The next time you’re ready to complain about the amount of paperwork advisors perform, first read this tale of woe from the Lone Star state.
The next time you’re ready to complain about the amount of paperwork advisors perform, first read this tale of woe from the Lone Star state.
Edgar Diaz founded Three Happy Cows drinkable organic yogurt in 2010. It was his second start-up since fleeing his native Columbia in 2002 after escaping kidnapping by leftist guerillas. His yogurt became so popular it was sold to Tyson Foods.
That’s the good news.
Unfortunately, Diaz’s second entrepreneurial adventure turned out to be his undoing. How so? Well, he brought in outside investors to provide growth capital for the business; those investors proceeded to cut costs by getting rid of the quality control person at the company plant and then substituting organic ingredients for regular ones.
But that’s not the end of it.
Diaz, who’s an artisan not a businessperson, made the deal on a handshake. The investors turned around and sold the company without his approval. Diaz’s lawyer, Laura Harper, commenting on the sale of the business, “He was cut out of it completely.”
This turn of events sent Diaz over the edge. In the early hours of March 18, 2013, he went to the plant and torched it. This week the former yogurt maker was sentenced to five years prison time and $1.5 million in restitution.
Clearly, the details of the investment deal between Diaz and his three former partners are more nuanced than the media reports reveal.
However, if it’s true he did the deal on a handshake without the supporting paperwork, it’s hard to feel sorry for him, especially since he put people at risk when he lit up the former plant.
In situations involving money, paperwork is no laughing matter.
You can read the entire story here.
Edgar Diaz founded Three Happy Cows drinkable organic yogurt in 2010. It was his second start-up since fleeing his native Columbia in 2002 after escaping kidnapping by leftist guerillas. His yogurt became so popular it was sold to Tyson Foods.
That’s the good news.
Unfortunately, Diaz’s second entrepreneurial adventure turned out to be his undoing. How so? Well, he brought in outside investors to provide growth capital for the business; those investors proceeded to cut costs by getting rid of the quality control person at the company plant and then substituting organic ingredients for regular ones.
But that’s not the end of it.
Diaz, who’s an artisan not a businessperson, made the deal on a handshake. The investors turned around and sold the company without his approval. Diaz’s lawyer, Laura Harper, commenting on the sale of the business, “He was cut out of it completely.”
This turn of events sent Diaz over the edge. In the early hours of March 18, 2013, he went to the plant and torched it. This week the former yogurt maker was sentenced to five years prison time and $1.5 million in restitution.
Clearly, the details of the investment deal between Diaz and his three former partners are more nuanced than the media reports reveal.
However, if it’s true he did the deal on a handshake without the supporting paperwork, it’s hard to feel sorry for him, especially since he put people at risk when he lit up the former plant.
In situations involving money, paperwork is no laughing matter.
You can read the entire story here.
