It saddens me to see a company that had such great promise slowly die away due to the failure of its leadership to have the proper vision and focus.  Pubsub is such a company that had great promise and was on track to become a major player in the industry.

It seems from at least Bob Wyman’s point of view that the business is on it’s last leg and the bugler is warming up to play taps.

“Our days are numbered. A recent attempt to execute a merger has been blocked and we’ve been blocked from raising equity financing that would allow us to continue to pay salaries and pay off our $3 million in debt. Thus, our “doors” will close soon if we can’t find someone to pull us out of the current situation. Persons with fast access to cash and a desire for some of the industry’s best technology are advised to contact us rapidly…”

Bob I wish for your success, but the debt I’m already trying to pay off has me a little low on cash flow at the moment.

I’m not sure where the strife begins in this sad tale but according to Bob:

“I believe firmly that the cause of our difficulties is not the team we have built nor is it the technology we’ve developed. Both are great. What has prevented us moving forward is a battle with a group of minority shareholders, some of whom claim to be lead by our ex-CEO Salim Ismail and are, in any case, primarily his “friends and family.” This group is using very unusual clauses in our Shareholder’s agreements to block mergers or financings. We’ve found it difficult to determine their motives, however, some have said that they believe that it is in their interest to drive the company into bankruptcy so that they can buy our software and start a new company. Of course, I believe that by the time we go through bankruptcy proceedings, we won’t have any employees and frankly, a software company without the employees that developed its software is worthless. Our assets will have a much higher value if we have the employees available, thus, the best course at this time is to sell our assets, trademarks, etc. to cover the outstanding debt and make our employees available to the purchaser.”

For a company to thrive and be successful, their leaders must make hard decisions and be on the same page or else you get a political nightmare that can cause the ultimate demise of something special.  I applaud Bob for his openess in posting his thoughts on his blog, and I also wish the company well through what must be horrible stress.  Good luck!

UPDATE:  I just ran across Michael Arrington’s post about the Wyman blog post.  It seems he too feels that this is a sad waste.