Some context, not attempting to take away from the story: The people and companies in this post are all in Australia.
One other thing that interests me, the English Wikipedia page on Judo Bank (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judo_Bank) has an interesting note at the top: "This article may have been created or edited in return for undisclosed payments, a violation of Wikipedia's terms of use."
rmason•7mo ago
Dan with a partner started a WordPress support service. Pay a monthly fee and receive as much support as you need. Dan had started multiple startups without much success but this one took off. GoDaddy purchased the company making both partners multi-millionaires.
He wrote a book on what he learned from startups from knowing both failures and success. He took the earnings and bought a small coffee house chain (don't know what happened to that) and the Black Hops brewery where he spent most of his time and capital.
Here he tells the story of how he was forced out of the brewery for dating an employee.
Dan is an excellent writer and I have been following his blog for years. In my heart I know he will bounce back. But there are lessons to be learned in these two blog posts.
al2o3cr•7mo ago
In July 2022 I stood down as the CEO of Black Hops.
Interesting way to characterize "was forced to resign" (see preceding post on that blog)...
Also "$10M value" seems debatable, given that it only liquidated for a third of that.
rcxdude•7mo ago
Well, it sounds like he thought he was getting a deal of giving away his shares so he could keep his house. And in the end he lost both. But then, it seems like with the personal guarantee and the way the business went that guarantee was going to put him in the line for both anyway. Still a shitty way to go about it, especially if they're sidestepping protections that should prevent it.
CaliforniaKarl•7mo ago
One other thing that interests me, the English Wikipedia page on Judo Bank (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judo_Bank) has an interesting note at the top: "This article may have been created or edited in return for undisclosed payments, a violation of Wikipedia's terms of use."
rmason•7mo ago
He wrote a book on what he learned from startups from knowing both failures and success. He took the earnings and bought a small coffee house chain (don't know what happened to that) and the Black Hops brewery where he spent most of his time and capital.
Here he tells the story of how he was forced out of the brewery for dating an employee.
https://dannorris.me/inappropriate-conduct-or-falling-in-lov...
Dan is an excellent writer and I have been following his blog for years. In my heart I know he will bounce back. But there are lessons to be learned in these two blog posts.