Long story short, my best friend ( I was literally best man at his wedding) asked if he could join in on the business I was starting. He had his own successful business and was looking to diversify, but also thought I could use the help, which was true. Business struggled to get off the ground for a year and he suggested I quit. I disagreed and kept going. I found out later that he mocked me to our mutual friends behind my back, felt embarrassed for me, didn’t have what it takes blah blah. Out of pity he offered me a job at his company and asked me to close the business as there was no potential.

I said he was free to leave, but I’m going to make it work. I brought in 3 more partners on an equity deal as i believed they had the skills and network I was missing. I had no money so I gave them shares and somehow managed to sell them my dream, the product was good and I knew it. He opposed the decision and chose to resign as director and just remain a shareholder. Refused to do any more “work” for the business , which was basically just introducing me to potential clients (which had mostly ended after year one anyway) I said fine, he was my mate and he did help me with some business acumen in the first months.

I kept working my ass off trying to generate revenue, a truly humbling experience, but I believed in the product. Eventually we got a break through one of the new partners. Best friend could not even muster a smile at the news. Instead started to sabotage the business, tried to convince me that I owed him money for his time, spread rumours about me and the people I was involved with and even sat me down to try and convince me that I was dealing with conmen etc. Did the complete opposite of promoting the business.

I managed to secure a small investment that would really change the game for us, I asked that we share the risk to the value of our equity holding which was the majority on me, his shares had diluted significantly. He was the only one who voted against it. His reason was that I was a delinquent director and was not fit to lead a business (still presented as if he was was mentoring me as a friend). As the only director since he had resigned to avoid liability, I proceeded with the contract and then passed an addendum that stated that all shareholders would share liability for the loan to the value their equity stake. I had a lawyer assist me and make sure everything was perfect legal. The contract was signed by 4 of the 5 of us and he refused, the deal almost had zero chance of failing. I did my utmost to keep it amicable and try understand what the issue was, and he couldn’t give me a solid consistent reason. Told me I should be listening to him to save myself further embarrassment. By this stage I had picked up that there was more to this than business. Finally we were called to the lawyers offices to have a pre-mediation session and things were clearly going to turn ugly from there. So I called him that morning , we hadn’t spoken for a few weeks. I said let’s go have a coffee and sort this out and save our friendship. I reminded him that if we didn’t manage to sort it out between us that the shareholders agreement would come into play as there were now shareholders in the business. He went mad, said all sorts of terrible things and promised he will teach me a lesson. Also added that he refuses to resign and will not be signing the contract. We met at the lawyers that afternoon with all the parties and he had nothing but anger as his defence. He had nothing to say, and one of the lawyers bluntly asked him if he is doing this out of jealousy? To which he left the room. I got a call that evening from him to meet me the following day. He sat down, handed me a resignation letter and a thumb sucked amount for the value of his shares . It was enough money to really screw me over personally he knew it and he had some legal grounds which I couldn’t afford to fight. It was his final stab at the business. I called someone wealthy I knew and explained the situation, and paid him before the sun went down that day. To his surprise. He then went on full character assassination mode, he was an influential character in our city and we shared many friends. I literally lost all but 1 of my so called friends, I lost business and was even accused of theft; collusion and corruption. I won’t lie, it nearly broke me. That motherfucker said he would give me a chance at redemption if I apologise to him, for orchestrating and colluding for his removal from the business.

He humiliated me in many ways, and it just shone a light on our history and I realized he had been doing it for years.

He played victim amongst our friends and often predicted that the business would be dead in a few months. Needless to say it was a tough time.

He phoned me one night to give me the opportunity to explain why I chose to fuck him over and called it an olive branch to save our friendship.

I told him to grab some popcorn and enjoy the show.

I worked myself to the bone and one day a really big fish stumbled into my shop and offered our business an open cheque book. I built my dream store and then 6 more stores, the 7th I built on the same street he lived( great location couldn’t have given it up 😀) He immigrated. We were awarded a contract to build 400 stores.

and one month I “accidentally” sent him our yearly financials, complete mistake not sure how it happened. He never responded though. Weird.

Cherry on the top is that we have been approached by an investment company that is looking for the rights to roll out our brand in the country he fled to. And you can bet your house on the fact that I’m taking it.

When asked if I have forgiven him I say yes with a straight face. I left that in the past. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth. I owe my success to how much I want to make him regret everything he did, and I hear he’s not taking it well.

This is an absolutely true story and we now have our sites on becoming the biggest player in the world . When we achieve that, I promise to come back and expose my identity with proof.

Until then never underestimate the power of pain and always be wary of who you try to fuck over.