business-modelInitially I helped out a local guide in a former Soviet union country with a website to attract customers so he can take tour groups.
This then developed into a business with 3 people, setting up a company and trying to run things as a partnership. This has not worked out because 2 of the partners don’t get on
The model is wrong. What is needed is not a partnership. I am the only one with software development abilities and the website provides the most value.
I think its better if this website provides promotional services for guides to get customers.
The business as it was before is shelved for the moment so there are no obligations, and I could provide the service through my own website. The website / Social media pages still exist and have value.
How can I transition from this partnership model to this service providing model?
With a service providing model, my website would attract customers and pass them on to the guide in exchange for a booking fee and I would have no further involvement.
Theoretically this sounds like a good idea, but having already tried out quite a few things with this business, I’m wondering whether the idea doesn’t have the legs, it doesn’t match my vision. I’m aware I’m itching to research new products.
At this stage, I want to put minimum additional work into this project (I’ve worked on and off on it for 8 years) to make it work without my involvement or leave it so I can get on with other stuff. E.g. persist, pivot or exit?
Setting aside the history, you’re describing a classic opportunity to pivot. You started out with an idea to feed tourists to a single tour guide. Asking the way you have learned that there’s more opportunity in a site that maybe channels business different ways than there would be in selling lots of your guides their own website.
So now you have to ask yourself, do I have it in me to leverage this opportunity? If the answer is no, then it’s time for you to make peace with your losses and move on (you can’t, after all, get back the time and effort stretching back eight years).
If your answer is yes, then you can choose to start again, bringing your experience and learning but leaving the code and creative assets behind, or you can choose to buy out your partners. If you’re sick of them, chances are they’re sick of you too. And maybe they’d be happy to accept a nominal fee and walk away. If not, there may still be another deal you can do, perhaps one that gives them a sum of money in a year or two.
If this was part of a partnership to begin with, you can’t just take it over and use it for your own purposes without a) obtaining the permission of the other partners, or b) compensating them for their share of the business.
On the other hand, you don’t sound like anyone who’s serious about trying to be a successful business owner with this project, no matter how much you re-purpose it. If you only want to do a “minimum” amount of work then leave it alone and move on to whatever else you were going to do.
I think your best course of action is to just drop it and move on unless you’re willing to put in the effort and time to make a go of it. If you’ve already put this much into it already and you think your ideas will work, be serious about it, give it your best shot, and see how it turns out. It seems to me that you can’t really be sold on how viable this idea is or you wouldn’t be so wishy-washy about turning it around.
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