The recent failing in Brazil of a major corporation, in which Bankruptcy Protection has been requested, is an ever-present reminder of the Foibles of Man.
Seed
It seems that those who rise to the top of business hierarchies in many countries are gifted with huge egos. Properly balanced, this my be good. All too often though the reverse is true: They believe their own publicity. If they are surrounded, as they usually are, by Sycophants, they will be in deep trouble. The advisors who they entrust, learn quickly to tell them what the Nabobs want to hear [rather than what they should hear]. In listening to them, years of effort and monies, are wasted when the corporation fails.
One hearing about these “Masters of the Universe” [MUs], before their failings become public knowledge, seldom critically examines the gestation of the founding business. They keep ABSOLUTELY SECRET their founding financial sources.
Seed
A corporation is founded upon an initial idea and then is morphed into a business model. All too often it seems the ‘Founder[s]’ of the corporation did not ab ibnitio create the idea. Instead, they quietly ‘borrowed’ the mental construction from another party. Since they were developing the idea into a business model, absolute secrecy from the actual creator is maintained vigorously. Or, through dissimulation, they let the other party in on the idea’s evolution [but represent it as having been their same idea long ago]. Lawsuits by claimants against “Founders” can ruin the business.
Seed
A misrepresentation game often played by MUs is to misrepresent the source[s] of initial funding ‘seed money’. Currently in the Information Technology [IT] Arena, one can readily infer that many “Start Up Companies” have been secretly funded by intelligence agencies or other governmental bodies. If the founder’s IT Capital requirements are too large, who better go to than “Big Brother”. “He” has the capital and will keep the secrecy of the funding since it is in his espionage interest. If information about this is released to the public, decline or failure in business is probable.
Seed
Due to the expansive reach of Organized Crime [OC], the need to “Launder” their money is an on-going problem of gigantic proportions. More established Criminal Cartels have a plethora of Attorneys, Accountants, Economists, and others to advise them on where to invest their ill-gotten gains. Often, an area such as “Silicon Valley” in California is ripe for exploitation by OC interests. A naïve creator of ‘Software’ or even ‘Hardware’ used in IT can be mesmerized by the quick offer of Capital for his invention. Since he or she is not appraised of the true source of the funds [and never asks] an investment occurs by OC in the venture. As a Cancer works inside a body, the business gets “milked” of its subsequent assets [from follow-on investors], and fails.
Seed
If one looks at the ownership interest by the Founder in any public corporation and sees that it has been diluted from “100% Ownership” to a mere pittance of that amount, then caution is advised. The founder may have taken the early road to riches and quickly sold off his or her ownership to others. Perhaps the influence of “ECC 10:19” overwhelmed his judgement. In any event, he can be easily ousted by the other shareholders. His early contributions are of no concern to those who want his corporation for themselves. This is a world-wide occurrence one can read about in the financial pages.
The Bottom-Line of this brief discussion about “Seeds Sown” is : “Trust, But Verify”.
