The InterWise Story - Chapter 4
When Microsoft did not acquire us, the sky did indeed fall. And not because of any burning desire on our part to get acquired but rather because when they did not acquire us, they did very much acquire someone else... MS went from being a major customer to a deadly competitor, and we went from exit material to fire sale literally overnight.
We settled into death row gracefully, and I managed to buy us some time to regroup and think. Death row is a rather poisonous place to be, and it took all I got to keep the company from disintegrating and the salesforce from turning into dust. In the time earned, we reinvented the company, but the price tag that came along with it was in the millions, money the company did not have... but we did have a story.
In a big conference room laden with mahogany wood in downtown Manhattan, the directors convened in a dire mood. Three months after "small and mushy" with a blue logo pulled the rug from under our feet came the moment of truth. The directors thought they were coming to a wake. It was my job to persuade them it is actually a brith, and that in a brith like in a brith, they are expected to leave a hefty check on the way out.
The meeting went on for hours. I described the future in its tamed, well-behaved version, and the directors asked what if... what if the money will not suffice, what if the technology will not work, what if no one will want to buy, what if the market will go in a different direction, what if.. what if.. what if.. in an everlasting loop. No decision is also a decision and in this particular setup, a deadly one. The air was heavy, and the energy in the room hit rock bottom. The clock on the wall showed midnight. It was clear to me that we had long left the world of reason and that we were now dwelling deep in dark emotional matter I cannot control. I was out of time and out of words... so I let Francois speak.
Francois is a proud french fighter pilot who took his girlfriend to a picnic by the river. Being the french that he is, he put down a checkered blanket and placed a wicker basket full of good stuff on it. Francois opened a bottle of red wine and carefully wet the girl's lips with it, then he bent forward and kissed her. When she asked what was that all about, he replied: "I am Francois, the French fighter pilot. When I kiss red meat, I put red wine". Twenty minutes later and twenty centimeters south, the sequence repeated itself only this time with white wine. When she asked, he retorted, "I am Francois, the French fighter pilot. When I kiss white meet, I put white wine". A little later and a bit further down south at the lady’s next intersection, Francois pours Cognac and... lights it up! Burning, the young lady jumps into the river. When she comes out, she says many things that don’t look good in print. Francois jumps to his feet, stands at attention, and declares with utmost conviction, "I am Francois, the French fighter pilot. When I go down, I go down in flames!"
That is to say, in the name of God in the heavens, and all of the lost souls running around here on earth, too much blood, sweat, and money went into the company already for us to clear the stage now with a faint whimper?! Full steam ahead, and if we do fail in the end, at least we will go down like a proud French fighter pilot... in flames.
We got the money... and landed the damn thing too.
Chapter 5 - Burning the ships
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