24 April 2024

Capitalisation, Depreciation, Tax reduction…

Dump

You want a position of power and you want us to be autonomous and empowered but you don't allow us to make the decisions…

1. You give us roles (and I understand why) and you want us to live these
2. I feel like you are making these decisions at the end of the day
3. It is difficult for me to step into the CEO decisions

Spot on when it comes to: this is the end goal and it is a journey… we want a process in place for how we want to manage this going forward. We won't be able to learn and grow if you keep protecting us from failure … it is the scarcity that I think is what prevents us from growing. You should let it go for such minor things, yeah..?

Product capitalisation

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mKHxnQ-DakHW3eTNX3wp0XXl-3C3rnrgVMlxjOPtMl0/edit#gid=0

Middle East Strategy

In general, I agree with the idea.

We want to be more generic so that we can use it for other people in the future. Generally speaking, I agree with MOEI, eg that's a lead coming from her personal network.

1. What is the effort involved and how do we define it Sales incentives are based on what effort is involved. How do we define clearly the effort that should be rewarded? Given the rest of the bizdev team will be leading in comms, are the suggested % for the whole team and if so, what would be the split?

• Eg, Rufus and Anu as tech leads
• Monika as Client relationship manager
• Sales deck by a designer.. etc.

2. Setting up an entity there - approx cost and effort involved? Do we need someone present there?

Requests:

• Daniela: I would request conditions to be clearly stated. Eg. the lead came from Maiada's personal network. There was a sales call scheduled with the sales team.
• Anuar: Maiada to OWN the lead. Take ownership. Maiada to follow up with us for eg. deck if that's needed.
  • Maiada worried that she is only at 2.5d and may miss an email.

Maiada:

Points to put across:

We've been reflecting with the LLs and I've talked to Rufus and Anu to maximise your time and value added…

1. Acknowledge Maiada: for team spirit, and for being tough but nice. For always questioning financial decisions made by Anastasia and ensuring that everything is under control. For giving advise. etc.
2. Thank you for putting across the Middle East Strategy.
3. The sales incentives are a good idea and in fact, I suggest we move you to a 0-hour commission-based contract. More like an external consultant which in some way is already what you are doing. You can also put a limit or we can define boundaries to the hours if you will be more comfortable this way.
   1. Why:
   2. In terms of value provided, you are super strong in two areas:
      1. High-level financial matters/ high level strategic oversight
      2. Middle East Sales.
   3. However, when it comes to the first, you are often pulled into lower-level stuff that isn't working very well 1) you're not enjoying this 2) Datopian doesn't benefit from this either
   4. If you go to a 0-hour contract, we let your team know that if they need you to do something, they have to formally request it, then they will be careful what they are asking you to do or look at. And we should be strict about it, eg: you should review the quarterly plan&results, review the balance sheet; we may want to have you as the final reviewer on such key docs. But eg. you won't need to join the bi-weekly huddle,
      1. This will be better for us because you will be coming in where you're strong and providing most value
      2. You will feel much better with the value you're providing
      3. The team will have more clarify as to your role and involvement
   5. When it comes to the latter, Middle East Sales, this is a standard model in the sales. Commission-based roles. And given your network there and the partners etc. I feel this is something that you should focus on doing and you will have the time for it now that you will be less involved in the lower level stuff. And you will have more time for your own business, and you will be in your strong suits while spending the rest of your time with Datopian.

Our aim is to significantly reduce that // eg. to 2-3 days a month and we pay you a commission if you close deals in the Middle East // typical for commission based roles is to have lower base rate

What we are proposing is that you really focus on these. Concretely, we think we can concentrate the high level finance around 1.5 We pay you 1000 EUR a month and in return, you spend 1.5d Occasionally checking on the finance 1.5 days a month if it's 3k

2k a month we don't want to waste your time with lower level stuff

What is worth your time and what do you think the results of this will be?

