The worst part was that I seemed to have lost the faith of my investors

The Background

A friend of mine who wants to remain anonymous owns a company that experienced a major shake-up while he was in London. Along came a nisayon, followed by a fascinating outcome.

The Turning Point

MY friend’s story:

Seven years ago, I put all my efforts and energies into building a medical media company that leveraged technology in a way no one else was doing. It was not for the faint of heart, because I had to get out there and raise money. I built a network that grew to the point where it was bringing in tens of thousands and then hundreds of thousands of dollars. With significant capital in hand, I was able to cover development costs to get my product out to market.

Within a few years we had grown beyond my initial expectations and seemed poised for even greater success. Life is fluid, though, and while there were times I wasn’t sure whether we were headed in the right direction or not, investors continued lining up. My goal was to get us to the point where we could take the company public.

But then one day, it just stopped working — it looked like everything was about to fall apart. The worst part was that I seemed to have lost the faith of my investors. Suddenly the people who had been so keen to support my vision were filled with anxiety at the idea that they were pouring money into something bad, and they lost their enthusiasm.

I was staying at my parents’ house in London as I dealt with the crises. I was reading through investors’ emails, one worse than the next, when I heard the ping of another email landing in my inbox.

I was scared, but I had no choice — I had to look. I clicked on the icon, and the email came up. It was from my main investor, and this was the basic gist:

Dear Daniel,

I am not sure how to tell you this after everything we’ve been through together. You know that I’ve been a big believer of yours more or less from the beginning. Now, however, it seems like we have lost our way, and as much as it hurts me to say this — it doesn’t look like the company will be able to overcome all the challenges facing us. That is why I am not sure if I will be able to continue investing in our product.

I will let you know my final decision in the next few days.

Sincerely yours,

Brian

My face was flushed, and I could feel a pounding in my chest. This was it. My dream was evaporating before my eyes.

I was still sitting there, stunned, when the doorbell rang. I rose as if in a trance to answer the door.

I found myself face to face with a meshulach. A big part of me wanted nothing more than to tell the man I simply could not help him at that moment. But another part protested that it was wrong to turn him away just because I was dealing with a financial challenge.

“Come in,” I said, and the man entered.

I directed him to the living room and took a seat across from him.

“Can I get you a drink?” I offered.

“A cup of water would be nice.”

I brought him a glass of water. He made a brachah and took a sip.

I asked him to tell me about his cause. As he did, I felt myself relating to what he was saying. Although I had thought I would not be able to converse with such a cloud hanging over my head, the longer we spoke, the more I was able to put my financial problems on the back burner and focus on what he was saying.

We ended up speaking for about 20 minutes, and I gave him a donation. At the door he thanked me for treating him so nicely. Then we shook hands and he left.

I immediately returned to the computer to see what other disasters had occurred during the time I had spent with the tzedakah collector. I found an accumulation of emails, but none seemed important. Soon — ping!  — an incoming email, this one from a different investor.

With trepidation, I opened it.

Dear Daniel,

I just wanted to let you know that I am not giving up on you or the company. In fact, I believe in everything you are doing to such a degree that I want to put another $200,000 into the company.

I will transfer the money later today.

Nick

That moment was a turning point, and since then, our fortunes recovered so much that we recently sold a stake in our firm to one of the biggest media outlets in the world in a multimillion-dollar deal.

It seems to me that our success was traceable to that moment when my entire world appeared to be crashing down on me, but I was somehow able to put it all aside and treat a meshulach properly. One thing I can tell you: When it comes to giving tzedakah, Hashem tells us aser te’aser, which means, according to the Chofetz Chaim, to give maaser in order to become rich and so that you don’t become poor.

Which is why I’m pretty sure my theory makes sense.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1030)