Wednesday, October 8th Christine at Mike's place in Taipei "Rough going..." It would appear... that a growing number of people... are wanting to know... WHEN I will be back in the States. Gah... nice to be loved. =) Forgive me for the impersonal, publicly-posted answer (I am a retard, I admit it...) but here it is... sorry! In simplest terms: I need this new round of funding to hit my bank accounts before I can go, and that can't happen until I give the assurance that the compensation structure we are working on doesn't put the company underwater before revenues are even realized, because the last thing a new investor wants to do is put his money in and have it all get washed out in salaries/compensation (which for our set-up is the largest overhead expense item) before we legitimize our business model. In more detail, without compromising internal affairs: What I am attempting to do is to take the remainder of what I was supposed to have raised from the first round of financing a year and a half ago and offering an incentive to the new investor(s) to raise more than what we initially agreed upon and then distribute whatever is left to those I'm wanting to hire, in the hopes that it is enough to make everyone happy without diluting the current investor base. In the event that the issuance pool is NOT enough to meet expectations, I need to know exactly how much more is required and whether my taking that amount from my allocated shares a) is justified and b) will leave enough room to grow the company at a later date via future investments, or, if I can justify diluting the current investors who would then scrutinize our proposed compensation model, all of which involves varying calculations, justifications, explanations, and nego- tiations amongst a number of different people. In actuality, we are a very small company dealing with very small numbers. But because both sets of people are my friends (investors and those I want to bring in), AND because we all pretty much think that ORIENTED has a lot of poten- tial, I want to make sure that I am being as fair as I can and that due diligence is performed, accordingly. Unfortunately for me, the parameters that I have to work with makes this whole process a rather complex one and is not something I'm particularly enjoying at the moment. The end goal, of course, is to secure myself at least a token pay- check from now through the rest of the year, and hopefully into the next quarter. Where is the love? Another rhetorical question... The pressure is on for me, and to be honest, I feel like I have been through a lot recently. I try to focus on the finer things that life has to offer, but every now and then, and sometimes without warning, my heart gets broken into little bits and pieces. I'm kinda... sorta... tired... Home   Blog      Guestbook A Year Ago    Last    Next