Owed large amount of money - what to do?

[d000hg]

So they pay you €3000/month but despite this you racked up €160k additional owed? Meaning they pay about 40% of your full billable hours?

Why will the company/product fail if you leave - if it's already selling can't they continue to sell without doing further development for a bit?

If you think the product is long-term viable, you could decide to tay and cut a deal where even after they eventually pay you, you continue to get x% of profits. Putting yourself in like you have been means you are more a backer than simply work-for-hire and should be entitled to push for more long-term to reward you.

Could you find a cheaper developer or two (maybe abroad) and train them up? You could then go and get a new contract, leaving the new dev team in place at a more affordable rate (€7500/month is quite a lot for a startup to pay one person), and still keep collecting the money they can spare for the next few years. The company may spend less on developers, you still get money from them, AND you can find another paying gig.

[MarillionFan]

Try Tony Soprano!

[DS23]

If I put my hands up and walk away then the company then the product will not survive and I will never get any money. I have a document dated a few months ago which lists all outstanding invoices and is an "intention to pay" document but doubt it would hold up in a court of law. Suing the owner is interesting but he has huge loans to repay, taken out to keep us going. So, back to square one.
iarmst

if it was me the owner would have get another loan to pay up a sizeable amount of owed money immediately or lose it all.

[cojak]

Go to Thomas Higgins they're old hands at getting yer money back...

[dang65]

Either that or he's topped himself.

...using that business noose.

[iarmst]

Thanks for the advice everyone...

Hi all, thanks for all the replies, apologies for my late reply, and no I haven't topped myself

So basically to sum up (without answering all your valid questions individually).

The company I work for is a small company with only the owner and another fella in the US. I do receive my fair share of revenue when it comes in. In fact as soon as any money hits our accounts I receive a chunk of it. I would be averaging about 3,000 EUROS per month in pay. Not too bad, but not close to the amount I should be receiving for the hours I am putting in. The company cannot physically afford to pay me any more as we're just about surviving.

I do not have any shares in the company as it is not public and we don't have the money to pay for a lawyer to draw up papers (US and Europe laws being what they are) to entitle me now to a cut of sales etc. Anyway, money from sales goes to keeping us afloat.

If I put my hands up and walk away then the company then the product will not survive and I will never get any money. I have a document dated a few months ago which lists all outstanding invoices and is an "intention to pay" document but doubt it would hold up in a court of law. Suing the owner is interesting but he has huge loans to repay, taken out to keep us going. So, back to square one.

Thanks again for all of the replies. I'll be getting my plan of action in order over the weekend.

iarmst

[superuser]

Consultancy Service v Product

>Sales have been steady but slow
Could you become an authorized reseller for the product in the UK; by providing support contracts and customised installations for UK clients maybe you could leverage your existing work and move into a more lucrative consultancy role.

>I'm basically programming a product for next to nothing
Can you offset the existing debts against tax?

Good luck

[BolshieBastard]

it's gone quite....

...................because its gone tits up.

Either that or he's topped himself.

[stillooking]

it's gone quite....

[SueEllen]

Stop working on the application immediately, get legal advice, get legal rights to the code and stop the other guy from profiting from it.

In fact do anything to stop the guy from making a profit out of your work if he won't pay you even if you don't make money out of the app in the end.

[DS23]

have you been paid anything?

[Wanderer]

company in he US (I am in Europe). I am now owed close to 160,000 EUROS

Sue them. It's the American way!

If there's that much money involved then you should probably get some legal advice on your side. There is no point continuing if they owe you that much. I'd be inclined to force the company into bankruptcy and take what you can out of it. Most likely they are going down in one way or another anyway...

Make sure you take the source code for the product, if they don't pay for it then they don't have a license to use it and maybe you can redistribute it yourself? It depends on what your contract says about ownership of intellectual property rights. Once again, professional advice is needed.

Good luck, and welcome by the way!

[MarillionFan]

Well what did you agree/get signed?

Cut of the software sales or just an hourly rate?

And if an hourly rate? How far behind(not in money) is the earliest invoice?

[northernladuk]

I would have said you needed a dose of common sense here, not business sense. Why have you worked on it for so long to be owed that much? How come you haven't cut your loses and gone at some point?

Have you broached this subject with them and what do they say. Surely the first thing to do is sort it with the company. Point out your loses and see what they can do. Is it a big company? Is there a chance they can give you some shares in the company that might be worth cashing in later? Have the flatly refused to pay you?

I am not big in to this side of it but I would get a definitive answer on the position of the company and then go down a legal route. They are huge on litigation in the US so surely (am guessing) getting a US lawer on the case and you have a no lose situation. You just sue them and they have some kind of insurance against being sued which would pay out?

Just guessing but first get the standpoint of the company right now and then go for legal advice.

[iarmst]

Hi all,

I hope someone out there with more business noose than myself can help me. I am in dire straits.

For the past 3 years I have been charging an hourly rate to a company in he US (I am in Europe). I am working on a new software product that has only been in the market 12 months. Sales have been steady but slow. As such, the company owner cannot pay me my full hours' pay every month. I have racked up the hours and I am now owed close to 160,000 EUROS.

So if I leave the product goes belly up, if I stay I'm basically programming a product for next to nothing. It is making me sick to my stomach thinking I will never get paid the outstanding monies. What should I do?

Cheers, iarmst