Chapter 9 #2
In the boardroom, we make introductions.
Stuart and his legal counsel are sitting at the far end of the large board table.
Stuart looks even younger than his age would suggest, almost drowned in his surroundings.
His hair is almost black and ruffled. His eyes are a dark, deep brown.
Striking. There’s something about them, something I can’t put my finger on, as I shake his hand.
I watch him sit back in his chair and cross the ankle of one leg over the knee of the other.
He’s arrogant in a too familiar way. But when Gregory takes a seat opposite him, Stuart uncrosses his legs and his cocksure posture folds back to young boy as he sips from a glass of fresh orange.
The legal counsel, Markus, is tall. His slim shoulders are hunched forward, a little potbelly resting over his belt.
There’s something reserved in his manner.
Introverted, maybe. He looks like he’d specialise in IT and IP law.
Markus kicks us off. ‘Stuart, why don’t you share some background about Black Diamonds. I’m sure Mr Ryans will be impressed with the figures, to say the least.’
Stuart opens his mouth to speak but Gregory holds up a flat palm.
‘No need, gents. I’ve done my homework. Let’s just get to it.
I’m going to make you an outstanding offer for Black Diamonds.
Given the product is still very much in phase one of the marketing cycle, it really hasn’t proved much worth.
Do you know the percentage of start-ups in the gaming sector that fail in the first twelve months, Stuart? ’
Stuart shakes his head and takes another sip of his juice. Nervous, I think. Gregory can be intimidating at the best of times but tonight, he’s in full throttle.
‘Over 80 per cent. That’s full engine failure, complete crash and burn.
And here’s the thing, Stuart: young entrepreneurs like you throw everything you have, financially, physically, emotionally, into making a success of your venture.
What that means, is your crash and burn stands to leave you grovelling to Mummy and Daddy or lining the streets with fellow failed entrepreneurs. ’
Jesus, Gregory, calm down.
I wait for to see the timid reaction of the boy being talked but I’m surprised to watch him lean forward towards his counterpart.
‘You’re mistaken, Gregory.’ Stuart spits his words in a thick Zimbabwean accent.
He has a temper, though unsurprising given the tone of this meeting.
‘I never met my parents and I have no intention of ending up on the streets, so this game will continue to be a success and I’ll be one of the two in ten businesses that don’t fail. ’
I wait for Gregory’s retort but it doesn’t come. He leans back in his seat, hands forming a steeple. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Stuart just struck a chord with the mighty CEO.
‘Tell me, Stuart, what is it that will make you successful?’
The teen straightens his back but seems uncertain again. ‘Black Diamonds is unique.’
‘Bullshit,’ Gregory snaps. ‘If you’re looking to set your stall out, don’t start with your weakness and pretend it’s a strength. Lay your weakness on the table. Get it out there so your opposition can’t use it against you but don’t lie about it.’
He’s giving him advice now? Aggressively dished out but advice nonetheless.
‘You don’t have a unique product. Black Diamonds is a knock-off of my own Jail Run, not to mention successful games produced by ten other well-known companies.’
‘Is that right?’
I watch Stuart with wide eyes. He’s either unable or unwilling to back down.
‘Then tell me why in my first three months of trading, I’ve had hundreds of thousands of downloads and why I’m eating into your profit?’
Gregory unbuttons his jacket as if he’s nonplussed but I don’t think that’s the case at all.
‘You don’t have a workable business model.
You can’t build and sustain a company on one game.
What happens when people get bored, when technology moves on and your app loses functionality or users complete the game and go looking for the next?
You fail. You don’t have a marketing plan. You don’t have financial backing.’
‘How would you know that?’
‘I have ways and means, Stuart, and I have those ways and means because I do have a sound business plan. I have money enough to look into a child playing from his bedroom at being a businessman. So, here’s my offer.
I’ll give you five hundred thousand pounds tonight.
I’ll take your game and do as I please with it. ’
‘Half a million?’
‘Half a million pounds to create a platform that allows you to grow.’ Gregory relaxes into his seat beside me but my eyes are on Markus, my counterpart. No lawyer worth their salt would let their client take the first offer.
Sure enough, Markus leans into Stuart’s ear and Stuart confirms, ‘No deal.’
