The Power of Positive Destruction

Chapter 8 Negotiation Skills: Can’t Be in Business without Them

In a start-up’s early days everyone works tirelessly, but everyone is friendly and happy. Things get rocky at two points: when things go terribly, or when things go really well. As business started taking off at Liquidnet—as revenues started to shoot up—some board members began taking more responsibility for our success. In other words, a few people started getting greedy.

Some of the board members approached me about wanting a larger piece of the pie. Specifically, my piece of the pie. Until that point, our board meetings were very constructive and cordial. As we were ramping up, the directors were patient and reassuring. But now that it was clear the company was going to be successful, they wanted a larger stake. I’m sure they felt they deserved it—and that, with some threats and bullying, I would give it to them. They were wrong. There was nothing in our agreement that entitled them to additional stock. I knew I would never go back on terms of an agreement that we had all agreed to and signed. I would never hand over my equity.

They didn’t take it very well to say the least. At one point there were threats to resign.

Retrading of deals happens all the time on Wall Street, but to me the attempt to intimidate me into relinquishing equity in the company I had built was nothing short of blackmail and extortion. If I were less confident of my position or if I had less equity in the company, I could have been forced ...