to change, so why bother sticking around. My response would have been along the lines of, "You can't even manage positive cash flow. What exactly do YOU know about business?!"

[edited by: LifeinAsia at 9:01 pm (utc) on Oct. 3, 2008]

[jdMorgan]

There won't be time to train up someone else on the servers we use for imaging systems, the ins and outs of the back end of our inventory software... There's just a whole pile of stuff we've custom built over the past year...

"You guys are just the geeks, what do you know about business?"

So, the line just before you go out the door might be:

"Well, you're the owner, but what do you know about the systems that you depend on to make a profit?"

Insolence for arrogance is a fair trade... :)

On the other hand, it's probably best not to burn the bridges behind you.

Jim

[Leosghost]

walk ..dont look back

[rocknbil]

I still feel like crap. But I'll get over it.

Like L.I.A. says, unless you're part owner this is not your burden. I'm the same way. I love my work, I love learning, contributing being a part -

but there's a point at which what you think is dedication and ethics is really slavery, you have allowed what you do to own you. I've been in this situation many times, sometimes working 16-20 hour clips to "make it all work"

But for who? You feel like crap because this is your baby, but when the chips are down, this boss - the one who insulted you with "what do you know about business" - would drop you in a heartbeat if someone with similar skills came along that he could pay fifty cents an hour less.

My last corporate job was like this. Sometimes I still miss it, but I think I'll live longer without it.

[D_Blackwell]

In a similar situation I spent several years doing the heavy lifting on a company that I did not own. 80% of the income and profit is from online sales. (On the road 15 - 18 weeks a year doing shows and traveling, yet never did prepare a transition to put an employee or reps at the shows when he tired of enjoying the travel.)

He's quite possibly the worst businessman I've ever met.

OMG. This guy lucked into the right product, the right niche, and the right IT person in practically one fell swoop. Good for him, but his luck has run out and he hasn't got the business skills to carry the day.

I got whacked and he thinks that the website and SEO will just take care of itself. True, to a large degree. The site is built so solidly that he can coast on it a long time and skim a lot of cream. However, business is way off due to, IMO, business incompetence. He's toast. Classic situation of an employee that lucked into a fairly big dollar opportunity, hit the jackpot, but never transitioned into becoming an owner, or had any interest in doing that work.

I spent several years on the niche and am now actively going after a slice of it for myself. I know too much to waste the knowledge of the market. Not personal to him - I'll be going after a slice of everybody's piece of the pie like always, but his slice will taste the sweetest. His competitors are pretty active, so skimming the cream from the website will be less than, and last for a shorter period of time, than he thinks.

The waste of it all is what is sickening to me. 100% preventable, but in the end I was merely an employee and when the going got tough I got thrown overboard as the company's #1 'unjustifiable expense'. Just business (sort of). I understand that.

If you truly care about the company, sit the owner down for a serious heart-to-heart and try to get him to understand the situation. Don't be confrontational- just paint a clear picture that without cash flow, the company will fail.

My owner hasn't the sense to seek, take, follow, or want advice.

I offered to buy the company for cash on the barrel head. Purchase of corporate assets to fold into my own LLC and he dissolves the corporation. (Very concerned about tax liabilities, so an asset purchase seemed the smart play. Lawyer and accountant both in complete agreement.) A pretty sweet offer on my part but rejected out of hand. Likes being the 'owner', even as the ship is going down. What a waste.

[httpwebwitch]

I'm a serial startup crutch - been there a few times, actually. Line up your next job before leaving this one, and from the sound of it you should start interviewing immediately. Or if you have a few weeks of elbow room in your finances, leave now and enjoy a little unemployment "down time" before getting back into the ratrace.

Don't feel bad. This is how the internet industry stays fresh - it has a very high decomposition rate, and lazy entrepreneurs are its main source of fresh carrion. This year's employer is next year's resumé compost; a rich humus upon which you will thrive and propser. Go and be useful somewhere and let this be your mantra: Follow The Money.