Selling my business

JCarterVA said:   KayK said:   For someone who will in a very short time get 225 million bucks, and has no idea how to handle that kind of money, you seem to be spending a lot of time here.

Fatwallet should have rules similar to reddit.. where people who say things like this actually prove it to mods that they actually are who they are describing.

I call shenanigans until proven otherwise. I've been on Fatwallet long enough to know when something doesnt smell right.
If I am proven wrong, I give moderators the right to deface my custom title as badly as they want. Heck, OP can tell mods what my custom title should be.

Sure, I tell you what, how about I have the mods verify such and we end the speculation?

You can just message me and I'll verify

Crazytree said:   JCarterVA said:   HumDoHamaraDo said:   JCarterVA said:   HumDoHamaraDo said:   MissCrabette said:   My money is on foursquare's Dennis Crowley.
4 square is not in VA, unless VA in OP name is not Virginia.

It is not Virginia.
Well then, it could be 4 square Evan Cohen.

As I said before, I am not confirming or denying anything to assist in narrowing it down. Speculation seems to be the main game.Troll tactic #1.

Are you trolling this topic? You seem to have nothing positive or informative to offer.

If you would bother reading you would see where I was advised not to confirm or deny anything further back a few pages.

tade480 said:   Did you say that they are starting the due diligence period next week? From people I know who sold businesses in the low-mid 7 figure range, this is when they uncover everything possible and either lower the offer or kill the deal. I've heard this period is ruthless. Sorry if I misread, just what I heard from those who've been in similar situations.

Due diligence has already began. It is fairly ruthless, but we have good advisors and we try to keep our heads straight.

Al3xK said:   Just message suckstaples and let him verify. He's better than having a mod. I'd do it but you don't know me. You probably know Staples from his posts.

I will not volunteer SiS, but if he is up to the task then I would be happy to let him verify. SiS knows me through my other username.

HumDoHamaraDo said:   I am giving him benefit of doubt.
JcarterVA, you really should not be looking to FWF members for validation.
Just post when deal is done, we will be happy about it.

I am not looking to them for validation. I just have no problem quietly verifying some details to someone who is trusted amongst the community, and is capable of keeping them quiet.

MissCrabette said:   HumDoHamaraDo said:   I am giving him benefit of doubt.
JcarterVA, you really should not be looking to FWF members for validation.
Just post when deal is done, we will be happy about it.
What he said. I personally think you already said more than you should have. Stop posting until the deal is done. You don't need to have your ego stroked, do you? You already know you did well.

ETA: You would also probably be in breach of the non-disclosure agreement. Keep quiet.

Understood. No problem, I will update when the deal is completed.

mikef07 said:   That is about the dumbest thing I have ever read. You are nuts if you trust anyone on this board. You have no clue what contacts one person has or who they know. Keep your mouth shut until your deal is done, then once you have your money do whatever you want. If I was getting $225M I couldn't care less what anyone here thought of anything I said.

I disagree.

Curiosity of FW members > Security of $225mm

/sarcasm

Just curious, what type of business can worth this amount of money ? can it be a website? / restaurant? /dealership? To my knowledge even a 2 mil dollar restaurant is already huge, can't imaging a personal / family business woth over 200 mil...

zmmnj said:   Just curious, what type of business can worth this amount of money ? can it be a website? / restaurant? /dealership? To my knowledge even a 2 mil dollar restaurant is already huge, can't imaging a personal / family business woth over 200 mil...

Technology startup most likely software of some sort would be the most logical guess. Especially based on the details the OP has given. Of course OP is near certainly a troll so take any attempts to divine this with a large grain of salt.

zmmnj said:   Just curious, what type of business can worth this amount of money ? can it be a website? / restaurant? /dealership? To my knowledge even a 2 mil dollar restaurant is already huge, can't imaging a personal / family business woth over 200 mil...
Really? I'm an outside chairman (slightly odd, but it's kind of a circle of trust type thing) of a closely-held (nearly family) corporation that even on a low cashflow valuation is worth nearly $400MM. It's a highly specialized business, massive barriers to entry, little competition so it's true value is probably much higher. Most people would never know it looking at it as they drive by and I would say that is true for a lot of private business wealth out there.

edrucker said:   You don't need to do this now if you think the non-compete has already been addressed by your team and the buyers won't cave or you think pushing it further is risky.

But once you've closed and the dust has settled, engage your own lawyer and get their thoughts on it. Such broad non-competes (and often even quite narrow ones) are generally unenforceable, as I understand it.

