Chapter 6

I suppose it's a cliché, but I threw myself into work at Orient Pacific to help take my mind off Vannie. More accurately, I immersed myself in learning as much about the running of the business as I could. Mrs. Wong was an invaluable resource, but I really couldn't take all her time away from the day-to-day requirements of the company. I worked with the staff wherever possible, and then found some resource materials on my own. I was interested in the contracts we signed and how they were structured. It would give me a guide as to how we might handle new business.

I had taken a number of rudimentary business courses in college, but they were very general and not really suited to the particular needs of this company. When Winston Chen came on board, I would be able to work with him to understand the financials. We would both be in a learning mode. In the meantime, I was on my own. Mr. Yee Fung's health continued to deteriorate. I suspected he was not long for this world.

I asked Charlie to arrange a meeting with Ben Metzler. We hadn't met yet, and since there was a lot riding on his solar panel, I thought it was important. My sister was happy to oblige, and we agreed to get together on a Tuesday, the week after Vannie had returned home. It was a ten am meeting, and if it was convenient, we would have lunch at a nice restaurant near our office.

I also had begun to look for an apartment. Our office was on the edge of Chinatown, and there were a number of condos within a few blocks. I contacted a real estate agency, and they began a search. While I didn't faint when they showed me the price range of my rough specifications, it was far more than I had expected. Over eight hundred dollars a square foot was the minimum, it appeared.

When Tuesday rolled around, I went into the office early. I wanted to be prepared for my meeting with Ben. Plus, I had an appointment to see a potential condominium with my real estate agent early that afternoon. When Charlie and Ben arrived, I was in for a surprise. I suppose I had succumbed to all the old chestnuts about inventors and geniuses. I envisioned a somewhat disheveled man of medium build, unkempt hair, and abstract clothes, complete with pocket protector and horn-rim glasses.

When Charlie ushered Ben into my office, I wasn't sure just what to think. In front of me was a handsome, fairly tall, blonde-haired guy in a navy blazer, tan slacks, and a dark blue oxford shirt. There was no pocket protector in sight, and he didn't wear glasses. I glanced at Charlie and didn't miss the smirk on her face. She knew what I had been thinking, and she was enjoying my confusion.

The introductions were brief and we sat around the coffee table in an informal fashion.

"Ben, I'm sure Charlie has already told you how fascinated we are by your invention. It's an incredible advance in the field of power generation. What made you bring it to us?"

"Charlie can be very persuasive," he grinned. "She said she felt this company could find both manufacturing facilities and capital sources, both of which are essential to launch the project."

"Well, that's the intention all right. Is this ... product past the development or prototype stage?"

"Yes and no. It will never be past the development stage, I hope. The idea is to start here and continue to improve. On the other hand, what you saw with the demonstration Charlie gave was a working prototype. It has a fixed specification and fixed performance parameters."

"That's great. So, with the issuance of a Patent Pending authorization, we could go into production without too much worry about someone scooping us?"

"Yeah ... although I guess I'm a bit paranoid about how many people know about this. So far, there's no sign that anyone's picked up on what I'm doing."

I was surprised. "I didn't even think about security until just recently. We don't have any paperwork or samples, do we?"

"No. Nothing. Everything is locked away in my lab safe. I'm the only person that knows the formula to make it work, and even if someone got a module, they wouldn't be able to accurately analyze it. Like so many things, the real secret is in its simplicity. That's also the reason I'm confident that we can keep the cost down and make it universally affordable."

"Well, I can tell you, you have our undivided attention. Charlie's demonstration was enough to get that, and if the unit is as durable as she suggested, it can't help but be a winner."

Charlie hadn't said a word to this point, listening carefully to my questions and Ben's answers. All the while, they were sitting close to each other on the sofa, her arm entwined through his. Her eyes told the story. She worshipped this guy, and he was the reason for her change in direction. Our brief conversation had given me a feeling of confidence in Ben Metzler, along with a sense that this was a nice guy who wouldn't hurt my sister.

