Shannon and I were going to jump on and do a work session. Steve was on the meeting. He and I ended up chatting for the whole time. After the meeting, Shannon and I went over some of the topics. I didn't take notes during the actual meeting. Most of these are from Shannon and I talking after the main meeting. Here are some of my notes.

- Steve was saying that he is planning on shutting down adilas or at least start tightening things down. He only wants to work on ROI type projects (return on investment). We tend to get pulled in many directions and don't always get paid by people who we do things for.

- Shannon was listening and showing compassion - I thought that was awesome. I was trying to follow her lead on both the listening and showing compassion. Steve is feeling pretty alone and beat-up by clients, outside parties, and even from internal sources. Software development is and can be a tough gig.

- Only funded products and projects. We have to make a switch.

- There is gold (tons of potential) but we have to remove the overburden (what is covering the gold)

- Cash flow and paying bills - even non people bills - like servers and other tech stuff and loan repayments. Steve hates debt with good reason. Back before the 2008/09 economic crash, they were quite extended for an automotive dealership floorplan. The debt became a crushing reality after sales dropped by well over half. This was back in the Morning Star days.

- Reoccurring monthly fees or revenue is the main thing that investors are looking for. We have some one-off stuff (custom code), and they don't count storage or other reoccurring fees. Especially if they go away or may go away (decreasing) - Investors are looking for monthly reoccurring revenue.

- We took some time and went over some history. We have been doing this for years and we really have been trying to do our best. It's been super tough.

- Repeat patterns - we have seen certain things over and over again. It has to be a different approach forward.

- We talked about options to scale back and then build up

- There is value in what we are doing (but we need to stop)

- The home base (golden goose) is going down... what do we need to do to save that? Steve was saying, it (adilas) is in the ER (emergency room), on life support, how do we tend to that?

- No fun to do what he did (Steve - talking to us and bringing us the bad news)

- Having skin in the game (who is invested)

- Steve said, the gun is pointed in my direction, meaning if things go south, he is the primary percentage holder.

- Staying up late, losing sleep, working weekends, etc. It has been crazy!

- SBA loans and other debt... crushing - long term - we are in a hole

- He really wants things to switch to hourly work and monitoring how much is being paid and who is doing what.

- Supporting each other

- Looking for a future vs saving what is there right now (saving the patient)

- Both Steve and I have had to chat with each other over the years - talking each other off the cliff (wanting to bail out)

- Tons of pressure for paying non-negotiable bills - everything is on auto withdrawal.

- He already went through this... meaning shutting down a company. It hurts.

- Shannon and I were talking about roots and branches and how those need to be graphed in at times to help save the whole.

- I was saying or telling Steve that I make decisions based more on gut feelings, promptings, and impressions vs straight logic. That's who I am.

- We talked about being led - spiritual stuff - getting divine help and trying to listen to what the spirt is saying.

- We want to mix things up. Talking about existing pieces vs following what feels right.

- Fundamentally different ways of looking at the situation (logic vs feelings)

- Compromise and bending but still pushing forward - mixing things together.

All in all, a good but hard meeting. I really want to keep pushing forward, even when pure logic says no. I do feel driven to help, let's see what happens. After Steve left, Shannon and I chatted and will try to mix and blend the different pieces where we can. We have to keep pushing.