Hello all, first post. Bit of a long and sorry tale, please bear with me.
Been on a direct B2B with ClientCo for several years. At the start it was just a wee startup - founder plus 2 con developers. N years later it is not much bigger. From the outset I did not have a 'contract' - rather a LtdCo 'agreement' to provide services at £x per week (IR35 measure at the time).
Has been very amiable over the yrs, even got given some shares in the co. ex gratia once, never actually used timesheets, just invoiced each month, invoices generally got paid eventually but CC had cash flow probs sometimes - now the co. is on the rails. Founder has been forced out, Interim CEO did nowt for 6 months, no money coming in. Interim CEO II asks us to throttle down to <~half time in May 2009 to 'help keep things going' while she tries (& fails) to raise funding. We all realise that if the co. folds we get nowt, if we keep it going while a merger/takeover/injection is arranged we have some hope of getting some back pay.
ICEOII has now been in negotiations with USCo who might be interested in a reverse takeover. She says to them, we need some cash to keep things going. Give her her due, she gets some limited cash from them, divvies it out, pays one of my old invoices. That was start of October, pay for May.
I let her know in August that my co needs some revenue. She said then I am free to look for other work and that she has no money available at that time. SInce then I have been doing 'skeleton' level work for them doing server admin, monitoring and support, no devt. Billing 25-50%. And not getting paid. Also JobServing to no avail as yet.
Had a meeting where she said (again) that she could not promise anything about when or even if anything will be paid. She did say she was going to be talking to USCo about another injection and hoped to "have something this month" (October).
Now the ClientCo. must at least have to have some budget to be able to pay certain critical bills like server hosting (who tend to just pull the plug if not paid). I have sent the ICEOII a mail proposing that the oldest of my invoices be paid within 14 days and a schedule agreed thereafter until they are paid in full. I have also pointed out in that mail that my current activities are critical to current operations and therefore should be in that critical category (no, no threat there...) But I feel that it is flogging a dead horse.
Either :
A. She gets another injection from USCo and can do some catchup payment. And then
A1. USCo deal completes sometime early 2010 and they pay outstanding debts. Seems less likely than...
A2. USCo deal completes sometime early 2010 but they wind down the current company and its debts - I suspect that they really want the ClientCo's location and AIM connections rather than the technology/customer base.
A3. Deal falls through, company goes to adminstration.
-or
B. She does not get another cash injection so no immediate payment to me. Subsequently B1, B2, B3 as above.
I worry that if I continue to press before she gets any cash, I am not going to get anything and will only antagonise her. OTOH if there is a possibility of the company being liquidated maybe I should escalate to solicitors letter/county court ASAP so as to be closer to the top of the pile.
I have got fed up with being 'nice' but I am not sure what measures to take next and when.
Been on a direct B2B with ClientCo for several years. At the start it was just a wee startup - founder plus 2 con developers. N years later it is not much bigger. From the outset I did not have a 'contract' - rather a LtdCo 'agreement' to provide services at £x per week (IR35 measure at the time).
Has been very amiable over the yrs, even got given some shares in the co. ex gratia once, never actually used timesheets, just invoiced each month, invoices generally got paid eventually but CC had cash flow probs sometimes - now the co. is on the rails. Founder has been forced out, Interim CEO did nowt for 6 months, no money coming in. Interim CEO II asks us to throttle down to <~half time in May 2009 to 'help keep things going' while she tries (& fails) to raise funding. We all realise that if the co. folds we get nowt, if we keep it going while a merger/takeover/injection is arranged we have some hope of getting some back pay.
ICEOII has now been in negotiations with USCo who might be interested in a reverse takeover. She says to them, we need some cash to keep things going. Give her her due, she gets some limited cash from them, divvies it out, pays one of my old invoices. That was start of October, pay for May.
I let her know in August that my co needs some revenue. She said then I am free to look for other work and that she has no money available at that time. SInce then I have been doing 'skeleton' level work for them doing server admin, monitoring and support, no devt. Billing 25-50%. And not getting paid. Also JobServing to no avail as yet.
Had a meeting where she said (again) that she could not promise anything about when or even if anything will be paid. She did say she was going to be talking to USCo about another injection and hoped to "have something this month" (October).
Now the ClientCo. must at least have to have some budget to be able to pay certain critical bills like server hosting (who tend to just pull the plug if not paid). I have sent the ICEOII a mail proposing that the oldest of my invoices be paid within 14 days and a schedule agreed thereafter until they are paid in full. I have also pointed out in that mail that my current activities are critical to current operations and therefore should be in that critical category (no, no threat there...) But I feel that it is flogging a dead horse.
Either :
A. She gets another injection from USCo and can do some catchup payment. And then
A1. USCo deal completes sometime early 2010 and they pay outstanding debts. Seems less likely than...
A2. USCo deal completes sometime early 2010 but they wind down the current company and its debts - I suspect that they really want the ClientCo's location and AIM connections rather than the technology/customer base.
A3. Deal falls through, company goes to adminstration.
-or
B. She does not get another cash injection so no immediate payment to me. Subsequently B1, B2, B3 as above.
I worry that if I continue to press before she gets any cash, I am not going to get anything and will only antagonise her. OTOH if there is a possibility of the company being liquidated maybe I should escalate to solicitors letter/county court ASAP so as to be closer to the top of the pile.
I have got fed up with being 'nice' but I am not sure what measures to take next and when.
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