Owner is letting a valuable small business go to waste... anything can be done? -

I know someone who works for a small tech company that has developed a very valuable technology. The company has a patent and at least a 2 year lead on any possible competition, with a huge potential market. I d say its worth $10-15 million if it were to be bought by a large company or competitor and exploited to its full potential. They only have a few employees and maybe $1 mil annual gross profit and almost no liquid assets.The problem is that the owner is old, set in his ways and not very tech savvy. He is letting the technology go to waste by poor marketing, an outdated business model, rudely dismissing away any potential allies or partners, etc. His ambition seems to be to suck the company dry of what little value it currently holds without any ambition to capitalize on its huge potential.The young employees are full of energy and highly skilled in a very specialized field, and they are convinced that they could do much better given the chance, but even if they pool all their resources, they don t have the capital needed to buy the owner out.What, if anything, can be done?

Go to an Angel investor for the rest of the money that s needed to buy out the owner.Or, try and borrow what ever you need using the combined collateral of everyone who is interested.

Hostile takeover? Venture capalist? Force him out?