Chapter Eleven
Noah
Three days away from the office didn’t sound like a lot, but when I came back to work on Monday, I realized how much I do every day. Elena had postponed meetings and calls that needed to be dealt with; Doug had sent emails and faxes that demanded responses now, and I felt like I was drowning in administrative details.
One of the first messages that came through on Monday morning was from my investors.
“We need to meet as soon as possible to review your marketing updates.”
With Lillian sick, I hadn’t thought about work at all. Panicking about my personal life had trumped my career going up in flames, and I had no idea what I was going to do.
When I’d bought the company, I had promised loyalty to my customers. It was something I had learned from my dad. Loyalty changed everything, the human factor in a world that was becoming more and more artificial and automated worked like magic. Or at least, it used to. Something had gone wrong. My involvement with my fans and clients had painted me as the good Samaritan of the business world. I had been in the papers as the People’s Choice, the one company that the public wanted to invest in because they liked me as a person, not only by product. I had made the media because of my approach.
Now, I felt like I was being left behind despite my efforts to keep it personal. How did I explain how important the personal touch was to investors who only wanted to see number, profits, success? How did I prove to them that Saturn Intelligence would be worth their while when I was starting to doubt I could make it survive?
I picked up the phone to call Doug. He had had a little bit of insight into the company the past three days, and he had been with me for a long time. With his influence in the marketing department, I was sure he could help me out.
“You need to push up your prices, Noah,” Doug said without hesitation when I asked him. “If they want something to see, throw numbers at them.”
“I can’t do that. How am I supposed to promise value if I betray our customers like that?”
“God, you’re not friends with them, Noah. They’re getting value out of your product. Make them pay for it. You’ll lose the company if you don’t.”
“What about my reputation?”
“Your reputation is worth less than your company.”
I winced. It was a harsh thing to say. My reputation was what had brought me this far. My reputation was the only reason I hadn’t gone under already.
“I’m not being a dick,” Doug said as if he knew what I was thinking. “But if you lose your company, your reputation won’t help the hundreds of people that work for you that will be out of a job.
I sighed. He was right. I would lose SI. But what would I lose if I became the same as every other company out there? Everything was so expensive nowadays it trumped the cost of living, and when things were tough, the first expenses they cut were those that crippled them. I didn’t want to be in that category. I didn’t want to be a faceless provider that took more than I gave, and it felt like the investors were pushing me into that.
“Thanks, Doug,” I said, ending the call. Talking to Doug hadn’t helped the way I’d hoped it would. When I put the phone back in its cradle I leaned back in my chair and swiveled toward the window. Maybe asking Doug hadn’t been the right thing to do. He was a good businessman, adept at his position in marketing, but he thought in terms of returns. He didn’t think about the human aspect, not in the way I did. He thought about how he could play them so that they bought. It was his job, after all.
I needed someone else’s advice. Someone who looked at it all objectively.
Someone like Elena. She was my secretary so she wasn’t so directly involved. And she had that MBA. I needed to ask her what she thought of it. She would be able to help.
My dad had had run own company, but that had been before technology had taken off. Customer service had been different back then, but he had still understood what it meant to give people what they needed and not only what they wanted. My dad had known half his clients personally, asking about their families when he ran into them. I wasn’t going to go that far with it – it was impossible with my extensive client base – but I had translated that loyalty in different ways in my own company.
It felt wrong to push up the prices of my services to make money. Of course, that was the point of a business, but so was keeping my customers happy. It didn’t seem to be working too well, financially. SI wasn’t doing well. But there had to be a way to make it happen without betraying my loyal fans by cheating them out of their money. And until I found out how to do that, I wasn’t going to budge on the pricing, no matter what my closest friends and business investors told me. They didn’t seem to understand the value of business the way I did.
I wasn’t going to pay out of my own pocket for the business, either. Lillian deserved the life I was planning on giving her. I had grown up in a household where we had to make sacrifices because my dad had used our money for his company. It had been the wrong way around – a business wasn’t supposed to take money but give it – and I refused for Lillian to have to make the same sacrifices. It hadn’t been fair on my family, and it wouldn’t be fair to her.
I maintained that there had to be a way to make it happen. And I would keep trying until I found it. As long as the investors stuck around. I was banking on that because it was my last resort. I had nothing else left. If this didn’t work, I was going to lose Saturn Intelligence. I would bounce back if I did, but SI had been my project from the start, and I would hate to lose it. And my employees; they wouldn’t bounce back. I was worried about them.
I picked up the phone and held it against my ear.
“Elena, will you come to my office, please?” I asked.
“I’m sending two emails, and then I’m there,” she said and hung up.
I waited for her to come. I needed her advice, and I hoped that she could help me. It wasn’t only about her business expertise, either. I needed her advice and support as a friend, which I had come to see her as.
I saw her as more than a friend, but that wasn’t something I was going to allow myself to think about right now.