7k 85 what is the result that you will propose out of that

or i want to get paid 35k but this will be the result; having some sense of that

Then you come back to us or to Rufus and say what you are proposing

Not guaranteeing this but that's what we're going for in the Middle East

% eqiuty

Listen, I want this base rate and this commission for THIS work. Come back and have a reflection. I understand adjusting. Have a think about what works for you. I know it takes time, but we also take the risk with you. We invest all this stuff with you and your perfume business is taking off and our network is gone. BUM

5m in UAE in 5 years from now; that's my roadmap for the middle east and I will be the boss in this area … you need to invest to get back. It depends on how much you're willing to do; high-powered incentives - traders; lower base but high payoff if it goes well… cashflow constraints; given who we are and our current 85k base and a commission we can't do // lower base and agressive commission // I've got this pretty good tech company, i will find 0.5 million work over the next year.. and it's pipeline.. or next year there will be stuff; we already spent quite a lot of time on this over the past 18m so it's not like we don't want to invest;

you can build a business in the Middle East // co-founder to that if she likes

How much does it costs? Not much; Let's go and do that ASAP

clear proposition of what we are doing together

Exclusivity

Notes from Osahon:

• get her on a 0-hour contract (note she would want to increase her hourly rate, which i think is ok in this case).

• her responsibilities: review the monthly plan&results, review quarterly plan&results, supervise/guide on budget planning and half-year replanning; review Datopian balance sheet and other CFO responsibilities (attending LLs bi-weekly meetings is no longer required, unless in the case of reviewing the monthly reports); to serve as CEO in situations where required e.g. meeting with OKF to handle details on share sales; meeting with her sales network on behalf of Datopian etc, this would also require a regular review of her emails on a schedule basis e.g. 1-2x a week up to her; serving as rainmaker in the middle east i.e. the middle east strategy. i propose we also increase the commissions she provided, since she is now on 0-hour.

homework we need to do prior to the discussion:

• when does her current contract expire? are there any legal clauses preventing us from having an amended contract (i.e. the 0-hour contract)?
• ensure the new contract has clauses that prevent her from providing similar services or holding similar positions in companies within the same or adjacent business sectors.
• in the case of contract termination: non-compete in all her service areas, positions held, client list etc for 18/24months . All data gathered during her work with/for Datopian is confidential and must never be shared with 3rd party.

Notes from sync on 16 Feb

Commission-based // connection-based area. Exclusive contract. Non-compete agreement for 12 months. You don't want her to sell her connections to Linkdigital.

Maiada is a bit of the shark and she has some business maturity. She will negotiate relatively well on the other end.

Grow up. You're the senior manager here. Get tough.

She probably thinks she is giving her value. She should focus on her perfume business. I would agree we should have this conversation soon.

Exclusive agreement with you that you get this commission. On demand you give us advise on a daily or hourly hours and you move to 0 hours.

Sales - commission. This is a normal model. Lower base rate and a commission.

That may or may not be the way we want to go at Datopian. We don't want to phrase it as a bonus. We want to do it in a clear way. It's not just because of one team or another.

For Maiada, it makes sense. She does have some contacts. And that's valuable to us.

We know you're focusing on your perfume business. You're doing great here.

In terms of sequencing:

1. First let's have a conversation with Maiada
2. If she is ok, we don't even need to hire.
   1. Or do you want to hire a pm and instead, free up our hands? PM with more accounting/finance skills and develop them. It's better to seek talent and capacity than to seek immediate skills. Someone who's smart and interested can do and learn a lot of stuff. It's not so complicated our accounting. Someone who has an eye for detail.
      1. We don't need a CFO - we are not big enough and we don't have this complici
   2. If Maiada turns around, we need to find an immediate solution.

Commission / bonus. Recognising high performers and acknowledging them is always a good practice.

I would let people reflect on that.

I and Rufus can talk to Maiada. There's been some reflection. At the end, we can talk about her loan.

I will lead the conversation with Maiada. About the loan question and the commission. Rufus said he is available.