California generally frowns upon broad non-competes for individual workers. A court would consider very carefully the scope of the indemnity -- what industries, how long, geographic locations, job positions, etc. You have a lot more leeway with the scope if the non-compete is in connection with a sale of a business, because it is perfectly reasonable to say that the seller of a business won't compete with the business he/she just sold. However, that doesn't usually mean the scope can be unlimited (e.g. all industries or all types of jobs). If you were in the tech industry and decided to open a local hippie supermarket, a court probably would not bar you from doing that.

California also used to consider the geographic scope of non-competes, but this depends on context. If you were selling a local neighborhood bakery, the court would probably limit the geographic scope of the non-compete to the city or metro region where the bakery was located. If you're in the tech business, which is obviously global, they would probably not require you to limit the geographic scope because you could compete from most anywhere these days.

In other states, you can get a mixed bag. Generally speaking, Massachusetts is a bit more strict with non-competes, for example, and some people believe this has affected the growth of start-ups there.

arktc said:   edrucker said:   You don't need to do this now if you think the non-compete has already been addressed by your team and the buyers won't cave or you think pushing it further is risky.

But once you've closed and the dust has settled, engage your own lawyer and get their thoughts on it. Such broad non-competes (and often even quite narrow ones) are generally unenforceable, as I understand it.

California generally frowns upon broad non-competes for individual workers. A court would consider very carefully the scope of the indemnity -- what industries, how long, geographic locations, job positions, etc. He is not a worker so pretty much nothing is going to be applicable to him.

arktc said:   
You didn't keep reading where I addressed that issue. That said, a worker is a worker, whether he or she is a CEO or a barista. There is a lot of case law around non-competes in California, partly because of the entertainment industry.Wrong again. This is how such deals are structured:

Payment = SUM( $for_company - $money_you_receive_in_3_years, $money_you_receive_now_if_you_do_nothing_for_3_years)

where $money_you_receive_in_3_years = $money_you_receive_now_if_you_do_nothing_for_3_years

So absolutely no non-compete is going to apply here. He is being paid not to work.

regularlurker said:   I'll probably get a lot of red for this, but it seems to me that if you are a principal in a company to such a degree that your stake is $225M, that company's annual revenue would have supported you being paid many times over enough for you to pay off your "meager" debt meager debt obligations.
This is a primary reason so many businesses fail - you simply cant divert corporate revenue into your own personal piggy bank. Corporate money is corporate money, nd your money is your money; and he's already stated that he's received an annual salary of $100k.

EvilCapitalist said:   jerosen said:   I'll tell you what I'd do, man: two chicks at the same time, man.
I always wanted to do that, man. And I think if I were a millionaire I could hook that up, too; 'cause chicks dig dudes with money.Two chicks at the same time require no money other than dinner and not being a bloody jerk. With $225M one could do an entire college campus any day of the year, year after year.

Actually you just have to be a nice decent guy, no dinner needed.

Are you Evan Sharp or Paul Sciarra?

Glitch99 said:   regularlurker said:   I'll probably get a lot of red for this, but it seems to me that if you are a principal in a company to such a degree that your stake is $225M, that company's annual revenue would have supported you being paid many times over enough for you to pay off your "meager" debt meager debt obligations.
This is a primary reason so many businesses fail - you simply cant divert corporate revenue into your own personal piggy bank. Corporate money is corporate money, nd your money is your money; and he's already stated that he's received an annual salary of $100k.

Um, thanks. After I started a business, built it, and then sold it (for faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar less than than this, but still felt like a hefty sum to me), it was pretty easy to project out our corporate annual revenues and my salary (as the principal) even with very conservative estimates. Now I'm in a different corporate world, and knowing executive salaries, a business valued at $225M should be paying the principal shareholder multiples of $100k at minimum. $100k salary is not a lot for a business with a value of $225M. It really isn't. That is not to say he shouldn't have been eating Ramen noodles if it was a tech startup, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

OP already shot down my guess, but I was convinced it was Hooman Radfar. Clearspring is the right age, stage, and progress. And it had dual coast angels. Plus this blog post totally lines up with OPs choice of handle.

Venturion said:   OP already shot down my guess, but I was convinced it was Hooman Radfar. Clearspring is the right age, stage, and progress. And it had dual coast angels. Plus this blog post totally lines up with OPs choice of handle.

1) That would be the wrong country that starts with I, although perhaps it's theoretically possible. 2) I think he's from the US.

foghorn19 said:   MissCrabette said:   EvilCapitalist said:   Ok, I'm down to 11 people....
Do all those people have Irish AND Israeli passports? I think he dropped the ball on that one.

Keep in mind the MS in Computer Science. None of the names suggested so far have have that degree.

IIRC Hooman has an MS in Computer Science from Pitt? But, as stated previously, I am not Hooman.