Chapter 73: Trials, Tribulations, and Success

September, 1985, Chicago, Illinois

On Tuesday, the 24th, Cindi, Julia, and I headed to Midway for our flight to St. Louis. This was a one-day trip — a flight down in the morning, a meeting in the afternoon, and then a flight back in the evening. I had on my charcoal grey suit and the girls had on nice dresses. We had brought along a copy of our inventory system, as well as the estimation software, and a newly produced beta copy of our client management software. Julia had also brought along sample copies of our documentation, an organizational chart, and a financial report that Elyse had prepared.

"Doctor Lambert suggested we bring all of these things," Julia said when I questioned her. "We're small and new, so they need reassurance that we're a going concern and that we can actually do what they're asking."

I felt it was a good idea to review all the details from the beginning so that there were no mistakes.

"Let's make sure we're all on the same page, and all of us can answer any questions we're asked. I know this is a review, but I'm going to ask, anyway. What system are they using?" I asked.

"Prime Information. They have a Model 9750 for production and a Model 2550 for development."

"How are we going to do this from Chicago? Modem?" I asked.

"That would get pretty expensive. They're on the X .25 network, so if we get the deal, we'll dial-in to the University of Chicago X .25 node, courtesy of Doctor Lambert. That would let us connect to Purina Mills' systems. We can get an unlimited call package from Ameritech for the modem lines. We'll need an additional phone line for that. The other thing we can do is prototype it on the PC with Revelation, which is really close to Prime Information and runs on the PC. Then it would just be a matter of a port."

"That sounds good," I said. "We have to thank Doctor Lambert for this! I think when the time comes to add Doctor Bauer to the board, we drop Doctor Dalton and keep Doctor Lambert."

"I'd say so," Julia said.

While we were on the plane, Julia went over the presentation with Cindi and me one last time. The numbers that Elyse had put together were mind-boggling, but it made sense given the scope of what we were promising to do, and the fact that we'd need at least one more full-time programmer. We'd looked at the office and decided we could just fit one more person in there with Dave, Dany, Julia, and me there full time. If we hired two people, we'd have real difficulties, and we didn't want to contemplate renting space at this point if we didn't have to. We discussed that once we'd finished going over the presentation.

"I was thinking that we could move you and Dany to your office. You'd have to give up the couch along the wall, but then there would be room for two more desks, so that when Penny comes back next Summer, there would be space for her. Mario and I could share that spot for those times we're in the office, but given all the installations and support, that's not going to be very often."

"Did you get the pagers?" I asked.

"They'll arrive tomorrow," Cindi said. "One each for Mario and me, and a third one to share amongst everyone else in case they have to be out of the office, like we are today."

"Makes sense," I said. "I guess I'm OK with changing my office around for the short term, especially if it means we don't need to rent office space."

"Elyse has started looking into that already. She talked to Mr. Wyatt and told him what we'd need — space for twelve people."

"Twelve?" I asked.

"Come on, Steve. Even you aren't THAT dense," Cindi laughed.

"Oh!" I said, as it became clear. "So we don't have to move right away if we hire more people. You see why I keep my nose to the keyboard?"

"I do! May I make a suggestion, Julia?" Cindi asked.

"Sure. What?"

"Let me lead the presentation today. I've done a bunch of these for the law firms."

"Makes sense to me," Julia said. "I'm glad that you're dressed conservatively."

"Despite all the jokes, I don't want to get the sale because I have nice knockers. I want it because we're the best there is!"

"Amen to that!" I said.

When we landed in St. Louis, we quickly left the plane, exited the terminal, and got in line for the rental car that I'd reserved. Fifteen minutes later, I was driving and Julia was navigating our way to Gray Summit, about an hour from the airport. We had plenty of time to stop along the way for lunch and arrived at the Purina Mills offices about twenty minutes before our scheduled presentation.

"We're here to see Mr. Paul Gleason," Julia said, handing over her business card.

"Have a seat and I'll let him know you're here," the receptionist advised.

We ended up waiting only ten minutes before we were ushered into a conference room. As Julia had asked, there was a PC set up on the table, and there were three men waiting for us. They introduced themselves as Paul Gleason, the director, Joel Hanson, the head of logistics, and Fred Tester, the head of accounting. We introduced ourselves and Julia was given the floor. She made a brief introduction about NIKA and then turned the presentation over to Cindi.

