My friend and I have been doing web work for this guy we met in a coffee shop a while ago. He has a ton of different companies and in exchange for cash and equity in his ventures we have been starting to make sites for him.
All of a sudden, without warning, his phone voice mail is full, nobody at the coffee shop he frequents and even has an office above has seen him in weeks, and he is not responding to email.
We have not given him anything in terms of a final product or anything, so there’s no chance he’s just ignoring us.
What would you do? Honestly I am concerned that he might be hurt/dead/etc…
A guy who has “a ton of different companies” yet conducts business in a coffee shop is not exactly a reliable business partner. My guess? He’s taken in cash from various investors he’s managed to dredge up, and now he’s done a runner. I’ll wager that if you did some digging into his companies, you’d discover that they’re just shells.
So I had a friend for a few years. Eventually, we got into a few big arguments (during which time he started working with another message board based website) and I stopped talking to him. So I was able to follow him through that website. A few weeks go by and he drops off the face of the earth. I was a bit concerned so I tried emailing, IMing, calling his house and cell phone but I was unable to get into contact with him. After what was probably somewhere between 3-6 months, my friend somehow figured out where he’d been. He was spending time in jail for lewd acts with a minor.
Unfortunately, he only ended up getting 9 months. He’s out now
So what I meant to say was the guy could potentially be in jail. I would have never thought it possible with the guy in that story but it did happen.
If he has a “ton of companies” then there should be some other employees. If you are doing web work for him those people should be listed under “contacts” on your websites. Call them.
In addition most states have online access to the actual physical corporate addresses of registered companies. If you have a legal contract with him do you know who his atty is? If so, call him.
In my experience surface flakiness like this is generally almost always indicative of much deeper issues. If you are working for small amounts of cash and equity you may simply be working for small amounts of cash.
well the companies are mostly solo-run consulting gigs. We did not get very far with any of the projects we were working on for him, but we were going to work on a huge project for him. He had us sign a non disclosure and took us out to his huge office downtown, so it’s just odd that he suddenly fell off the radar for everyone.
I would tell the police only because if he’s not a scammer he might be hurt or something. I searched google and found nothing but did send a message to an employee of his on facebook.
Does the landlord for his office have a home address for him? They certainly wouldn’t give it to you, but if you make them aware that there may be a problem, perhaps they could contact the police about sending someone out to see if he fell down the basement steps and died?
I’m a full-time freelance web designer. This sort of thing happens more often than I like to admit… clients just disappear and stop answering the phone, stop replying to emails, seemingly just vanish. Of course this comes when the final product is getting close to delivery and they owe money. I can almost guarantee that this has happened with him.
From what you’ve said, the guy is the kind of client I avoid like the plague. “Many companies” means no really successful one, just a lot of moderately successful or not successful at all, that he can pick up and drop in a heartbeat. My feeling is that whatever business the site you were working on is a “dropped” business and he’s doing something else now.
Also, working for “equity in the business”, means that he has no risk. If the business is successful, you get a small percentage. If not, you’ve just done a lot of work for free. “Equity sharing” or “percentage in the business” or similar phrases means I say “no” before he can finish the sentence. These are people with no vested interest in the company and will drop it with no hesitation.
I can almost guarantee the guy is fine and just doesn’t want to talk to you anymore. Of course, now I’ll feel terrible if it ends up the guy is dead somewhere…
I would generally agree but we were not really firm with a price or equity for this one-it was more of a favor for other things. He literally vaished mid-project and his phone voice mail is filled up, etc-I think it’s something bigger than us (even if it’s that he’s avoiding someone).
