TUNA LIFE by Erik Hamre Read Free Book Online Page B

free stuff, he enjoyed getting something for free. This service Andrew and his team were in the process of developing had the potential to get on that precious list, that handful of webpages and mobile apps that the masses would be addicted to. It all hinged on them being able to execute properly, though. ‘Execution, Quality and Growth’. Andrew had stolen a slogan he had read on the internet somewhere. He couldn’t remember where, but he thought one of the co-founders of Twitter had originally come up with it. It didn’t matter, though. It was well suited for how they were going to succeed with their service, and he had plastered it on his wall.
    Andrew stared at the bank statement.
    One hundred thousand dollars.
    They had done it. They were already a success. They had raised a hundred thousand dollars, and Y-Bator hadn’t even bothered to haggle on the valuation Andrew had set. To be honest, Andrew had arrived at the valuation by sticking his finger up in the air, and waving it around a little bit.
    They were an eight-week-old company. Established with three shares worth one dollar each. All they had was a good idea and a largely untested technology. And four days earlier Y-Bator had agreed to acquire twenty percent of the company for one hundred thousand bucks. They had valued Frank’s idea at five hundred thousand, if you included the cash injection.
    Andrew had to laugh. It had almost been too easy, and he regretted not having set the valuation at a million. They still had no idea how the company was going to make money, but Andrew knew that they could be sitting on a potential gold mine. There was something about Frank’s product. If they managed to get it working properly then this could get seriously popular. And if it tanked, they still had sufficient money to come up with another idea – they could just pivot.
    They had secured funding, and that was the important thing. The absolutely most important thing, because Andrew had started to get increasingly stressed over the last few weeks. In the absence of any savings he’d had to resort to increasing the spending limits on both his VISA and MasterCard. He simply had nothing left. A week ago he had asked the bank for yet another increase of his spending limit. They had asked for updated pay slips; alternatively they could increase his housing loans if he provided them with updated valuations. Andrew was screwed. He had no fortnightly salary after quitting Avensis Accounting, and his housing loan was probably exceeding the value of his apartment – the one he had bought when the market had peaked.
    But who cared? He was employed again, with a regular wage. The company had one hundred thousand in its business account.
    Andrew was working for himself. He was an entrepreneur.
    This was his chance to change his life.
    His only chance.
     
     

13
    Scott Davis nodded to Mark Moss as he entered the canteen. The new editor, Vesna Connor, had called the staff in for an all-hands meeting. It was obvious for most of the employees that the meeting was going to be about new staff cuts. Vesna Connor was now well into her third month as editor, probably an eternity in her definition of time. Plenty of time to have learnt the intricate ins and outs of the organisation, to have assessed who was productive and who was superfluous dead weight. Scott smiled. He had already spoken to his lawyer. He wasn’t about to leave the ship quietly. If they wanted him out, they would have to pay up.
    Vesna Connor tried to force a smile. But no one was fooled; they could all see it was a fake one. A smile to defuse the gravity of the situation, a smile to make it easier to tell people they were about to lose their jobs.
    “As everyone knows, we are living in exciting times….”
    Yeah, sure. Try to turn something negative into something positive. It’ll be fun and exciting to lose your job when you have turned fifty years, and have never done anything else than news. What are you