Prehistory

In this story there will be no expensive cars, glossy blondes on ocean-going yachts and generally a lot of money. The topic is not directly related to IT, except that the author is an ingrained IT person who has traveled his career from a junior green goblin junior tester, then a programmer, to a manager and a department and a project, and then an investor.

Story

One day, sitting in a nightly summer cafe on the seashore with my wife, she asked her who would you like to be in ten years, I answered, without too much hesitation, as an investor. But as they say, if God wants to laugh at us, he fulfills our desires.

So, having crossed the Rubicon and the crisis of 30 years, realizing the aimlessness of the then existence, being in a state of free flight, rested and specifically tired of almost idleness, I became an investor. After the accumulation of the "parachute" and the subsequent dismissal, some free money remained. And at that moment She appeared on the horizon! A girl from a rather specific consulting area, with immense ambitions, steam locomotive effort and inexhaustible energy. The girl was strongly pressed at work and she was carrying ideas of dismissal. To complete the story, the girl's name was Violetta Anya.

When my wife (a pro in the same field) tried to attach her to one of the familiar companies, I said “stop”! And why do we need someone's company, if we can open our own right now. Thinking. Considered alignment, finance. It was all over that you could risk a little money on the salary-office and open a business. And there is a ready-made gendir who is already digging the ground with his hoof and is ready to move mountains.
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A very important moment, which later played a key role, that neither I nor my wife were going to work in this company, i.e. it was a pure investment project. The sphere, intersecting with the competencies of my wife, was for me a dark forest. And nevertheless, I knew that Anya would succeed (and was not mistaken in that).

At the start

Immediately a beautiful picture was drawn in my head, how I invest money, the company grows and works for me. And I rightly leave most of the profit for the development and promotion of the best employees, and in little things for myself: for a car, a house, and other nice things. Oh, how hard I was wrong ... Later I learned that such investments are called investments in people. And the risks are associated with these people. The risk that something will happen to them. I understood this risk perfectly. And, running far ahead, it was this risk that materialized. But then it could not be a reason not to start this business. And we started.

They invited Anya, voiced the alignment: your 40% of business, the position of general, fixed 100K and premiums for the results. With us - guarantees of payment of salary and money for other operating expenses. For a long time did not have to persuade. Then went the exciting and pleasant process of registering and creating an LLC, choosing an office, buying office equipment, inventing a name, and choosing a logo. Anya brought Lena to the company with her.

Start

The first month or two was rather nervous - from time to time money was added to the company “to maintain pants”, but the first contracts quickly made the balance positive. The specificity of the region is that one mediocre contract can cover the monthly expenses of a small company of 2-3 people.

The next 3-4 months, the business gained momentum, Anya gnawed on the granite of the market with her teeth and punched the metro head. By 3 months, the first very serious client appeared. But for the conclusion of the contract it was necessary to take the first step, throwing in decent money for the preparation of the work, which was done. By the 4th month, a seven-digit amount received from the client appeared on the company's balance sheet. Immediately on the wave of generosity, Ana was issued in advance a premium of more than two months' salary, the annual gym and other buns were paid to the employees. The end of the year was near.

During this time there was one curious incident. I must say that despite the position of General, the main work of Ani was direct sales. And here she was a genius. Velvet voice and effective appearance with deep knowledge of the subject area and remarkable intelligence did their job.

Of course, there was little time left for the leadership, but do you really need a lot of guidance from a company of 3 people? The third was another girl, Nick, who was taken “as an acquaintance” as a ready sales person. But, despite the lack of fear of cold calls and the accompanying negative, Nick did not bring a single contract to the company for 3 months and was dismissed according to the results of the trial period. He himself first dismissed the girls from work, he must be given her due - she stood with honor, without tears and insults. In this story, a classic HR error was made - they took a person and invented a job for him, and not vice versa.

At the same time, I deliberately did not get into management, only gently prompted and transmitted the experience, while at the same time working as an administrator and website developer in my own business for free.

First results

The new year was approaching and Anya reasonably remarked that it would be time to divide the profit. But my question is how much profit the company has, unfortunately it could not answer. As it turned out, financial accounting in the company did not lead almost at all. Yes, Elba was connected, an accountant was hired, but all the nuances of contracts, expenses and margins were not taken into account. Then I rolled up my sleeves and began to collect all the information. By the end of the year, I had full information on contracts, a financial model and a forecast for the next year. The model showed that we are now in a small profit, but the risks under the contracts almost by an order of magnitude exceed the current balance. New Year's awards and gifts were purely symbolic, and I thought hard that financial directors probably don't eat their bread for nothing. Anya was told that in connection with all these problems, there would be no bonuses to NG, and this unfortunately did not find understanding. This fact was the first alarming bell: the general refused to accept the numbers of dry calculation, relying on his feeling that she was “not given”.

We started the year with a modest budget and hope for the future. January as it should be closed in a minus, if February-March were the same, the company could be bankrupt. But Anechka again performed a miracle by pulling out a couple of very serious contracts, which again made the balance seven figures and my profit calculations were positive. However, the meticulously calculated profit and the six-figure award did not impress at all Genre, and this was the second loud call.

Intermission

It should be noted that the multi-valued amount on the account of course was not a net profit. Since activity meant the lion’s share of mediation, out of 100 rubles, about 70 rubles received to the account had to be given to subcontractors. However, these funds in the account allowed to feel free and get involved in new and new agreements. The uncontrolled unwinding of this spiral could lead the company to the fact that a failure under just one large contract would drive the company into a minus, preventing it from fulfilling its current obligations. This has not happened yet, but this prospect worried me a lot.

In the meantime, my investigations into financial activities began to be perceived as unnecessary digging in underwear, and bonuses at half the monthly profit — as miserable handouts. And then another problem surfaced. That I do not do anything for the company, but I demand order and my money. Here is such a materialized risk of the investor. The second problem was that Anya considered her business to be hers, and me, by a ridiculous coincidence of circumstances, was an unnecessary anchor and a burden. I agree, there is a certain logic in this - she created the company, she brought all the money. But after all there are rights of founders eventually. In short, the classic conflict of the owner and employee. The last blow was Ani's demand to revise her stakes in the business, so that she would have the majority.

However, the story is not over yet, the business is in a sectional state, you can read about it in the next article. At this interesting place, let me leave.