We talked some more about the timing of our project, and then set a date for another meeting in two weeks. At that point, Ben expected he would have the Patent Pending confirmation, and Winston Chen would have been on the job for a week. We could then begin to talk about finance and finding a manufacturer.

Ben and Charlie begged off lunch. They had their own plan and I suspected it didn't have anything to do with solar power. I picked up the phone and called my real estate agent to see if we could move up the viewing of the condo. Timmy "Top Value" Sung agreed, and I told him I would meet him at the tower at one pm. I was anxious to find something convenient and comfortable that would allow me to give back Jeannie and Mike their privacy. I was thinking I had overstayed my welcome, despite their protestations.

I had a sandwich and an ice tea at the deli just down the street from the office, then walked the three blocks to the building that housed the condominium. I arrived before my agent and looked around. The base of the building housed a nice looking restaurant, a barber shop, a convenience store, and a women's clothing boutique. I looked at the board in the lobby and noticed the first three floors were offices: lawyers, an optometrist, another import company, and some miscellaneous businesses. The upper nine floors were condos, with a penthouse at the top.

Timmy Sung met me in the lobby exactly at one and we proceeded up to the eleventh floor. There were only four units on each floor, two on each side of the elevator and stairwell. That meant only one adjoining wall for each unit. He opened the front door and led me inside. The unit was empty with no furniture. It didn't look like anyone had been here for some time.

"How many square feet, Timmy?"

"Uhm ... ten-forty."

"It's large enough," I said idly as I walked through the various rooms. Two bedrooms, a large living room, two full bathrooms, one of them an ensuite, decent size kitchen, small laundry and storage room, big windows looking north and east. It had all the necessities. The stainless steel appliances looked new. The walls were plain white, and it didn't look like anyone had ever painted them.

"Did anyone actually live here?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. It was purchased by someone in Hong Kong several years ago before the Chinese government took over. It may have been an investment, but just looking at it, I think you might be right. I don't see any sign that it's been occupied."

"Who owns it now?"

He looked at his sheet. "A numbered company. No other details."

"I gather you've done all the necessary paperwork to make sure it's a legitimate sale?"

"Yes. Nothing gets listed, much less sold, without that," he assured me.

"How long has it been on the market?"

"Almost a year. There haven't been any offers that I can see. At least, no formal ones."

"What's the market in this area like?" I asked.

"To tell the truth, slow. It's better west of here and south. Even with the low interest rates, I'm working hard to stay even with last year, and that was not a good year."

"Okay. Tell you what, Timmy, let's make an offer. It's listed just under a million if I remember rightly. Why don't we offer eight hundred thousand and see what happens. The worst they can say is no, but that still leaves us a chance to go back."

Timmy was nodding and had a little grin as we talked. I think he liked my strategy.

I liked the unit. It was big enough and bright enough and hadn't been used. It had central heating and air conditioning, along with secure underground parking, a storage locker, and two elevators. The floors were terra cotta tile and Brazilian rosewood. The fit and finish of the unit looked good, and I was sure a bit of paint and some wall hangings would make this place into a decent home for me. I could walk to work regardless of the weather, and all the shops and services I needed were also nearby.

I wasn't in the mood to go from place to place looking for an abode, so I was rather hoping I could cut a deal with the owner of the condo and be done with it. A trip to the furniture store and some advice from Jeannie on what else I needed would pretty well make my new residence complete. I would take a chance that Jeannie's choices would please Vannie. I walked back to the office and settled into my office to continue my studies of Orient Pacific Imports.

I was at the office bright and early the following Monday. It was Winston Chen's first day and I wanted to welcome him and make him feel comfortable. I also wanted him to know just how much I was going to lean on him for financial guidance. It was an area in which I was sure I would never become an expert.

