The Cast of Characters (so far)

The importance of the team cannot be understated. Team members must fit three categories: they must be (1) unquestioning, (2) believers and (3) willing to work for shares. Oh, and good, though this is of relatively little import.

The following are simple introductions to the key players on payroll (such as it is) or on contract. We will get to know these people better through the stories that follow, but this is a good time to run down the list.

CEO
DC. The grand fromage. As the chief secret holder and grand schemer, DC stands ready, willing and able to tell any key person exactly what they want to hear at any given time: investors are told of great advances, future revenues and imminent buyouts; staff are told of impending deals and foreign investment; women in bars are told of fast cars and expensive vacations. DC's main responsibility is fundraising NOT building the company. In fact, quite the opposite: the company must be able to move sideways to suit the vision of the next investor; forward movement is only temporary until the next investor is found. DC's addictions to sex and alcohol add colour to his glorious, if worn, canvas.

COO
NM. The great poopyhead. It is NM's job to ensure that the money raised lasts as long as necessary. This means governing with an iron fist, controlling the amount of paper used in the office, refusing to pay for coffee and threatening to fire anyone who dares to ask about the payroll that is a week late. Oh, NM is also the head of HR and responsible for the morale of the staff. Lastly, NM is in charge of keeping the books ready for a potential buyer to review. As you will read in an upcoming post, his incompetence in this regard has almost sunk us once; time will tell if it will sink us in the end (My money is on this being the case --though an investor lawsuit for fraudulent practices remains likely).

CTO
TN. Too smart and good for the position. TN, having worked with both DC and NM previously knows that this is likely a con but the idea is too good to resist. TN is also CTO of a very successful software services company and only dedicates himself part time to the show. He loves the business but has a tendency to quit every time the company moves sideways.

Chief Engineer
LX. The sad thing about LX is that he appears to drink the Cool-aid. Always keen, smiling and toiling away, LX must constantly redesign the entire product to suit DC's forever changing vision of the company. This must not be easy, though as long as he thinks that the stream of investment money is unceasing he will remain happy to keep at it. Having a young child makes coming into the office at strange hours to suit DC's whims difficult, but that is one of the costs of being tied to a company that will make him a millionaire --or not. LX gets regular promotions to CTO during TN's absences.

Engineering team
The guys. Software engineers and IT types are made of different mettle than most of us; these guys seem happy to work50-60 hours a week, cancel vacations because a demo has to be prepped for an investor and come in to the office during a snowstorm that has the buses sidelined because DC wants to go over his new vision. I don't know what kind of deal NM has made with the team, I only hope that they are doing better than most --I fear they are not.

The PM.
DM. Working for the man. DM was brought in when a savvy investor suggested that a software company is screwed without project management. Project managers are responsible for charting development, making and maintaining budgets, keeping development schedules adhered to and up to date: basically managing everything that a legitimate software company would do. Prior to the change from a short con to long, DM's primary job was to stay nimble. Anytime she put together a schedule it was obsolete within days. Ditto with a project charter. Forget about budgets, the last thing this company wants is anyone to see a budget. This remarkable woman had to stay on top of and try to document and manage DC's ever changing vision. Once the play changed to actually developing a product (the long con) DM suddenly found herself working like the team: long hours, no days off.... Unfortunately for the company, DM had an actual contract with the company that detailed her working hours --neither DC nor NM are happy with this, but they will not be able to replace her with another dupe at this point.

Accounts Manager
ME. Drank the Cool-aid, then threw up, but not in time. I am a utility guy. In the beginning I sat in on most meetings and my input was valued and praised --though never acted upon. For the first two years of the company I worked essentially for shares; I was also a commissioned salesman for the legacy products that formed the basis of the previous con. Unfortunately these products were demonstrably non-profitable and my revenues fell well below DC's prediction/patter. After two years, I demanded a salary --a move that turned NM into an active adversary, keeping me from meetings and moving me to a position where I could not claim import other than sales. Later I was told that I needed to go back to full commission as I did not have enough incentive to sell given my lack of other duties. In the same meeting I was told that if I brought in a large contract (say a million dollars) I would be paid less than my usual commission as the company would "go broke paying large commissions on large contracts." basically the company is happy to pay me two hundred on a two thousand dollar deal, but If I bring in a million they will go broke keeping only $800,000.00. Argghhhhhh.