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Relationships don't all last forever, especially in business. And when a sour year costs a few thousand customers, a breakup might be best for both parties.
That's the apparent conclusion the founders of The Gathering Spot, an Atlanta-based networking club and coworking space founded in 2014, recently came to. The Gathering Spot had completed a $50 million merger with Greenwood, an investment bank co-founded in 2020 by rapper Michael "Killer Mike" Render and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Yang, back in 2022. A year and a half later, on December 14, co-founders Ryan Wilson and T'Keel "TK" Petersen announced via Instagram, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter) that they had reacquired majority ownership of the company.
Greenwood offers financial support primarily to Black and Latinx entrepreneurs and earned a Best in Business title in 2021 for pledging a $10,000 monthly grant to local businesses. The partnership represented one of the largest combined fintech and community platforms for minorities and brought "new meaning to the term 'black-on-black,'" Paul Judge, a Greenwood board member, said in a 2022 press release. But the relationship between the two companies quickly took a turn.
In February, Wilson and Peterson filed a lawsuit against Greenwood for allegedly withholding payments related to the merger, which led Greenwood to countersue in June, alleging that TGS had misinterpreted their agreement. In July, Wilson filed a second suit -- claiming that Greenwood had withheld a $5 million earn-out payment -- just days before Peterson was booted from his role as chief financial officer.
Some TGS members disapproved of the leadership change, canceling memberships, voicing concerns on social media, and questioning why a Black founder was seemingly replaced by a white man (the company later disputed claims that Petersen had been replaced with a white executive). The upset continued for days -- one post on X dubbed the network "The Gentrified Spot" -- until both companies publicly announced that their business quarrels were settled.
Many other customers -- more than 3,000, Petersen has said -- canceled their memberships between July and September due to the court battles. Younger TGS members pay $100 per month, or $1,000 per year, and those over 30 pay twice that.
Still, Wilson told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that TGS's split with Greenwood was amicable and "not related" to this year's legal battles. Greenwood will remain a shareholder of the company, and its CEO Ryan Glover will continue as a TGS board observer.
Despite the tumult this year, the TGS founders are optimistic about 2024. In a town hall meeting on Monday, they announced an A.I.-driven app to be released in Q1 as well as plans for a new physical club. The founders also said they plan to raise venture capital in 2024, but will allow members to invest in that raise as well.
"We're hungrier than we've ever been," Petersen told the AJC. "We look forward to proving the community right in saying that we were the right stewards for this."
A refreshed look at leadership from the desk of CEO and chief content officer Stephanie Mehta
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The Gathering Spot Splits From Greenwood After Months-Long Legal Battle
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21.12.2023
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Relationships don't all last forever, especially in business. And when a sour year costs a few thousand customers, a breakup might be best for both parties.
That's the apparent conclusion the founders of The Gathering Spot, an Atlanta-based........
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