Gregory cocks his head to one side and smiles, then pours himself a glass of water before resuming his cross-legged position.
I watch his reflection in the windows. His body moving against the indigo sky and city lights as he sips the water, strategically dramatic in the silent room, eyes fixed on Stuart.
He replaces the water glass on the table then shuffles his leather chair back just enough to say, We’re done here.
Or so I think.
‘One million, and that’s my final offer.’
He looks straight ahead at Stuart, who is somewhere between gobsmacked and smug. I have to dig my nails into my palms. This is Gregory’s show; I’m just his lawyer. I’ve given him my advice and I need to keep my cool. But doubling the offer, what is he thinking?
More mumblings pass between Stuart and Markus. ‘My client and I need to discuss your offer. May we take five minutes outside?’
‘By all means,’ Gregory says, his tone almost bored.
Once the door clicks shut, I whip around to face him. ‘Are you kidding me? One million? That’s insane.’
‘Actually, Scarlett, it’s not. The kid’s got something and I stand to lose a lot more than one million if he succeeds in line with projections or if a bigger company takes Black Diamonds from him and gives it the right kind of support.’
‘Even so, you doubled your offer, Gregory. That tells him your first offer was a joke and your second offer probably was, too.’
‘Seriously, Scarlett, you’re going to tell me how to conduct a business negotiation?’
‘I’m going to tell you how not to conduct it.’
‘Scarlett, this is my world. This is what I do.’
‘You could have fooled me!’ I rise and walk to the window, feigning looking out to the towers and twinkling lights but watching him regard me through the reflection, his smug smile frankly pissing me off.
He scoffs like I’m a kid taking a tantrum and that pisses me off even more. ‘I’m intrigued by the kid. I want to see where this goes.’
I do a one-eighty, arms folded across my chest. ‘And you’re willing to blow one million pounds to find out?’
‘It’s small fry. If it doesn’t work out, it’s an expensive mistake, but I didn’t get where I am today because I shy away from risk.’
You shied away from one risk for long enough.
I’m glaring at him as the door opens, adding to my temper by forcing me to fake a smile.
Standing, I can appreciate just how un-lawyer-like Markus looks, with his unkempt appearance and all-round general manner and poise. He starts to speak before his arse even hits the chair. ‘My client believes his product is worth more than one million.’
I bite down so hard on my gums, my mouth tastes metallic. Gregory raises one hand to his chin and I know he’s going to make another offer.
I can’t let him. I won’t. ‘It’s a shame your client doesn’t seem capable of speaking for himself, Markus,’ I say.
‘If he could, he might be able to justify to my client why in God’s name this technically basic game that’s similar to a lot of games already on the market and that has almost non-existent IP protection is worth even half a million pounds, let alone more.
’ I turn my attention to Stuart. ‘Do you understand the real reason Constant Sources wants to buy your game? We want to remove your game from the market. Not because it’s worth money now, but for the off chance that a company with enough time and energy might buy it and turn it into something more.
Specifically, a company who knows how and has the money to protect the rights in the game properly.
As a piece of technology, your game is practically worthless.
But with no registered intellectual property portfolio, Black Diamonds could be recreated if it fell into the wrong hands.
And do you know what you could do about that?
Nothing. Unless you have a bottomless pit of money to step into a ring with wealthy businessmen, you can do absolutely nothing. Has your lawyer told you that?’
‘My client doesn’t need this,’ Markus says, coming to stand. ‘We’ll find a new buyer. Come on Stuart, let’s go.’
‘Yes, of course, you’ll find a new buyer,’ I say with sarcasm that should be aimed at my unhinged boyfriend.
‘Let me tell you how that goes. You sit around a table like this for hours, again, and the person you sit across the table from will know your offering is built on sand. That your international intellectual property portfolio is non-existent. So, let’s say that person offers you half of what my client is offering and you accept because you’ve realised, finally, that your offering isn’t as valuable as you’d thought.
My client will go to your buyer and buy the game from him for ten million pounds.
So, your buyer wins two times and you have half of what you have on the table right now. ’
‘Stuart, let’s go,’ Markus urges, eye-balling me as if I give a damn.
Stuart leans back in his chair. ‘Wait, I need to think.’