Up and Downs of a Startup

The last couple of weeks have been very interesting ones. We lost our lead developer and gained an experienced business leader on the same day. Losing our lead developer has been a huge blow for us because she knew how everything was intended to come together. We have had to pick up the pieces and figure it out for ourselves which has been a very difficult endeavour. However, it feels like everything is starting to fall into place now. The basic prototype should be ready to go by early March (only 2.5 months late ; ) and the business plan is getting tighter.

On the plus side, we have attracted a very experienced and smart business development executive to the project. It's not guaranteed yet that he will become a part of our team, but I have a great feeling that he will. In his previous academic and work experience he earned a Law Degree and MBA, as well, founded and led to the success of www.expatica.com. He has since left expatica and is now looking for new opportunities.

By coincidence I had been thinking that we needed to bring on someone who could help lead the business development aspects of bodbook. I am great with the underlying concepts and problem solving but I wouldn't say that business development (building the infrastructure, negotiating deals, hiring, firing) is really my forte. Anyhow, I randomly decided to post an ad on Craigslist advertising the opportunity for an experienced business person to come aboard and become our Chief Operating Officer. Truthfully I didn't expect any contender to emerge from this source but an hour later I received a response from this person. I was immediately blown away by the depth and breadth of the education and experience he had to offer. I got back to him right away and said that we were a startup that could not possibly afford his services, however, with his credential he could probably write his own ticket with investors.

Anyhow, we met a couple of days later and again I was pleasantly surprised by him. I was a little afraid he was going to either turn out to be a flake, or one of those arrogant business guys I meet far too often. He was neither, he was very humble, forthcoming, and interested in understanding our project. We decided to meet again a week later with one of my advisors and continue to discuss the concept and how it could be implemented. We met for a good three hours and really broke down alot of the details of what bodbook is, and why it works the way it does. Not to say that we agreed on everything but I felt very comfortable with his style of analyzing and questioning and felt more strongly that we could have a very successful relationship. The next step is for him to meet with our legal advisors and start the preliminary negotiations for him to join the team. I sincerely hope that we can come to a fair agreement that will be equitable for all.

I'll keep you posted on how things go.