u/heymomo7

I know this has been covered before in here, but the last thread is about six months old, so I figured there should be new information in the space.

My company sells peptides and nutraceuticals. We already knew Stripe, Paypal, Square, and all the other usual suspects would be out. But I'm also striking out with others like Durango, PayKing, NMI, Allaypay, and the like.

I'm at my wit's end. We were supposed to launch last week, and I'm the main software developer. At this point I've run up against the wall with about 12 different possibilities who all say they won't support peptides at the 11th hour.

We're super compliant on the legal end and have an in-house counsel reviewing every single word. We've covered all the necessary discussions around research only use language. We just can't find anyone willing to give us a start. I've worked a long time in the banking/fintech/MTL space and so I know about the different tiers of banks and high-risk vendors, and I wouldn't have thought this would be that ponderous. I'm just hoping someone out there has had a good experience with a processor we can also leverage.

Until last week I was the CTO of a small startup in a little fintech (financial technology) niche. Had a CEO/owner that was a nightmare, mean and yelling constantly, nothing was good enough. I handled him very flatly when he flared up because I give very few fucks in general, and when he started in on me or my team, I just said with no emotion, “that’s not true, here’s x y and z you’re already aware of proving I’m right.” Shut him up every time.

This is the second time I’ve held the job, so I know it well. I took a disorganized team and got the platform they were selling ahead of time launched in 2 months, then a more ready for public version 2 months after that. He calls me up in a fit ranting about money spent (everyone was chronically underpaid and overworked, including me), and how his sales and adoption numbers were terrible. I tell him I’ve saved his company from implosion, and if he actually thinks he can do better, go ahead.

I wake up the next day to nearly all my team laid off immediately. Me and my nephew (I referred him when his company went bankrupt) were left to wind up things in the next 2 weeks. He doesn’t pay anyone. Find out one minority partner in the biz is furious with him after this stunt and CEO owes this guy 35K. CEO insists we represent things to the clients like biz is normal despite half the company getting axed. I demand my final pay in advance since the rest of the team was stiffed. He tells me via email they can’t afford it. I push back and set a deadline for the upcoming Monday, which he misses.

I sent one follow up email and three texts over the course of a week demanding payment for me and the team he stiffed. Crickets. My last one must have spooked him though, as he ended up having me shut out of all software.

I’ve considered reporting him to the labor board, but that’s going to take time. However, one of the selling points of the company is that he’s on a board that sets financial regulations and thus knows the approval system for financial compliance. I reported his actions to the board, and two of my former employees joined in. You want to screw everyone you work with? I’ll make sure your reputation tanks.

At this point, I don’t know what else to do. A lot of the employees are outside the US, so I’m sure he’ll just skate by with no enforcement there. But if anyone has another idea I should follow, I’m listening.