I got my first indication of trouble when Jule's then-girlfriend Yasmin popped around my Soho flat on the day we paid for the rental of our first server.  Jules and I had just finished a meeting. We had taken the first step toward the commercialization of Gearslutz. The pair told me of their engagement. Yasmin said "Don't take this personally Meg but we can't invite you to the wedding.  It's only going to be for our family."  This was a slight blow that was to get worse. Before they left Yasmin turned around and gushed "I'm so happy about the new business you two! Work real hard and make a lot of money because I want to have a big wedding!" 

Soon after the marriage, things changed. My bones sensed trouble so I pressed Julian to finalize our verbal agreement with a contract. He stalled and complained about the cost.

Then one day Standen appeared with a contract drafted by his wife Yasmin. The document stated that I was a contractor rather than a partner. Though I'd still get my 1/3 share I would have no ownership and hence no ongoing founders royalty.

I stared at the piece of paper he handed me. I was furious. At that point, I had already worked on GS for 2 years. 

But Jules pleaded with me to be patient. He promised he could eventually "get Yasmin to come around". Apparently, she was upset that her husband was in business with an ex-girlfriend. (However, she seemed happy to spend the money we made). It didn't help that I was a female musician either. 

As was normal in our friendship and indeed in the music business,  I was used to this sort of thing. As a female music maker in a genre dominated by men, jealous girlfriends were not uncommon.  This wasn't the first time I had to wait patiently for the girlfriend or wife to "allow" me to work with their man. As a longtime friend, I agreed to wait for Jules to get his wife to "come round" to accepting me. Besides I had already invested 2 years of my life at this point. Later down the road, Julian would go on to complain to his accountant about my "grumpiness" throughout this period.

Oddly he didn't see the connection between reneging on a business partner and their subsequent level of cheeriness.

Eventually, Standen managed to convince Yasmin to "let me" have 10% ownership. Unable to afford legal advice, I had by then already invested two years of my time in the business. So I figured that 10% was better than nothing.  So on 25 August 2004, I signed their agreement through gritted teeth.  He continued to assure me he'd eventually make things right and I'd get my rightful share. I made clear I was not happy and continued to press for the return of my full agreed-upon share.

At that point, grumpiness was perhaps the best leverage I had in the battle to claw back my rightful ownership share.