Chef Marti Mongiello is a story weaver intoxicating his audiences by stage and television across the world. A mesmerizing speaker, he’s published nine books, 200+ papers, and given over 100 speeches and keynotes in Europe, Asia, and America. Featured on CBS, PBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, and FOX to almost three billion viewers is only eclipsed by articles in 160+ newspapers and magazines like the Washington Post, LA Times, Australian, The New Yorker, FOOD TV Network Magazine, The Times of London, and many more. His latest television series is Inside the Presidents’ Cabinet.
Marti is a former White House Chef, Private Investigator, Security Expert, Executive Chef, and a GM of the Camp David Resort and Conference Center working with the past five Presidents for 25 years, from H.W. Bush through Trump.
“Get a super-strong prenuptial agreement that covers everything. You will sleep well at night knowing that every eventuality is covered.”
Marti Mongiello
Marti lived in Japan when he was contacted for a business partnership by a food service-oriented company that wanted to bring foodservice training online. They thought it would be great for their business to have a former White House chef as their brand’s face.
Marti thought this would be a good idea given that he is a great presenter, business plan writer, and an excellent writer and storyteller.
Marti flew to Arizona, where the company founders floated numerous stock certificates and bylaws to him. Marti was still in the military at the time and a bit naive as to how these things work. And so he missed critical statements in the founder’s document and in the bylaws, which were registered with the Secretary of State.
Nonetheless, Marti sat with them for several days and honed the entire pitch. He went through several training sessions to perfect the pitch. They then flew to New York and presented their professional pitch to a hedge fund interested in their idea. They did a splendid job and got funded.
Soon after the funding came, Marti, got a phone call saying that the founders wanted to dilute everyone’s shares. Marti’s shares in the company would reduce from 33% to 4%. He was not thrilled about that, especially because it was not discussed with him before it was made.
Per the bylaws, the founders formed a quorum, had a special meeting, and went ahead and slashed everyone’s shares. Then they sent him a check for 40 bucks for the shares that they took from him.
Marti was not familiar with liquidation clauses or the various other clauses in the bylaws, such as unanimous voting. And because of his lack of knowledge, Marti lost everything he had worked hard for in this partnership.
Always have partnership agreements prepared before getting into a partnership. Squatters and liquidation clauses must be addressed in a partnership agreement, and so must the bylaws. Whether you are investing in the project or being part of a group that is launching a new product or service, these are just necessary provisions that have to be dealt with initially.
Before getting into a partnership, discuss the liquidation clause. How is the company allowed to be liquidated? If you disagree about this as partners, it could get messy down the road.