Tony Williamson, CEO of mobile payment business Paypongo, said he just couldn't bring himself to sign local tech accelerator Project Skyway's contract last week.
His lawyer was out of the country and the amount of equity Project Skyway would get out of the company was concerning, Williamson said.
"We just had to withdraw," Williamson said. "Going into the deal, I got quite a bit of money already into this. For the equity they were asking, and the amount of value they were going to get, the numbers just didn't add up right."
Paypongo and Qualtrx, a social network that connects health care providers to their vendors were two of the eight selected companies to drop out of Project Skyway right before it launched this week. Project Skyway, a tech accelerator, aims to bring promising tech firms to the next level through mentorship and investment opportunities.
Williamson and chief technology officer Franklin Peña have already invested $150,000 into Paypongo in the last six months. Under Project Skyway's contract, Paypongo would give up 9 percent in founders shares during the course of the three-month program. Those founders shares would be owned by Augusoft, a tech firm run by Cem Erdem, Project Skyway's founder. In return, Project Skyway gives $6,000 per founder, space and additional services.
Williamson said Paypongo already has space and was looking for more financial support from Project Skyway. Paypongo is trying to raise $125,000 to hire an Internet security specialist, business analyst and developers. If Paypongo had gone through with Project Skyway, it would have received $12,000.
"I was willing to give up more equity for more money," Williamson said. "I probably should have read more deeper into it."
Williamson said he blames himself for not reading the terms of Project Skyway closely enough and ultimately dropping out of the program.