I don't know a thing about AFFL....but I do have an opinion after reading this thread and what I have seen on the AFFL message boards as well.Neil, let me get this straight....you are staking everything on the possibility of someone paying you in excess of $850,000 for some sort of cutting edge commissioner technology? I'm not questioning the potential value of such a product, however I am questioning the depth of the potential investor pool. Clearly AFFL runs at a loss. I don't think that point can be argued and you have confirmed that fact. So any interest from any potential investor is going to come from someone that doesn't want to invest money in developing their own commissioner software. They cannot be depending on any sort of meaningful subscription retention for a site that is already running in the red. Your name has been forever tainted for all and forever ruined for some at this point (like it or not it has) so there is little to no value in the name AFFL.Why you ever would have co-mingled contest prize funds with working capital is beyond comprehension. You knew prior to the start of the season that you would not be able to pay out the promised prize money based on your paid participation. The mid season contest is simply inexcusable- you knew weeks before that you were going to be unable to pay out the contest money at the end of the season without a cash infusion. I don't know you at all Neil and I do believe you at one time probably ran a good site that people enjoyed. But what you have done this year is dishonest and you are asking people to trust you while not stating the true facts- you have known since September that you were not going to be able to pay the prize money for this year unless you were able to find a buyer/investor for your software product. Joe.....I don't expect you to answer this question- but is your defense of Neil in any way related to your potential interest in his software product? No disrespect intended, just curious.
Guys, First of all, can we put this notion to bed that Joe "continues to" defend AFFL and Neil? I (Wood, not Joe) put the first comments out that, given the severity of the claims, we needed to tread carefully and get confirmation of the details from both sides before this thread took on a life of its own. Shortly thereafter Joe agreed and said as much. That's IT.Since then I think all parties have handled themselves well and, frankly, that's why we've kept open the thread. Were this simply a thread for people to complain, as most of you know we would've closed it down long ago. But it's the very nature of the SEVERITY of the situation and it's potential impact on the broader fantasy football world that warrants it staying open.Second, Joe's "defense" of Neil (not that I can see how you can call it that) has nothing to do with any kind of financial interest (present or future) in Neil's business or in procurement of any software. We have been consistent in our belief that league management, hosting and high stakes contests are not in our wheelhouse; and learned a valuable lesson through the FFTOC situation a few years ago. While league management, hosting and high stakes leagues have a place at the table broadly speaking, we're comfortable letting other people handle those avenues because the risk/return potential just doesn't fit into what we're trying to accomplish. Third. As this story unfolds, it's impossible not to come to some personal conclusions about the likelihood of the AFFL righting itself and/or whether they'll be able to secure outside financing. As many of you may know, I'm a portfolio manager and in addition to investing directly in a number of venture capital firms, have a great many friends on the venture and buyout sides of the business. Banger (and others) bring up very realistic concerns and comments; and were I involved in this personally as someone owed money; I would take all the comments in this thread under serious consideration.Fourth. Although I don't proclaim to know what kind of software Neil and his company have developed, I DO know quite a bit about software valuation. While I may have STRONG feelings about whether Neil's particular expectations for the value of his code are reasonable, I see no point in declaring them here because a) I'm not investing in it, b) his opinions won't matter soon enough. Either he'll convince someone to provide him the financing or he won't. And there will be repercussions to deal with.I think we can continue to have this thread open as it seems there are plenty of people on our forums involved in some way. That said, I would ask that any criticisms of Neil or AFFL not be unfairly twisted into some unfounded declaration that we're "defending" his actions, past or present. The easiest thing for us to do would've been to delete the thread and say that this isn't something we feel should be discussed on our boards; but we haven't yet because, again, people have generally been civil and reasonable on both sides so far.Wood
We aren't children. Of course you didn't mean to.
We aren't children. Of course you didn't mean to.
I'm taken back by some of his posts that tries to legitimize his actions. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm also not stupid. It looks like a scam to me. Now he's back peddling and trying pass this off as an honest business venture, when in reality it was a scam from the beginning. Maybe now he should invest in plenty of Vasoline.
Yet another bad decision that, if someone were to believe you were being dishonest, could easily be misconstrued as a dishonest gesture to trick an investor into bailing you out without knowing the true extent of the situation.
to post it.
Yet another bad decision that, if someone were to believe you were being dishonest, could easily be misconstrued as a dishonest gesture to trick an investor into bailing you out without knowing the true extent of the situation.
) have any financial interest in the AFFL or Neil (I don't even know his last name) past, present or future.Clear enough?
