Quoted from Oldgoat:This. Successful business people know that the number one issue is under-capitalization. They would have modeled best, most-likely and worst case scenarios and given all the issues, gone with worst case. They would have applied the rule of startups...figure how much $ you need, add 10%, then double it. They would have looked at purchase options...from buying the business outright to only procuring certain assets. They would have known the importance of developing a comprehensive plan, including a communication plan.
Good on them for putting any $ into something that was clearly a dumpster fire and good on them for making some people whole but one can't help but wonder about their business acumen.
I don't really buy that there was *ANY* business case for taking over. Certainly not one that could see the company break even or see any return on investment in a reasonable time frame. I'm sure they probably thought there may have been a tenuous case beforehand (enough to spur them to try to rescue everyone), but now ...? I think they had hoped to break even this year, when they took over, but that seems impossible.
I suspect the reason they have spoken, or others on their behalf have spoken, about Barry being on board and actively working on game #3 for a TPF revelation is that they've realised they need a new game with a clean slate, sooner rather than later, to have any chance of stemming the losses or moving on from the Andrew era, and the business becoming viable.
Note that this time frame squares exactly with when they now hope to have filled all outstanding orders / refund requests.
They likely hope to be back to square one vis a vis liabilities at the exact time they're unveiling game #3 ... or game #1, depending on which way you look at it.
You could call them naive, or question their acumen, but I'm sure they always knew there was a chance they were wrong, and things could be a lot worse than they imagined. It's a good thing they were willing to take that risk, because no-one else was going to, and everyone involved would have been up the proverbial creek without a paddle.