Cindi did an amazing job. I'd seen Julia do it in class, but Cindi was better. Her voice was perfect, her smile engaging, and she had a very smooth delivery. When she finished, she turned things over to me to demonstrate our current software. I spent about twenty minutes going through the demo and then turned things back to Cindi.

"None of that is in Prime Information, right?" Mr. Gleason asked.

"That's correct," Cindi said. "But we're very familiar with Prime Information and Revelation, which is very similar and runs on the PC. Everything you saw there has been built with dBase and works over a network. We've all worked on Prime computers and we're quite proficient with PRIMOS, Prime Information, and, as you've seen, the kinds of systems you're interested in."

"You've only been in business since the Summer?" Mr. Tester asked.

I fielded that question, "Technically, yes, as NIKA Consulting. I ran a successful software business with two other people that supported veterinarians when I was in High School. We also did some inventory software. One of those people is working on her doctorate in Computer Science at UofI and sits on our Board of Directors. We sold the company so that we could pay for college and focus on our studies. While I was in college, I did some consulting and programming, landing contracts with four union locals to program and maintain software for their membership."

"Do you have a financial statement and customer list?" he asked.

Julia handed over the report that Elyse had prepared as well as a list of clients that Cindi had asked to be references for us.

"And you can meet the deadlines in this proposal?" Mr. Hanson asked.

"Absolutely," Julia said. "We'll need to hire an additional person, but we've factored all of that into our proposal with the completion dates. As you can see, there are milestones that we need to meet before you have to pay each portion of the fee and penalties if we miss our commitments."

"I don't mean to offend, but you all seem a bit young," he said.

Another question for me to field.

"Yes, Sir," I replied, "that's true. And that's why we have four board members with extensive business experience, including two university professors — one in computer science and the other in business. We also have retained legal counsel as well as an accountant. We're very aware that we need guidance from people with experience in business. That said, the revolution in computers, especially the personal computer, is so new that there aren't that many people with the kind of experience I bring to the table — eight years of professional programming, including starting two successful companies. And you can see from our references that we've demonstrated our skills sufficiently that people are willing to speak on our behalf."

"Doctor Lambert spoke very highly of you," Mr. Gleason said. "He says that you hired the three best CS students from IIT as well. I'm guessing these are two of them?"

"That's right. The third is Dave Kallas, our director of development who's back in the office in Chicago."

"And you can handle the remote work, as well as remote support?" he asked.

"Yes. We built two trips down for demos into our proposal, with an option for a third if you deem it necessary, at no additional cost. We also built in a trip for Cindi to train you after you accept the software."

"Did you bring copies of the documentation for one of your systems with you?" Mr. Tester asked.

Julia handed over the documentation that Jorge had done for us.

"OK. I think we have everything we need. As we said on the phone with Julia, we'll let you know by the end of next week," Mr. Gleason said.

We thanked everyone, shook hands, and headed back to the car to catch our early evening flight to Chicago. We had enough time to stop for dinner in St. Louis before heading to the airport, so we did that and discussed the presentation.

"I don't think it could have gone any better," Julia said. "Cindi, you've closed a bunch of deals, tell me what you think."

"Gleason and Hanson are on board," Cindi declared confidently. "Tester is worried that we're kids and we've only been doing this since June. I think you should put in a call to Doctor Lambert and have him call Mr. Gleason and ask how things went, and get a feel for whether we need to do something else. I had that happen at two law firms. One I closed, the other I couldn't because they just wouldn't believe that a bunch of 22-year-old kids could do what I said. They wouldn't even check our references."

"I think it went well," I said. "And the vibes I felt from Tester were similar to what you felt, Cindi. Just his questions and the way he looked at us. But I think, in the end, the way we structured this, he'll be OK. Elyse basically back-loaded the payments, so we have to deliver significant work before they put out the majority of the cash. Sure, there's the up-front payment, but it's only a fraction of the total contract value. It's enough to ensure that we don't lose money while we're developing the software, but not enough that it puts them at much risk."

Julia nodded, "I'll call Doctor Lambert in the morning, but I'll also place a follow-up call to Mr. Gleason to see if they have any additional questions. Maybe he'll give me a clue as to how we did."

The flight back was uneventful, and I was home in time for Kara and me to call Jess before we headed to bed. We cuddled after a gentle lovemaking session and fell asleep.

The Wednesday following the trip to St. Louis kicked off ten days of blessed normalcy. I worked, went to karate, spent time with Kara, spent time with Jennifer and Josie, slept with Elyse, used the sauna, and made a trip with Kara to Indianapolis to see Jess.

