package.
Andrei looked at it warily. ‘What is it?’
‘The convention when someone gives you a gift is that you open it to find out.’
Andrei put down his beer and unwrapped the package. It was the napkin from Yao’s on which he had written his growth projections back in the January after Fishbowl was founded, the day he had asked Kevin and Ben to buy into the company. Ben had had it framed, with a brief description of the event and the date inscribed underneath.
‘I’m going to leave the company, Andrei.’
Andrei continued to gaze at the napkin, then put it down on the floor.
‘Andrei?’
‘I heard you.’ He looked at Ben. ‘Why?’
‘I’m done. I don’t really feel I offer anything. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be doing.’
‘You offer a huge amount. Ben, we wouldn’t have got anywhere if you hadn’t been there. Right at the start—’
‘That’s a long time ago now, Andrei.’
‘I still need you.’
Ben gave a short laugh. ‘You’ve got Chris.’
‘Chris isn’t the same.’
Ben shrugged. ‘Could have fooled me.’
Andrei felt a slight sense of panic. There had never been a time when Ben hadn’t been a part of Fishbowl. Even during his senior year at Stanford he had been involved. Andrei knew that Ben’s earlier functions at the company had dissolved and that he should have found a more concrete role for him. Ben had told him that he wanted more to do, and James Langan had talked to Andrei about the need for Ben to have defined responsibilities. Ben had no team, unlike Kevin, President for Getting Things Done, who was responsible for the hardest of the hard core of programmers, coding the most challenging innovations that went on the site. James had had Ben sit in on meetings of the customer intelligence team, and he had come up with ideas from time to time and overseen the research that followed. Some of the ideas eventually made it into practice, but that wouldn’t have justified the position he held or the salary he earned. But none of that, or that fact that Ben and he no longer spoke as they used to in the old days, meant that Andrei was ready to lose him. He had never even contemplated a time when Ben wouldn’t be around. He was one of the original three, the founding Stakhanovites. That was a bond that could never be broken.
‘We can be more specific about your role,’ said Andrei. ‘I know I should have done that.’
Ben shook his head.
‘We’ll give you some people. You can have a team.’
‘To do what?’
‘To do … I don’t know … stuff …’
‘Andrei, there are other things I want to do. I want to be a therapist.’
‘You want to listen to people whine about what their parents did to them when they were in diapers?’
Ben smiled. ‘You want to tell me?’
‘You really want to do that?’
‘Yeah, I really do. That’s why I finished my degree. I’ve got postgraduate training to do. It’s, like, it’s time for me to do it, Andrei. I’ve organized a place in New York on a doctoral program. And, to be honest … I’m just not that interested in Fishbowl any more. It’s not my thing like it’s your thing. It never was. I mean, it’s been a hell of a ride. I wouldn’t have missed it and I’m grateful you gave me the chance. Really. The day you wrote that thing …’ he gestured to the framed napkin on the floor ‘… the day you asked me to be a part of this … you only get one chance at something like that in life. In many lifetimes, and that’s if you’re lucky. You gave it to me. Not to mention nine per cent of … what was the latest valuation I heard? Fifteen billion?’
‘Something like that.’
‘How much is nine per cent of that, anyway?’
‘Around one and a third billion.’
‘I think I’ll be comfortable.’
‘You could have had fifteen per cent if your folks could have raised another twenty thousand.’
‘You know what? I’m not going to lose any sleep.’ Ben looked around. ‘And buy yourself some furniture.’
‘I’m OK.’ Andrei sighed. ‘You really want to leave?’
Ben nodded.
‘Let me ask you the Chris question. Is being a therapist the ultimate, absolutely most important thing you can do?’
‘I never liked that question. I don’t think anyone can really answer a question like that. There’s no one answer. There’s multiple answers.’
Andrei looked at him blankly. He didn’t see why there couldn’t be one answer.
‘Look, Fishbowl has been a