Part 7 - New Ideas, New Risks
Chapter 12 - A Possible New Direction
I looked back on that Vermont day in the following weeks as the high point of building my relationship with the women. The bonds that were forged seemed incredibly strong as we worked together to make the company a reality. There were ups and downs. Emily got into Amelia Jenkins College, an obscure but intellectually strong institution that rebuilt Emily's mind and perspective on the world. Sheldon and Carol did not come to work for Clinton Enterprises. A case of conflicting goals and passions.
But another development, incubated again by Professor Liu, fundamentally changed the trajectory of the company. It was the Saturday morning after the dinner with Sheldon and Carol. Anna and I were burrowed into the center of the bed in Cambridge, trying for more sleep. Various naked female bodies were not leaving us alone. In fact, they were trying to be loving but persistent. Coffee was offered, but we would have to sit up and act alive. We put pillows over our heads. The sheet was pulled back and the bottoms of our feet tickled. Finally, I sat up against the headboard and pulled Anna to me, my hands clasped around her front.
Beth and the wild ones were standing in the doorway, coffee in hand, giving us condescending glances. They had on the flimsiest possible underwear and looked adorable. I whispered to Anna, "If I didn't have the hottest woman in Boston in my arms, I would be after those three."
She whispered back, "We can't just rush them, there would be coffee all over everything."
I said piteously, croaking, "We need TLC. We had a lot of wine and in the end got turned down. Nicely, of course. They are too driven for us. Want more control over their careers than we can offer. Sigh."
Quickly one of our famous piles occurred, with acres of soft skin, kissing lips, exploring fingers and small noises. Beth and Anna watched as I was accosted by the two young shedevils. They sucked and nibbled on my most prominent male part, but couldn't get it into active mode. I pulled heads to me and kissed.
"Give me some coffee and tell me what is going on with the Finance Department."
Emily said, "First we have to talk to Emma. Look." A newly hung large monitor on the wall came alive with a ringing noise and quickly an image of Emma appeared. In the corner of the monitor, we could see that the view of us was mostly the pert behinds of the wild ones lounging on top of me.
Emma said, "Good morning. What has he done this time?"
"He says we have to be nice because he had a lot of wine last night with the Livingstons and at the end of the evening, they said no."
At that point, Anna dashed in from the other room and pounced on us. "Guess what, Liu wants to talk to us, today if possible, about a new offer from the Asians." From the wall, Emma said, "Maybe I need to come down there and supervise." She sounded a bit lonesome. I didn't blame her, looking at the cavorting on the bed.
I whispered to Anna, "Remind me not to leave her all alone again." I tucked the women in around me and said, "We all miss you. Would you like to come down for the weekend and drive back with one of us?"
"Yes. I'll call you as soon as I have a flight. Would you like me to walk around the construction site with the WiFi camera?"
"Yes, by all means." While she got the camera going, the young ones brought toast and juice and coffee for everyone. I hugged Clara and asked what Amy was doing. "She has a client conference this morning. They couldn't come any other time. She wants to talk to you about her outside work." After delivering the message, Clara extracted a long warm kiss and slid her hand under the covers. Another whisper, "Aha, I'm simply irresistible, aren't I?"
The others hissed at us to be quiet. Emma was narrating a tour. The falsework for pouring the concrete slab at ground level of the lab building was in place. The perimeter foundation and lots of plumbing was done on the community building. Plumbing and electricity trenches were open to the future sites of the small cabins.
I asked, "Can she hear me?"
Loud and clear, Emma came back, "Yes, even outside you sound great."
"Emma, it looks terrific. Any problems? Any help you need from here?"
"Alec, what I need is a chance to roll around on that bed with you and box your ears."
Around me, "Yes, yes, yes. We will hold him down so you can beat him properly."
Emma went to get a flight, and I went carefully around, applying TLC of my own.
"With this nice weather, why don't we go to Gloucester for a walk on the beach and pick up a lobster for seafood dinner back here? If Emma gets here soon, we can go today, otherwise tomorrow. In the meantime, Anna and I will talk to Liu, and the rest of you can catch up on homework and chores."
Liu saw us in his office. "Come in," he said, "You don't look too stressed for a pair of startup entrepreneurs."
Anna was simply gorgeous in a flowery dress with full skirt. She gave him a hug and a kiss. "Professor, what would we do without you looking out for us?"
"Anna, flattery will get you everywhere. Tell me what you can of your plans."
"Oh dear, Alec will have to fill you in. I am simply the software drudge." Her smile was brilliant.
I said to him, "Aren't we glad we do not have to negotiate with this woman?"
"We certainly are. I have had two conversations with my colleagues in Asia. They are pleasant while trying to steal everything in sight. But the reason I called is that they have an intriguing idea that may be a fit with your plans. Their product development chain, from lab to prototype to commercialization, keeps breaking down. All the reasons you can think of, including too much status seeking, too much intracompany rivalry, and so on. One of their young Directors, who has a PhD from Berkeley, suggested they outsource a chunk of work to a U.S. company capable of demonstrating the creative efficiency with which we address innovation challenges here.
"At least they are thinking a bit out of the box."
"For Asians, yes, very much so. Of course, they wanted their American academic consultant to suggest a way to implement this idea. I told them I would get back to them in a week."
He looked at us to see if wheels were turning. They were.
Anna said, "We are hardly off the ground, and Sheldon just turned us down on the offer to create the R&D department."
I added, "And our first product is still at least six months away from market."
Liu came back, "Yes, I would be worried about the negatives also, if I were you. But let's look at the positives. First, you are very bright and very recently educated in my lab. You already know through Sam quite a bit about how they operate, and you have an existing royalty agreement. Under the right circumstances of a bigger role with international visibility, Sheldon might be enticed to join a revised venture."
There were a few moments of silence as we chewed on that, and I said, "The vehicle would need to be a joint venture, with substantial financial backing from the Asians, and clear lines of authority with respect to planning and decision making. If we were to seriously consider this, I think it needs to focus on some or all of their line of business in embedded processors. That plays to strengths on both sides."
