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I have a dilemma. Not one of your "boo-hoo a girl I fancy doesn't seem to notice me" type gayboy dilemmas, but a real one. Here goes... a couple of months ago, a mate of mine realised that his business was really in the shit. He needed to generate some new business quick or he was going under. He approached me and asked me to do some business development for him (ie. the toughest part of any business - win more clients). We shook hands on an agreement and I set to work. In a very short space of time, I have generated enough new clients for him to be able to keep his head above water and buy him some vital time to turn his business around. Two days ago, he says that he has had a chat with his accountant, and whilst he is grateful that I have effectively saved his sorry arse, he reckons that from now on he can do it himself and in any event right now he can't afford to pay me, which he had assured me before that he could. Needless to say, whilst I appreciate his position, I feel he has somewhat abused our friendship and left me in a bit of a pickle, as I have not only lost what I thought he was going to pay me, but I have foregone other revenue streams I was working on to help him out. My dilemma is thus... I have realised that he has an excellent and almost unique business model which, if applied correctly, is a potential license to print money. I have also been approached by a potential backer that would turn this round very quickly. In the meantime, my mate has realised that I have the necessary skills to make his business model deliver serious amounts of money, and has now agreed to pay me, and asked me to continue to work with him so we can both get filthy rich. Do I: a. Tell him I appreciate he was in a tough spot, has his own arse to cover and wife and kids to consider, and so will work with him on his business plan for a decent cut. b. Fuck him off, set the whole thing up on my own and keep all the wedge for me. Whilst my mate has had an idea that I would never have thought of without him, when the chips were down, he was prepared to leave me high and dry. That said, if I take the idea, I will also take the clients as it is a very niche market, and there is a good chance my gain will see him go under - and with a wife and kids, and him being a mate, I'd feel a pang of what you humans call guilt. Do I... a. forgive his moment of panic, remember he is a mate after all, and help us both make some decent money out of his idea. b. fuck him off and make myself rich off the back of his idea. Big decision for me, so of course, I leave it for the GF to decide by way of a poll.

Here's the scenario; I'm working on a project at work where we want to influence the behaviour of a group of people, but to contact them all would be too expensive. We think that the people are linked in a loose way and that word of mouth will soon mean that everyone would be aware of our product. So, is there a fancy marketing type formula that says something like; If you contact x% of the group, after y days 100% of the group will be aware? Many thanks in advance Rico