What would you do (work edition)

So I had one role in our company but I was quite apt at filling other roles as I'm flexible with my skills.

COVID19 hit us hard and we had to let go of pretty much all our staff. We kept three techs on contractor terms only but we let go of our accounts lady (turns out she was useless anyway), our operations manager and our sales manager. We let go of all the techs full time and as I said, kept three as contractors.

My co-worker and I were the only two that were kept as actual staff and we've been running the company for a month and a half, with some assistance from our boss who has outsourced his skills as a consultant. We've taken over all the HR, operations, accounts, etc. rolls.

Unfortunately with this information, we've found out that there is a huge amount of debt. Literally about 100 times my salary.

In a meeting today, our boss would like my co-worker and I to start a new business, and he will hand over our entire customer base to us for 10% profit share (aware that he might not see money until next year).

It's daunting as it's a huge opportunity, but also we'd inherit all this debt and we're not ready for that kind of responsibility.

What would you guys do?

Christina- thank you. I've always enjoyed just being an employee and not risking my own money for anything so I'm a bit wary but also a bit excited at the prospect.

Briabella- thank you. I think he's just tired of being his own boss, the company has been struggling for a long time (and looking at the way the accounts have been mishandled, I can see why). I think he's just tired of worrying about money. A lot of companies in our industry have really struggled but we've managed to survive and once we get rid of the problem clients, we will have a good client base. It will probably take about a year to fully pay off all the debt, if not quicker if we manage the company right.

J- thank you. The company had not been doing well for a long time and I feel that if certain staff members had not been overpayed (like our OPs manager who was getting paid three times my salary, only worked half day and now that we have her duties see that she wasn't doing anything special), and overdue accounts not left to accumulate then we'd be in a much better position. Within one month I was able to get many long overdue accounts paid just by picking up the phone and making arrangements. Our previous accounts lady simply sent one email a month asking about the account, like that was going to do anything.

Casey- thank you. That's how I feel as well, but we also found out that he paid a fortune for the company and it's a small trade off.