I let him know that he had a week to get oriented, and then the fun would begin. I told him about the meeting with Ben Metzler and what we would need to do when the patent application was acknowledged. He didn't seem to be fazed by it. He let it slip that the pace of activity at Orient Pacific was a good deal slower with far fewer transactions than at the car dealership where he had worked. He said he felt it would give him much more time to concentrate on bigger matters, and in his opinion, that was good.

I was pleased with the way our new controller was going about his job. Like Ben, I took an instant liking to Winston. He had a sense of humor, sharp mind, and was all business when appropriate. I got the feeling from him that he was very happy to be here, and I was confident that we would work well together.

All the while, I had been phoning Vannie irregularly. Once or twice a week I would call just to say hello and ask her how she was. The conversations were not long, but it allowed me to keep in touch with her. I was afraid if I didn't call, she wouldn't call me, and I didn't want to lose contact with her. She sounded okay, but nothing had changed. She was traveling now and then to various cities to introduce a new product line. Her sales success had continued, but not quite to the extent she had in Europe.

If I had one objective when I talked to her, it was to let her know that I loved her, I hadn't forgotten her, and I hadn't given up on us. She accepted all that, but still couldn't offer me any encouragement toward our being together permanently. She begged me to be patient, but then couldn't tell me what I could expect, or when I could expect it. I think we were both frustrated, but I can be a stubborn cuss when I want to be, and with Vannie, I wasn't going to let go until she told me it was over.

In the meantime, my offer was finally responded to by the listing agent and was rejected with no counter offer. I instructed Timmy to offer $850,000, and he said he would look after it. I wanted the unit, but at as low a price as I could negotiate.

I learned something about my younger sister that I should have known all along. She was a terrier when she got hold of something she wanted. First, it was Ben. He never had a chance, but then, as I learned later, he didn't even try to put up a fight. They were made for each other, and the fact that he was Jewish and she was Chinese didn't bother either of them in the slightest.

Charlie was relentless when she had an objective. I think the local and Washington, D.C., patent offices were nearly ready to hire a hit man to deal with her. She nagged them mercilessly about getting the Patent Pending approval, and I think in the end, she accomplished that through sheer persistence and their burning desire to get this woman off their backs. I would never have thought that one woman could affect any kind of positive reaction with the entrenched Washington bureaucracy, but Charlie proved me wrong. The approval was formally granted on Friday, and we were all set for our meeting the following Tuesday.

We had everyone in the board room that day. Mike had taken another day off, and brought Jeannie with him from San Mateo. Charlie was with Ben of course, while Mrs. Wong, Winston, and I made up the balance. Mr. Yee Fung was unable to attend, and Mrs. Wong let me know it was getting close to the end. I made a promise to myself to go visit him again before that happened. It was the least I could do for the man who had so masterfully steered this company after the death of my father.

I like people who come prepared for a meeting. It cuts down on the time spent going over issues that most of us were familiar with. I knew Mrs. Wong would be prepared. She always was. She had the names of several potential manufacturers ready, and some background information on each of them. What surprised me was Winston Chen. He had already searched out capital sources, and had tentatively lined up two lenders for the project without even specifying the product. That brought a smile to everyone at the table.

With the patents now protected, we could discuss the manufacturing needs. That's when things got tricky.

"Ben, what is required for a manufacturer to make your panels?" I asked to begin.

"Well, in the way of equipment, we will need a production line to assemble the components. There are several stages to that process. First, we have to create a template to build up the panels. Then we need to coat the clear acrylic base panel with amorphous silicone before we lay down a flexible light-trapping material on the backside. Then it's protected with a liquid polymer coating. When the coating is cured, we have a finished panel. Got that?"

I didn't see anyone nod in affirmation.

"Okay," Ben continued. "I didn't expect you would. And I'm not really telling you all there is to the process. Enough to say we will need a hundred lineal feet of space for the production line, plus some special equipment to produce and cure the polymer. The flexible light trapping material will be made off-site to begin with due to its unique construction. At some point, it will also have to be brought in-house to make the project meet the financial objectives.

