and began to jot down bullet points on the back. ‘Eighteen-month deal … Exclusive … Guarantee of a million in the first year—’
‘Six months.’
‘Sure, sorry. Guarantee of a million in the first six months, two million in the following twelve months … Fifteen per cent commission … Control of ads …’
‘And the first million – half up front and half after six months,’ added Andrei. ‘Don’t forget that.’
Standish nodded, making a note. He gazed at the list. Merritt peered at the page and pointed at a couple of things, then looked at him meaningfully. Standish ignored him. ‘I think what you’re asking for on the commission is … that may be a little too steep. I’m going to have to go back to my board with this. I need a little something.’ He looked up. ‘What if we split the difference? Seventeen and a half?’
Andrei shrugged. ‘Make it eighteen.’
Standish smiled, crossing out fifteen and writing eighteen. ‘OK. I am pretty sure I can get this past my board. But I need to know something. If I do that, if I get my board to agree, do we have a deal? What I can guarantee you is that if my board agrees to this, they won’t renegotiate it if you come back with something else. And they’re not going to let it hang out there. They won’t allow 4Site to become part of some kind of negotiation where you’re talking to other parties and you’re playing us off against someone else. If I get you these terms – and these are great terms for you, Andrei – that’s it. That will be 4Site’s bottom line, and you’ll have twenty-four hours to agree. After that it will be off the table, and if we do offer you anything again, it probably won’t even be as good as the terms I started with.’ Standish paused, looking to see Andrei’s reaction. ‘Now, I can talk to my board first thing tomorrow. I can have a draft letter of agreement with you end of day. That means you’ll have until the end of the following day to agree – then it’s off. And it’s going to be our bottom line. I’m not joking.’ Standish put out his hand. ‘On these terms, do we have a deal?’
Andrei gazed at him.
‘Yes or no?’
Andrei nodded.
Standish smiled, shaking his hand.
‘Send me through the draft,’ said Andrei and he got up. Ben and Kevin got up as well.
The two 4Site executives watched them leave the restaurant.
‘What an arrogant prick,’ muttered Merritt.
Ed Standish laughed. ‘What would you have said if he’d gone for three years? That he was a stupid prick?’
‘He worked you over, Ed. Eighteen per cent? We’ve still got to sell this to the board.’
‘Easiest sell I’ve ever done.’
‘They’ll kill us. What was wrong with you? He was begging for the money up front. Couldn’t you see that?’
‘Of course I could see that.’
‘You could have got him to sign up for anything as long as you were dangling that half million in advance. I would have—’
‘What, Andy?’ demanded Standish sharply. ‘What would you have done? Tried to screw every last dime out of him? And how long is he going to stick with us then? Do you understand the potential this website has? Have you thought about it? This is the best fucking deal 4Site has ever done. It would be the best deal at twice the price.’
Merritt snorted.
Standish chose to ignore that. ‘You want to eat? I’m hungry.’ He looked around for a waiter. ‘All I’d like to know,’ he said, as he waited for Lopez to come over, ‘is what we have to do to invest in this company.’
Outside, on University Avenue, the three founders of Fishbowll walked away.
‘Whoa!’ whooped Kevin, fists in the air. ‘Dude! Awesome!’
Andrei stopped. Suddenly he was trembling. His heart was thumping.
‘Where did you learn to do stuff like that?’ demanded Kevin. ‘I would have said yes to the first deal.’
‘That was pretty damn impressive, Andrei,’ said Ben.
Andrei shrugged. He didn’t know where he had got the idea, or the courage, to do what he had done. All he knew was that the first deal was no good because he had to get money up front. A guarantee of money in arrears was no use to him, and if he wasn’t going to get that, nothing else mattered. Once he had decided to push back over that, he had just kept going and pushed back on everything. He was just as astonished at