Friday, October 4th was a red-letter day in the history of NIKA Consulting. Paul Gleason called Julia and awarded us the contract. That meant we had immediate need of a programmer. Julia had proactively run an ad in the Chicago Tribune the previous week, so she already had a dozen résumés to review. The only downside was that all the candidates had jobs, which added two weeks from the time we made an offer until they could start work.

"I think two of these are good," Julia said. "One of them has Prime Information and Advanced Revelation experience, a guy named Tom Dodds. I'm guessing he's about ten years older than we are from his graduation date."

"That experience is huge," I said. "Call him right away. What about the other one?"

"A dBase programmer who has some Novell experience named Jerome Pierson. Probably a little older than Tom Dodds."

"We seriously need an adult face around here, if only to show nervous customers," Dave joked. "At least when they aren't staring at my ex-girlfriend's chest!"

"Dave, I watched her in St. Louis and those guys were paying attention to the brilliant young woman, not the gold-medal breasts!" I chuckled.

Dany smirked, "What is it with guys and big boobs?"

"Don't worry, Dany," Julia said with a laugh, "Steve prefers them your size or my size!"

"Call the dBase guy as well," I said. "If they're both good, then you and Dave will have a decision to make on how to assign current resources."

"What do you want to work on, Steve?" Dave asked. "That really is going to determine what I do."

"I want to work on what you assign me to work on. Evaluate your resources and put people where you need them the most. I didn't put you in charge, so I could tell you what to do. Manage your team, my friend. Manage your team."

He smiled, "Got it. You won't have to tell me again. You do have a veto on hiring, though."

"Yes, a veto, but not the final decision as to which person to hire," I said.

"Do you think there's any chance that Alice would let Penny work on Saturdays?" he asked. "She could certainly do maintenance and bug fixes on the estimation and inventory software, and the other stuff written in BASIC."

"All I can do is ask. I'll do that after work today," I said.

"There's one issue we do need to talk about," Julia said. "We can do that now with just the three of us here. Both of these guys are going to need salaries far beyond what we're paying anyone else. I checked with Doctor Dalton and their salaries are in line with their experience. Is anyone going to have an issue with that?"

"I can't imagine," I said. "Both Mario and Dany are students. Cindi won't complain. She has a similar deal to you guys that includes equity in the company in exchange for lower salaries. Our new person isn't going to get that. We're all betting on being successful and delaying our income for good reason."

"Steve's right," Dave said. "Seriously, between you and me we're saving about 75% of what we make, and we're not making a lot right now. And we don't want to wreck our run-rate. The nice thing is that, according to Elyse, even with a higher salary, the money from Purina Mills will still let us run a profit, which gives us even more time before we have to worry. And the way Cindi is going, we'll have a nice business with law firms in the city and suburbs."

"Speaking of which," Julia said. "She's not here today because she's in Milwaukee talking to a law firm there."

"That girl needs a bonus," I said.

"I was thinking the same thing," Julia said. "Maybe we set up some kind of bonus structure for her and Mario for each sale they close? I'll talk to Elyse and have her run it by the accountant and Jamie, and then we can ask Joyce about it."

"Speaking of Joyce, we need board approval to hire someone new," I said. "Call her, please. She'll need to put it on the agenda for the board meeting next week."

By the end of the work day, we had a signed contract faxed to us, and a commitment that the check for the first payment would be mailed no later than Monday. Julia had called Joyce to add the hiring to the agenda for the Board meeting and had Joyce's approval to proceed. That evening, Julia reached both Tom and Jerome at home and set up interviews for Wednesday and Thursday of next week. Both men worked downtown, so it was fairly convenient for them to come to Hyde Park for the interviews.

After dinner, I begged forgiveness from Kara and Jessica and went to talk to Alice and Bart about Penny working on Saturdays during the school year, as well as during her break. Alice was reluctant, but once again I found an ally in Bart, who suggested that we try it and see how things worked out. So long as Penny kept her grades as mostly A's and the rest B's, she could keep working. If her grades dropped at all, then she'd have to stop. I thanked them and then Alice called Penny down to tell her.

"Yes! Awesome! Thanks!" she said, hugging her mom and Bart, and then giving me a bear hug. "Can I start tomorrow?"

"Yes," I said. "I have a lot of stuff you can work on already. We just signed a big contract, that means we have to hire another person. See you tomorrow morning at eight! Dany works Saturday mornings, so she'll be there with you."