"My principal concern is security. The formula for the light trapping is something I acquired from a guy who gave up on a related project. He wrote it off as a failure and sold me the concept for the price of a meal. I'm sure he didn't know how close he was to making it work. If we can make a go of this, I'll make sure he gets to share in the proceeds. He's earned that much. So that, with the understanding that I'm really taking two known concepts and mashing them together into a kind of sandwich, is the guts of this panel. Obviously, we need to keep a tight lid on the information."

Ben stopped and looked around to see if there were any questions. I think most of us were too lost to come up with a question that would relate to the construction, but Mrs. Wong had one very pertinent question.

"How much capital will we need to make this product?"

"I don't know. I'll need to work with your people to find out. I can say that it won't be anything outrageous. Mostly, it will be finding a suitable building, modifying the facilities to make a safe work environment, installing the necessary coating and curing equipment, and all the other essential parts of a manufacturing plant. If I was going to guess, I would say that we would need somewhere in the vicinity of five million dollars to start up. I don't want to guess at what it would cost to move the flexible light trapping project in with it."

"Having said that, we are going to have to find a chemical company that will make the polymers to my specifications, and keep the project information secure. I can't think of any small resin producers that would be suitable, so that means we'll end up dealing with corporations that specialize, like Dupont or possibly Dow. I'm reluctant to go offshore with this because of the security issue. I think our best bet is with a domestic North American supplier."

"Do you foresee any problem getting one of them interested?"

"Possibly. Resin manufacture is a large scale business. They usually operate on railcar volume, and they would want a significant order to warrant production. We aren't in any position to offer that ... yet. On top of that, they are going to want top dollar for the end product. It's going to require some skillful negotiations to get what both parties want. Our only bargaining chip is the finished product. If they can see what we can see, we have a chance."

This was an obstacle I hadn't anticipated. Without the base resin, the gel couldn't be formulated. But that did bring up a question.

"Ben, how have you been producing the polymer for your prototypes?"

"By hand ... trial and error. I discovered the properties for the panel by accident when I was working on a completely different project. I've been using a commercially available resin and modifying it to get it to perform the way I wanted it to. The problem with that is that it's a good deal more costly. I can't prove it yet, but a fully developed resin should reduce the bulk of the coating and make the unit even more compact. I won't know that for sure until it happens, though."

It was quiet around the table for a few moments as we digested the information. It was Mike that spoke up first.

"Harry, it's universal in product development that initial costs are higher than the ultimate target. There are the write-offs for development, testing, start-up production, and smaller volumes. It usually takes some months for the product to obtain significant sales and then, predictably, the costs begin to drop and the profitability rises. This solar panel of Ben's is so incredibly unique, I can see being able to market it initially for a good deal more than your target price. When critical mass is developed, the costs come down and, at the discretion of the company, so does the price. In this case, it's unlikely that you'll have any competitors for a while, so the ball will be in our court."

I thought about that, and I could hear murmurings of agreement around the table.

"What do you think, Ben?"

"He thinks it's fine!" Charlie jumped in, poking her boyfriend in the arm.

Ben shrugged. "What she said," he grinned. That brought a laugh from the group.

"Okay ... here's what I suggest," I began. "Ben and Charlie will team up to source resin companies that might be interested. Ben, my suggestion is to let Charlie do the talking and you do the explaining." That brought another round of laughter from the table.

"Winston, you and I will interview your financial sources and see just how much money we can raise for this product. Ben, we will need anyone we talk with to sign confidentiality agreements."

"May I make a suggestion," Mike spoke up. "Why don't we set up a series of demonstrations here at the office for both the potential lenders and raw material suppliers. Assuming they sign the confidentiality agreement, we can show the product and gauge their interest."