[hauteur]

OK. I want to describe a scenario that is occuring in my professional life and see how you all interpret it.

I work in the Enterprise Architecture group (strategic planning for information technology) for a certain health insurance company. I am also the primary contact for a certain software company that we own several high dollar products from (total software purchase spend is about $1.6 million, not counting annual maintenance).

When we first purchased software from this company about four years ago, they were very small - about $3 million in revenue. At that time, they only sold one specific product which cost significantly less than our current spend - < $100k.

From that initial purchase, I have met with them on a pretty regular basis to discuss future features of their products. Generally these are initiated by me and start with my sales rep and generally end up with one or more meetings with their product development group or, in some cases, with their CEO.

Anyway, I sat in a sales demo of theirs yesterday because they are trying to sell to another company that we have a very close relationship with. This is the first time I have seen the full scale demo in about four years - keeping in mind that they only had the one product when I saw that demo.

As the demo progressed, I noticed that roughly 75% of the major functions and features used as selling points for their whole product suite were my ideas - including their entire product strategy for this year and next year. Literally. I sat in the demo constantly thinking, "Hey, I initiated that. And that. And that. And that...."

Now, here's the interesting point. This company's revenue is growing by 30% annually. In 2007, they earned $18 million in revenue and landed a spot on the Forbes top 100 fastest growing companies list.

Last October (2007) I approached them about a position within their product development group. They were "interested" but said it would be 2Q08 before they were able to do anything. In August or so of this year, I had an interview with their CEO. He was going to talk to his product development group (who all know me because a lot of their product strategy has come from me) about what they thought and was going to call me back. He said that he was interested in bringing me on in 2009.

He didn't call back.

I did meet with him on a separate topic about a month ago and he mentioned (without being asked) that he was going to call me in the next day or two. Surprise... He hasn't called me.

So, now the question. I'm curious what you all make of this situation. I have my own ideas, but I wanted to see what you all thought without telling you what my interpretation is.

Thanks all.

[Solaris]

I think the software company had made enough money from your brain. They need to either start compensating you for it, or stop getting your ideas. If you have a viable legal claim, and can prove it, you could file a lawsuit. I dislike frivolous lawsuits, but yours may be a valid claim. I realize that part of your action is probably driven by a desire for your current company to have access to better, more efficient software. So, you have a choice to make as to which path is best.

[tp6626]

You don't have much to moan about in my opinion, to be honest.

Entrepreneurship is about having balls and taking risk. It can go either way. You could make a fortune, or you could lose everything!

They took the risk, and are now reaping the rewards. Would you have been willing to bail them out if they'd gone under? If the answer is no, then you can't really claim much when it goes right.

It sounds like you were a little silly giving your ideas away so freely anyway. If they were needed in products for your workplace, then you should have bought bespoke work, with the intellectual property / content contractually protected to your company.

In fact, a really foresighted and entrepreneurial person would have seen the potential, and possibly got on board earlier. Or even looked into getting his company to buy into this other company as strategic parteners / major stake holders.

Probably not much you can do about it now, and they're unlikely to want you on board now.

Best to take it as a lesson learned, in my opinion.

[hauteur]

Oh, I'm not trying to claim anything. Honestly, there is no chance I would sue them even if I was guaranteed to win. It's not about that. I'm just wondering how others interpret the situation.

[tp6626]

Well I'd just let it go and not do it again.

They obviously saw an opportunity to cash in having developed the products, and took it. Can't blame them really.

[SShack]

Hmm. I'm going to be a little more optimistic than some others and suggest he is interested in you, not trying to "use" you. Keep in mind that this is how some types (such as my own ENTP and many other ExTx types) function and succeed. Taking bits and pieces of concepts from others and turning them into a holistic, complete vision, though in this case it sounds like they took more than a few bits and pieces. They made money by fulfilling your company's needs, based on your ideas. That these ideas are applicable to other companies is a common result of entrepreneurial innovation.

Are they perhaps concerned about the direction of the economy, despite their own growth? Or maybe, more simply, the guys is an unfocused P-type and simply isn't following through with you.

Perhaps you need to be a little more assertive and contact him yourself.

[hauteur]

The more negative (and perhaps realistic) view that I have come up with is that the product development team took credit for most of my ideas, so he might not be aware of just how much I have contributed. Most of the ideas I gave them were ones they did not seem to have thought of at all. This kind of led to the suspiciion that they could see me as a competitive threat and told him not to hire me.

On the other hand, the rep I have been working with asked if he had talked to me and, when I said no, she basically said that didn't surprise her - she implied that he wasn't very good at following up with people.

And there is one other tidbit I just thought of. During a break in the demo, she asked what I thought of the demo - knowing I hadn't seen a full scale demo since the suite had been built out. I commented on how surprised I was at how much influence I had into the feature set. You know, it's one of those things where you know you had a lot but the sheer quantity doesn't hit you until you see someone else spell it out for you.

Anyway, my collegue joked and asked her where my set of steak knives is. She said "it's coming." Wasn't sure if I should have read anything into that or not. I've been thinking of giving her a call (she and I can speak pretty candidly), but I haven't thought of a good way to present it without coming across as cocky.