All great American stories have a lesser but still watchable prequel, and this one is no exception.
I've made a big deal this weekend over Bryan Micon's recent contract-breaking antics. I said on tonight's Emergency Car Radio (TM) that I was surprised when Micon did this.
I thought about it some more, and actually I shouldn't be surprised at all. That's because Micon has done this before -- with this exact same contract!
"I'll Pay You With Your Own Money!"
The Separation Agreement I signed with Micon is dated October 1, 2011. That's the date I officially sold my 26.4% of DonkDown.
However, I received the majority of the money -- $996.41 to be exact -- exactly a month later, on November 1st.
So how did this happen? If I sold my 26.4% of DonkDown on October 1, and immediately gave up all revenue from the site from that date forward, why did I receive payment for my sale a full month later?
As you might guess, it's because Micon didn't have the money. Before we signed the final agreement, he told me that he didn't have the ability to pay. I asked him when he felt he would be able to pay me, and he said that he was "really busted up" and didn't know when he could come up with the money for the sale. Despite this, he still wanted me to relinquish my 26.4% immediately, and sell him the site on credit!
He owed me slightly more than $1600. $1200 of that was for my 26.4% of DonkDown, while the other $400 or so was settling both the company money he held from the Donate Button (since I was entitled to 26.4%), as well as a few hundred dollars he personally owed me for something unrelated to DD.
I put some thought into how to handle this, and came up with a partial solution. The DD affiliate account had built up about $620 in it, and that account was still in my name. I proposed that I would cash out that $620, keep it, and subtract that from what he owed me. He agreed, so that brought the money he owed down to $996 and change.
Unfortunately, that was still way more than he could afford. He told me that it could be quite some time until he could afford to part with $996.
I didn't know what to do. After all the drama back and forth involved with preparing and agreeing to the separation contract, now the whole thing was about to be derailed because Micon couldn't come up with a stinkin' thousand bucks.
I decided to be a nice guy and offer the following concession to Micon:
If DonkDown made any money, he would give all profits to me directly until the $996 was fully paid off.
If DonkDown didn't make money, I would give him 6 full months to pay me, provided he agreed to make his best efforts to pay me during that time.
Micon thought this was very fair, and happily allowed this to be written into the contract.
This was a GREAT deal for Micon, because I wouldn't get paid for my part of DonkDown for as long as 6 months, and yet he would immediately start collecting 100% of all revenue the site generated. Basically, it was like I loaned him the money to buy me out!
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Weeks passed, and Micon sent me nothing. It was now late October. I was about to frustatingly concede that I probably wouldn't see the money for 6 months -- if ever. Then I came to a realization:
Hero Poker always paid 3 months in advance, and their 3 months was ending on October 31st! I knew this because I took their payment for the prior three months. Also, Micon had just signed Draft Day as a sponsor, and I knew they were probably paying him generously, as well. I also knew that Hero typically paid about 2 weeks early.
So where was the money?
Micon had promised me, and in fact signed a contract stating that he would forward ALL DonkDown profits to me until I was fully paid the $996.
The server costs for DonkDown are only about $160/month. I knew that Hero and Draft Day combined to pay FAR more than that.
I called Micon about this. He seemed a little flustered -- as if I caught him doing something that he thought he'd get away with. I asked why he didn't send me the DD profits as he promised. He said that he spent the money on inventory for the upcoming store on DD 2.0! That's right, folks! Next time you pay $28 for one of those ugly trucker caps, remember whose money paid for them!
At first I yelled at Micon, telling him that he had some nerve spending my money that way. I reminded him that he had agreed to give me ALL of the site's profits until I was paid, not reinvest it into expanding the company. He told me that I was right, but that the money was spent, and there was nothing he could do.
I almost accepted this, but I thought for a moment and did a sanity check. This was far too much money to have spent on some lousy hats, especially with Hero paying for several months at once. There had to be plenty left over, and I at least wanted that.
He said that he spent "about $400" on the hats, and would send me the balance within 24-48 hours. He also agreed to send me all of the future DD ad revenue until I was fully paid off.
48 hours passed, and I heard nothing from Micon. I checked my bank account, and I had no transfer from him.
I contacted him again via text, asking him when I could expect the transfer.
He blew up on me and sent me a lot of REALLY angry texts, similar to what he did to Brandon in January when Brandon wouldn't loan him any money for slots.
He told me that I was an asshole.
He told me that I had "promised to give 6 months to pay" and then took it back.
He told me that he couldn't believe I would treat a friend this way (LOL).
He told me that he was mad about me "'birding all of the sponsorship deals" to figure out he had actually made money on the site! I'm not kidding here. He was mad that I put some effort into figuring out that he was violating the agreement and secretly spending money he had promised would go to me.
I called him up and tried to reason with him. I reminded him that my 6-months-to-pay offer was only valid if DonkDown didn't make money. Otherwise, I told him, it was completely unfair to me to allow him to keep 100% of DD's profilts while not paying me for the 26.4% I sold to him.
He was impossible to reason with. No matter what I said, he still ranted that I promised him he could take 6 months, and then yanked that offer from under his feet.
Finally he ended the conversation by telling me he "is going to have to make some very uncomfortable phone calls" to get the $996, but that he was going to do it and that I'd have the money by the next day. He also let me know that he no longer considered me a friend because of the horrible way I had just treated him, and he never wanted to speak to me again.
Indeed...
And that's when I was officially paid for my part of DonkDown.
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Originally Posted by Hockey Guy
