The Last Network - Chapter 28
Bullets
The flight in had been noisy. Paolo had barely slept. He’d been up until 2:00 am trying to improve customer acquisition models for South Asia. Pakistan was proving problematic. Now he was sitting in the passenger seat of Sonny’s Porsche working on a large coffee. They navigated their way out of LAX, weaving through the courtesy shuttles and Ubers.
“I heard he passed on Thorn Capital,” Sonny said.
“What?”
“I have a friend there. He tells me Rabbit turned down $350 million from FriendZone.” The car shifted lanes and Sonny made a quick turn off Century up Manchester.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Paolo said. “For you, Em, and the others. An early exit would have been good for you.”
“Yes, it would have. My understanding is that it was a bit of a low-ball offer. It sounds like a huge number to me though. It would have paid for my house here, a retirement place for my folks back home, the kids’ college and then some. I’m trying to see a bullish glass half full. Should I be seeing things that way, Paolo?”
“If this offer was real, and our projections hold, then yes it was low. I can tell you that much. I’d be worried though.”
The car pulled up to a stop light. Sonny turned and looked at Paolo. “Why?”
“He’s hell bent on owning America. So far, I can’t see a way to do it without playing a very dangerous game.”
“Paolo, I know what you do, and I know how you do it. Please be honest with me.”
The light changed, Sonny floored the car. A Tesla blew them off the line, but the Porsche ran him down before braking hard at the next light a block away.
“Rabbit wants twenty million users in America before Together and Rizon launch. Em thinks it will cost $10 to get each one, if we can even get that many. Right now, we make $0.12 a month per user. If you run those figures out, it will cost $200 million to get the twenty million he is asking for. We’ll be bringing in $108 million in revenue during that time. Our operating margins are forty-five percent. That means we’ll have almost $50 million to spend on customer acquisition. Assuming we don’t invest in anything else. You see the problem?”
“Yeah, we’re $150 million short.” Sonny pulled onto La Cienega and accelerated as they drove through Baldwin Hills. Ancient oil derricks pumped up and down as they sped by. Industrial dinosaurs sucking dead dinosaurs from the ground.
“If we had the money, we couldn’t spend it that quickly. The entire thing is impossible. The only way to grow that quickly is virally. It’s like he thinks I’m some sort of a magician. If we were supposed to have gone viral in the US, we’d have done it by now. People can use the Silicon Valley Code as an excuse, but it’s more likely that the US does not want this product. I think this country is too suspicious, too jaded for something like Peared right now. Sure, there are always niche applications, but I look at what he wants to do, and I’m reminded of DraftKings and the other one from college...”
“FanDuel.”
“Yes. What a waste of capital. Just like the dockless scooters. Anyways, I’ve been told we are going to war and my orders are to start stockpiling bullets. Every user is now a way to make bullets and every bullet we make will be fired here, in the US.”
“Jesus.” They drove down the hill and stopped the light before Jefferson. This used to be nowhere. Now Target had been pushed out and replaced with condos. Transportation corridors can change so much, so fast, even in a city that had sprawled to its borders decades ago.
“Tell me Sonny, are we developing the product at all? Are there ideas to expand it, or change it in some way? I’ve asked for a product roadmap from Rabbit and it’s all about scaling. The product itself is not changing.”
“I’m afraid not. It works, we are growing, the orders here are to keep up with growth and let you worry about everything else.”
“I’m supposed to worry about everything else? We just discussed what I am worrying about. There’s not room in my head for anything else.”
The rest of the drive was spent in silence. Each man contemplated his role in completing a nearly impossible task, each man questioning Rabbit’s decision making, knowing that Em had already approached him and gotten nowhere on the matter. They were entering into the unknown—not as reckless as sailing off the map, but not as simple as orbiting the dark side of the moon. Somewhere in between lay their darkness and uncertainty. It was time to place their faith in a captain who never listened to his mates.