

Look at this - need feedback-  - mtrue

"A" is me little startup, "B" some wanna be guys who want to say they run a startup. "C" a guy with an interesting idea who met "B" somewhere, used us, "A" to present for them and now want to cut us out of the deal.<p>everyone look at this section of an amendment to a contract that my partner signed last december.  and before you read this, know these things:
1. my company "A" introduced company "B" to the team that created the business plan for investment approach for company "C".  i also helped "B" negotiate a better deal with "C"
2. As of last december we were all partners.  as of last summer, i was on the teams advising on strategy, my company coming up with some very key revenue points
3. part of the business plan presentation included an interactive working software feature, created by my company, and is the only working software feature yet in the package - although this "C" is an internet company.
 3.  i already have an email with me@"C".  
4.   They are claiming that they will introduce me to "C" and will sue me if i try to reach out to "C" on my own.<p>6.	Upon signing this Agreement, "A" shall not directly or indirectly contact "C" or solicit business from "C" in furtherance of the present projects or any other projects during the Term of this Agreement.  In the event of a breach of this paragraph 6,  "B" shall have such remedies as may be available to it at common law, including without limitation injunctive relief, and in the event of any lawsuit or action occasioned by such breach, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover the costs and expenses of suit, including without limitation reasonable attorneys’ fees.
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brk
Only had 1 cup of coffee so far, but I think I'm following your A, B, C story.

What you did verbally, without documentation and contracts, is of little
realistic value (other than to maybe help verify the fact that it looks like
you're getting screwed).

From what you have written above, it looks like your company A can't do any
business with C, without a penalty and a lot of legal scrabbling.

Having no idea what the realistic business value of working with C is, it's
hard to give much advice.

You could lawyer up on this, and maybe make some progress. By law contracts
are supposed to be mutually beneficial to both parties. There may be other
laws and such in your region that prevent you from signing away certain
rights, and override this contract. This is most likely an expensive pursuit,
so you should be REALLY sure of the value of C.

If B is a corporation and not a person, what are the chances that they go out
of business? (that would pretty much invalidate this as well).

My gut feeling is that this is probably one of those expensive lessons that
you can't help but learn in real-time in the world, and you should probably do
your best to push back, but not waste too much time/effort fighting it.

~~~
mtrue
we have a contract. this new amendment has come out of nowhere. "B" is a joke,
just some guys wanting to go around and saying they have a startup. there is
an agreement between us "AB interactive"and between us as a group with "C"
signed, but they are claiming a new agreement was made somewhere, i told them
yesterday that would not hold. i am ready to walk away from this right now and
have. "C" holds no value, even if it gets the funding, "B" holds no value and
i am quitting, after a year of stress and seeing no lessons learned by my
small team. They are actually mad at me for being VERY FIRM with "B" about
this amendment and this amended agreement. i am in another city now dealing
with a very sick family member with connective tissue disease, and they are
pulling this crap. I wonder how many other startup companies have dwelt with
this

~~~
pedalpete
I'm not a lawyer, so take this with a grain of salt.

1)You say this 'amendment' comes out of nowhere. If it was an amendment and
you haven't signed it, is it valid?

2)A shall not indirectly contact C. But you have already indirectly contacted
C through B. As B was aware of this, I'd think this should be void. I would
also think that you getting an @C e-mail address kinda shows that you have
already been in contact with C, assuming C doesn't give e-mail addresses to
people with no connection to C.

3)If C is a start-up with no value, and B is nothing, why are you even
worrying about this? go out and get some business without B or C - I'm
assuming your contract doesn't say that you have to work exclusively with B.
If it does, than I wouldn't say B has nothing, as they have you!

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mtrue
When you are bootstrapped, how to find a good lawyer? my last startup had all
the whistles and bells. it went from being just me and my partner in my
kitchen to a useless staff of 40. we had wall street big wigs and a lawyer
with company equity who turned out to be a dud by the way. and that company
went under due to waste, greed, etc, laziness, it seems the new team brought
in, just spent 2 years trying to push us out, which we were fine with-if they
could grow the company, but these people could not even tell me what files we
keep the contracts in, who were the interns and staff, and what is the
internet and why should they care. i may leave this start up world, because
now broke, and restarting, i am acting as our own attorney, (i am not an
attorney) and trying not to get screwed until we get funding. but looking at
shit like this amendment- just makes me disgusted with the whole thing.

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quoderat
Time to talk to a lawyer, methinks.

