Entrepreneurs: How NOT to Close a Company
by Miki Saxon
Move Loot’s co-founders
Last month Zach Ware, managing partner of VTF Capital and founder of Shift, talked about the right and wrong way to close a company.
“There is absolutely no reason for a company to shut down overnight. That’s a result of a selfish set of decisions a founder made.”
Obviously, the founders of Move Loot weren’t listening.
They not only shafted their people,
The mood at the all-hands meeting was tense, and employees asked management to give them the heads up if things were going badly. They were told that the cuts were the move they needed, the person said of the meeting. “Three weeks later is when the hammer dropped on everyone else,” they said.
They shafted their customers
Customers have accused Move Loot on Twitter of taking their money and failing to deliver items. Other sellers remain frustrated that the marketplace closed with no warning, leaving them in a lurch when trying to move out. The phone number that it had given out on Twitter for customer support now has a voicemail saying that phone support is no longer available.
As for their investors, I have no sympathy for them. Who gives four kids, with little-to-none business, let alone operational, experience combined, $22 million dollars with no built in accountability?
Founders owe it to all their stakeholders to be responsible.
If you recall, the three most successful startups in the world, Apple, Google and Facebook, all brought in seasoned management talent in order to give the founders time to gather experience and learn.
Contrary to Silicon Valley’s attitude, running a company takes skill; it isn’t learned from a book, but from experience, as opposed to throwing it at the wall to see what sticks.
Or in Valley lingo, ‘move fast and break things’.
But, as some ex employees point out,
“At some point you realize how expensive it is if you break things every day. There has to be a little discipline.”
Of course, that would involve not only taking responsibility, but acting responsibly, too.
I heard a great line on a Bones rerun.
There’s a major difference between an entrepreneur and a con artist: an entrepreneur believes in the dreams he’s selling.
But then, so do pathological liars.
Image credit: Move Loot (via USA Today)
