Chapter 21: The Interview

Thursday, things are back to normal, except I ride my newly modified mountain bike to school. With all the modifications, it is a $10k bike, so every break, I check on it. After school, I don’t ride home with the girls. Instead, I head to Performance Bikes.

There, I meet up with Ms. Fells, Dahlia, Moira and Kevin. The girls are there to get their new bikes fitted, and Kevin is there so I can buy him one. That is all secondary to my real purpose. After I say hi to everybody, I leave them in Savannah’s capable hands and head into the back looking for Daniel.

I find Daniel at the back door with one of his employees and a supplier bringing in new stock. He introduces me to everybody. The employee’s name is Steven.

Daniel says, “Steven is the one that will be putting your bike through the wringer as soon as it is finished. He is our best downhiller.”

“Then I guess I will help you bring in your stock so we can all go to the front and have a look at it.”

Daniel is surprised that I built it so quickly. He replies, “It is done? That was quick.”

“It doesn’t take much time to build if you know what you are doing.”

We quickly finish up in the back, and Daniel sends the supplier away. As we take care of unloading the stock, the girls are having fun dressing Kevin up in new cycle gear. I doubt he has ever had this much attention from girls before.

Steve is the first one out the front. He is excited to see the new toy he gets to take home. I hang back and tease Kevin just so Daniel and Steve get a chance to look at the bike without me.

When I get outside, Steve is sitting on the bike despite it still being locked in the bike rack. I tell him, “Get off so I can show you some things. After that, you can take it for a spin.” He jumps off, and I start explaining to Daniel and Steve, “This is strictly a downhill bike and not something you will want to commute on. Every time the shocks compress, it robs the bike of energy and slows it down. I did install some things to mitigate this effect. The suspension in the forks has a shut off valve. Turn the locking mechanism on the top of each shock, and it seals the buffer chamber locking the shocks in position. It will still function as a shock, albeit an extremely stiff one. The rear shock has a valve stem, just like a tire. You can add air to it and stiffen the shock. Once you get to your downhill track, you can let the air out for better suspension.

“The best part is the rear suspension. I have looked at the patents other bike companies have for their rear suspension. They only have two inches of play, so the suspension isn’t very effective. This doesn’t weigh any more than their designs, but once a 180 lb rider is seated in the saddle, there is still almost 5 inches of play. This thing can land jumps from much greater heights without the rider feeling the landing.”

What I don’t tell them is it will be eighteen months before any of our competitors can mass-produce their bikes, whereas our bike could be in stores within six months, and it is a superior product. This will likely cause the other bike companies to go back to the drawing board, giving us close to a two-year monopoly. When our competitors start selling their version, we release an upgraded version of our bike with an improved rear suspension. If we play our cards right, we will have the top bike for a decade.

The more I talk, the more excited Steve gets. When I pause for a bit, he asks, “Can I take it for a spin now?”

“Be my guest.”

He needs no more encouragement. He takes off down the road running over anything he can find as an obstacle. This is when I inform Daniel, “Now that we are business partners, I would never do anything that would take away from your business. That being said, I am thinking of opening up a bike shop next year.”

Daniel gets upset.

“That would be in direct competition with us and take away some of our sales.”

“Not with what I have in mind. It will be a specialty shop, one that specializes in customizations, bikes for the disabled, recumbents and electric bikes. Think about how you will feel when you get older, and your neck or back starts giving you trouble. You will not be able to ride a traditional bike. You will be able to ride a recumbent. Let’s say you lost the use of an arm. No problem. We can set you up with a single brake lever that operates both breaks and stick two different styles of shifters on the same side of the bike. There are hand bikes for paraplegics. I would also sell cargo bikes and other modifications. I wouldn’t sell anything that you do, but would provide a place for you to send your customers for specialty items.”

“There isn’t a big enough market for that here.”

“You are right. To start with, most of our business will be mail order. Once people start seeing the need for recumbents, then we will be selling bikes to stores like yours.”

When I first mentioned the idea of me opening up a shop, he wasn’t pleased, but the longer we talk, the more concerned he is that my business plan will fail. He has no idea how popular electric and recumbent bikes become in the future, nor does he know exactly how much I know about such things and how far ahead of our competition we will be. My battery tech alone sticks us a good 20 years ahead of the competition, and there are many ways I know to improve on that.

When we finish up, Ms. Fells drops me off at Russ Hay’s. Kevin, Moira and Dahlia follow on their bikes, meeting me there. The conversation I have with Russ is similar to the one I just had with Daniel, except Russ is more enthusiastic about the idea of my new company, and instead of examining my bike, I give him polaroids.

By the time Kevin and the girls show up, our conversation is over, and Russ has given me a Norco mountain bike to convert to full suspension. We only spend a little time shopping around for sundries, then the four of us ride home. Dahlia’s bike is much faster than mine and other than me, she is the most experienced rider, so she leads, and the rest of us draft behind her. Since Moira and Kevin are such novices, we have to stop for a rest. They weren’t complaining or anything, but I can see the fatigue, and I don’t want to make cycling a nightmare for them.

