There was a lot of crazy weirdness going on with Jeff, but I'm giving him the benefit of a doubt that it was mostly editing. I doubt he was competent for the job he was doing, but I also doubt he was as bad as we saw. He was clearly the "villain" character in this episode.
- Everyone ganging up on him one after the other, and the biggest "proof" they can bring is he asked an employee to sweep behind a coffee grinder. Which, by the way, probably gets really dirty.
- Marcus told him that if he notices something is dirty and needs cleaned/swept he should... completely ignore the problem.
- Jeff's stuttering at the sales pitch was almost as bad as Christina Tosi's choking on pepper during the last MasterChef episode. (Read: made for television)
- Jeff saying something, Marcus pointing out that he said it not 30 seconds before, and Jeff denying it or not realizing what he said... that's something I've seen happen frequently when two people are fighting. I think that's an emotional thing rather than symptomatic of a bigger problem.
That said, the people you need around you when you're just starting out as a business are rarely the same people you need around you when you're generating $6mm+. It was definitely time for him to go or move into a different role.
1 hour ago, Amarsir said:
There's clearly something wrong there. A couple times I almost wanted to defend him: I don't think a salesman necessarily has to have the inventory value memorized, nor is it bad that he was walking through the building and saw something that needed cleaning. But the way he put his foot in his mouth over and over. I wondered if it was Pathological Liar Disorder or something related.
BTW the sales call - which I agree was terrible - was rejected very weirdly. "I can't make my mind up because you didn't tell me any of your history." Who says that on a buying decision? I'm not saying it doesn't matter, but it's a fairly subconscious thing.
I think he said this because the sales pitch was not just any sales pitch, but a Marcus Lemonis, "hey, I'm going to bring in this company I'm working with to test out one of the guy's sales pitch abilities" sales pitches. In other words, he was asked to evaluate the pitch itself rather than just giving a polite yes/no answer. (I also wouldn't be surprised if he was coached beforehand to listen for the company's story, but that's venturing pretty far into speculative territory.)
Maybe I misunderstand all the nuance of ownership in a company like this, but I wish Marcus went more into the details of his offer. Why would the other investors willingly let their equity be diluted so much more than Steve's? Does Steve have the ability to make that decision, or were there off-screen negotiations we weren't privy to?
Their percentage dropped from 49% to 20%, while Steve's went from 51% to 40%. But they're not getting anything more out of Marcus investment. The cash all went into the business for inventory, so there's no payout. Yes, the business is technically worth $1.75mm more (plus whatever value you place on Marcus involvement), but they don't see any of that cash or benefit from it any more than Steve does.
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