“What can I do for you?” Elena asked when she walked into my office.
“Close the door,” I said. “And you can take a seat.”
She did as I asked. When she sat before me, she looked concerned. I didn’t often ask for a private audience with her, not during work hours. Since we’d had sex, I tried to keep things as open as I could so there were no rumors.
“Is everything alright?” she asked.
“It’s the investors,” I said. “They want a meeting as soon as possible to find out what I came up with in terms of marketing.”
“What have you decided?” Elena asked.
“That’s the thing,” I said. “I haven’t decided anything. Lilly got sick and I was so stressed about her I haven’t even thought about the marketing again. I switched off. It was convenient, too. I have to admit.” I hadn’t wanted to think about how close I was dancing to the edge.
Elena nodded. “That’s okay,” she said. “I’m sure we can figure something out.”
“Yeah, I’ve figured out I’m going to postpone with them. I’m going to hold them off as long as I can until we’ve figured something out.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” she said.
“Why not?”
She shook her head. “If you postpone after they had to follow up with you, it will look like you’re stalling for time.”
“But I am stalling for time. I have nothing to show them.”
“So, tell them that you’re busy with something that’s not quite ready yet, and you’ll show them once it’s ready.”
I frowned. “That could work. You’re saying I should bluff.”
Elena smiled, and it was a beautiful smile. It would have made me forget all my worries if I was able. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. Even the best of us do it.”
I chuckled. “The best of us. I like that. What am I supposed to tell them I’m working on?” I asked. I was asking my secretary to script the meeting for me, but she was onto something. Her ideas were good.
“A beta program,” she said. “The lab can make it happen, so why not?”
I drummed my fingers on the desk, staring at the desk calendar. The word “Investors” was written in red on today’s date and circled in red. Doug had already spoken to them, I realized.
“A beta program,” I said, repeating her words.
“So that the investors can use the technology and see how it works for themselves. If they like it, I can’t see why they won’t invest.”
The idea was great. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought about it sooner. Or at all.
“And while they wait for the beta program, which is the only thing you’ll tell them about as a teaser for the big reveal,” Elena carried on, “you can work on the marketing. So, tell them it’s a surprise, but they have something to look forward to.”
I leaned back in my chair. “God, you’re spectacular, woman,” I said.
Elena blushed, and she looked down at her hands in her lap. I wanted to go around the table and kiss her. I wanted to drag her onto my lap and do all sorts of nasty things to her.
“Set up the meeting as soon as possible, like they asked. The sooner the better, so it looks like you had this ready all along.”
I nodded and thanked her. I picked up the phone immediately and arranged the meeting for late afternoon. The investors were happy to come.
“Will you sit in on the meeting?” I asked Elena when I passed her desk to the boardroom. She agreed.
When all the investors were in the boardroom, I cleared my throat.
“Gentlemen, thank you for meeting me on such short notice. I know you’re all eager to find out what I’ve been planning but I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait a little longer.”
An unhappy murmur rippled through the room.
“Our developers are working on a beta product for you. I want each of you to have one, to see how it works and what the public will be experiencing and delighted with once it’s released.”
They looked happier this time.
“And the marketing?” one of them asked.
“When I give it to you, I’ll give you a demonstration of the marketing strategy as well.”
I glanced at Elena. She smiled at me, nodding slightly. Encouragement. I was doing well, and the investors looked happier than when we had started.
“How long will you need?” someone asked.
I had to think fast.
“It’s hard to say. Elena?” I felt bad about throwing it at her, but they knew she was my secretary.
“I have been told no more than two weeks,” Elena replied smoothly, looking at her notes as if she had written down a date.
“Will that work for you, gentlemen?” I asked.
The investors looked at each other, nodding. It had worked. I shot a grateful glance at Elena who had thought on her feet. She had bought me two full weeks.
The meeting ended and westood up to leave.
“We look forward to what you have in store for us, Noah,” one of the investors said, shaking my hand.
“I’m excited to showcase it,” I offered, smiling broadly. I shook hands with each of them before they filtered out of the room and again I was left alone with Elena.
“Thank you for that,” I said. “I’m sorry I threw it on you.”
Elena shook her head. “I’d already worked it out and written it down, in case they asked.”
I couldn’t believe it. She was amazing. I had to bump her up in my company, she could do wonders for SI.
“Two weeks should be more than enough to get everything ready.”
I nodded. “More than enough,” I confirmed. I cleared my throat. “Will you stay a little later tonight?”
Elena blinked large green eyes at me. God, I wanted her. It washed over me every now and then when I least expected.
“I would like to discuss what you had in mind for the beta run and brainstorm marketing ideas,” I added. I was serious about it, it wasn’t a ploy to get her into my office alone.
Elena nodded. “I have nowhere else I need to be,” she said.
I smiled and opened the door, holding it for her so that she could leave the boardroom first. I couldn’t resist as I sneaked a peek at her sweet ass.