When we stop, we do so at Burger King so that we can have a snack. That is when Kevin asks, “So, what is up with you and the girls. You have all abandoned me for the last couple lunches, and you have all been acting weird.”

Dahlia and Moira look like they don’t know what to say or do, so I step in and try to mitigate any embarrassment.

“It was just a little girl trouble. With all that has been happening lately, we were just trying to sort feelings out.”

“So, did you figure it out?”

I laugh, “If I could get men and women to figure the game out, I could make a lot of money. Sadly, no, we haven’t come to a definitive solution.”

“What does that mean for us.”

“For now, nothing. I have hired you all to help me better the world and intend to keep you all as friends and advisers until the day we die. I will not risk that.”

“Speaking of that, what is it exactly you are hiring me for?”

“For now, just to learn from your dad. When we agree that you have learnt enough, you will help me build a company selling specialty bikes, mostly for the disabled and other modified bikes. You will also help sell the patents.”

Most of the tech needed to build an amphibious kayak is the same tech as what is required for disabled bikes and recumbents. I’m hoping to develop amphibious kayaks for a side project, but figure helping the disabled will be an excellent way to accomplish it.

The rest of the conversation is just about school. For part of it, I zone out. It isn’t right that I have four girls after me and yet there is nobody for Kevin. I am not about to pawn one of my girls on him. None of them suited him, and I don’t want to lose him or one of the girls if it doesn’t work out. I decide to get the girls to conspire with me to set him up.

The next day at school, I spend most of lunch on the phone with the Times Colonist. I am hoping to speak with the chief editor, but the best I can do is the editor of the business section. He, in turn, agrees to get a hold of the chief editor and set up a meeting.

Saturday is the first of our weekly bike rides. There isn’t much to tell about it. I am the one that is in the best shape and the most experienced on a bike, so I stay as the lead bike, and the rest followed me. It is too early to teach them about team skills

When we got back, Nisha is waiting for us. I greet her and politely let her know, “We don’t talk business until after breakfast. Mealtime is a time to socialize and unwind. If there is anything important to be discussed, we do so before or after the meal, never during.”

Before we split to have our showers, I introduce Nisha to everybody and explain, “She is doing an article about me and by extension you as well. She will have free rein to go anywhere and ask anything today. Answer honestly, but if she asks about the companies that we do business with, send her to Dahlia or me. There are things we are doing with NeXT and Motorola that we are not allowed to talk about.”

Dahlia and Moira are the first to shower, so they can cook breakfast while the rest of us take our showers.

As the meal winds down, I announce, “I know we haven’t had morning meetings before, but for my sanity, starting today, we are going to try it. So, if you wouldn’t mind, remain seated until you are dismissed.”

Everybody acknowledges what I said. Moira is in the process of getting up to clear the table when I said it but sits back down.

I begin, “Carol, I want you to work with Kevin today.”

Kevin responds, “I thought we were working different companies for you.”

“The bike and boat companies may merge in the future. Besides, it is a family of companies, all under the holding company. There can be a lot of intermingling of staff to best suit our needs. Advertising is a big part of sales, and she is working on advertising today. Part of your task for the day is to help her learn about sales. It isn’t her primary job, but given that she will have the ultimate say in one of the companies, she needs a basic understanding.

“You both have a lunch meeting with our new marketing firm. Before that, I want you to head out and collect magazines we could potentially advertise in. At the meeting, you can discuss our future projects and including Motorola and NeXT. Just be sure they know it is all confidential. I want price quotes on the creation of a print ad for us, and a list of your recommendations on which magazines we should advertise with. Be sure to talk with the marketing agent about that because they will likely have ideas.”

Carol acknowledges, “Got it.”

I continue, “When you get back, Carol, you can start making kits again. Kevin, I want you looking over our patents, especially anything to do with bikes and boats.

“Dahlia and Moira, every phone call, I want both of you on the line. Let whoever you are talking with know, Moira is on the line for training purposes. Dahlia, you take the lead. I want you to get a hold of NeXT today. I have a meeting with the chief editor for Times Colonist next week, and I need to know what I am allowed to talk about. I want a writeup on it before you leave today.

“Kim, now that you started getting an idea of what your job will entail, I want you to start looking into something specific. I want a plan for security drawn up. Do we need an alarm? What do we need for safes? Do we need to hire a security firm until we get you all trained up? At what point do we need to upgrade security? What, if anything, do we need to do in order to vet new employees? Once a week, I want a writeup on everything you discovered or recommend. By the time summer is here, and we hire people to help Carol and Kevin, I want a complete writeup on everything security-related.

“I will be with Nisha for the next while as she interviews me. Then I will show her around. After that, she is on her own to wander and ask questions.”