> As it was it left me scrambling with three small kids.
you did not mention whether this early termination was communicated beforehand.
nevertheless this person probably never was your friend. sry
you did not mention whether this early termination was communicated beforehand.
nevertheless this person probably never was your friend. sry
No, it's completely common for friendships to break down over business.
Very few friendships are robust enough to survive one party costing the other $20,000.
I have other friendships that have been tested for similar amounts that have survived. But, it leaves a mark.
I had an ex-employee who worked for me under starvation wages in a startup long ago. He was upset about that and some tax implications, and brought it up with me. I gave him a smallish lump sum and enabled him to put a down payment on a house. I need to ask him about that, it was really brave to ask me to clean something up, and I never did that with the friend from the OP. I wonder if it would have gone differently.
I'm seeing a lot of people in my circle struggling right now. I bet 2024 is going to be a bad year for friendships.
Is it possible to buy a real friendship for $20k? Is a friendship of many years worth more to you than $20k - would you stop being friends if someone else offered you that much to do so?
This isn't a paltry sum of money, it is a paltry sum to end a friendship over.
That probably depends on how critical that $20k is to you. If it's your only $20k, then yeah it'd be much more impactful than if it's just one of many.
But even when the loss causes little financial hardship, it could put a strain on a relationship.
Imagine you invest $20k in my business and I buy a $5k industrial juicing machine for the office so my staff can have freshly squeezed orange juice. I tell you that employees expect free luxury food these days and it'll make hiring much easier. You have your doubts.
If the business does well and we both make a big profit - we're both happy. You still think the juicer was a bit extravagant - but it all worked out in the end, and maybe I was right that it helped with recruitment.
But if the business fails - you might resent the fact I wasted $5k of your money on a juicer.
hence no money can be enough to compensate for a friendship
It all depends on what is a friend. Your statement makes me question what makes a good friend. I don't really know right now. It is a lot harder to make them at 50, of that I'm sure.
The issue with friendships is usually there's some expectation of being in it 'together' and to put in some sort of similar effort, despite the major power imbalance of employee vs. cofounder.
If the founder feels their friend is for instance, giving say half the effort they are (which I feel personally is reasonable for an early stage employee, that they have a life), they may feel their friend is violating some notion of trust, despite the friend getting maybe 1% equity at best.