really work.’
‘It’s working,’ said Chris. ‘What else do you need to see?’
‘What if it doesn’t last?’
‘Doesn’t last? Andrei, I think you’ve got something here that in another year or two is going to be established as one of the truly iconic things on the internet.’
‘I bet you thought that about FriendTracker.’
‘No, I never thought that about FriendTracker. FriendTracker was ridiculous. It came out of a bet between me and this guy I worked with on one of my other ventures, Josh Henkler, about who could come up with the most repulsive, slimy, disgusting internet idea and make it work – “work” being defined as the first to reach a hundred thousand users. And I thought what could be more disgusting than a program that rates your friends?’
Andrei looked at him sceptically. ‘You never told me that before.’
‘It’s true. I’m not proud of it. I ask you, is that what friendship’s about? Rating people? But you know what? People loved it. People wanted this hideous thing. And what for? Not to show someone how good a friend they were. No, it was, like, I’m going to use this to get rid of the friends I don’t really like. I’m going to show them how much I despise them and hurt them as much as I can in the process. I’m going to alienate them from all their other friends and leave them bereft. That’s when it really took off – when people started using it to piss their friends. We had suicides, Andrei! And you know what? With every suicide, we got more users! What kind of a world, huh? I had to promise to keep doing stuff to tone it down, but I never did. We’d do something cosmetic and say we’d made sure it would never happen again. No one really wanted me to do anything except the moms and dads of the kids who’d killed themselves, and they didn’t use the site, right? Everyone else who made a noise forgot about it after ten minutes. But it was a fad. It wasn’t a sustainable business. The Ukrainian idiots who bought it had no idea. Getting a return out of that business, that was about timing. All timing. That was all there was to it.’
‘Aren’t you scared the Ukrainians are going to come break your legs some day?’
Chris laughed.
‘Seriously. You should talk to my father. He could tell you some stories about Ukrainian gangsters.’
‘Look, Andrei, Fishbowl isn’t FriendTracker. Believe in this thing that you’ve made. It’s real. It’s awesome. It’s not going away.’
Andrei didn’t reply. What if the issue wasn’t Fishbowl, but him? What if he didn’t have what it took to lead it? Maybe it should be someone who had some experience. Maybe it should be Chris.
‘I think James is right,’ said Chris. ‘The market’s hot for us right now, but that doesn’t mean you’ve got to do the IPO. You have time. Fishbowl’s not going away. You have the most targeted offering for advertisers in the world. They’ll pay in blood for your data. Andrei, what we’ve got is a whole new model. That’s what you’ve built here. That’s as solid as a rock.’
Andrei watched him doubtfully.
‘The IPO … you can take your time.’ Chris paused. ‘Let me set up that meeting with Bob Leib. He’s a good guy. They’re all vampires, but Bob’s the best of them. I mean he’s not always out to suck your blood. Occasionally, he looks up from the carcase for a second. Let’s hear what he’s got to say. He’s a very good judge of the market.’
But a week later, when Chris called from LA, he hadn’t set up the meeting. And he hadn’t set it up a fortnight later, or a month later. He hadn’t even called Leib to try. As it turned out, that meeting wouldn’t take place for another year.
Instead, Chris set up another meeting – with Andrei, James, Kevin and Ben. He had had an idea, one that had nothing to do with a possible IPO. An idea that at some level had been percolating in his mind ever since a certain evening watching ping pong with Ben during the first, wild summer of Fishbowl in La Calle Court.
28
‘EDGAR ALLEN VANDER,’ said Chris. He looked around the meeting room at Andrei, Ben, Kevin and James. ‘Ever heard of him?’
They stared back at him blankly.
‘I’ve heard of Edgar Allen Poe,’ said Ben.
‘That was his great-uncle.’
‘Really?’
‘Not sure. Would you like him to be? With Edgar Allen Vander,’ said Chris