world, not just invested money in the self-interested hope of walking away with a fortune reaped from somebody else’s intellectual property. Not that FriendTracker had been the world’s most outstanding site. Andrei suspected that the algorithms underlying it had been fairly crude. What he liked about Chris, when they met at the restaurant, was that he admitted it himself.
‘I kept telling them,’ said Chris, throwing back one of Mang’s signature mango mojitos and looking around for a waitress to order another, ‘the algorithm was primitive. What else do you expect? What was neat was the way we got people to use the site anyway so we could get their feedback to evolve it. To be honest, the whole thing was just a huge Beta all the way through, just a work in progress.’ He broke off as a waitress approached. ‘Miss, can I have another? Guys? Yeah? OK, another one all round.’ He looked back at Andrei. ‘I was kind of proud of that. You know, I think if we’d kept it going, by today, I think we’d have had a pretty good bunch of algorithms.’
‘So do you regret selling?’ asked Kevin.
‘I got a shitload of cash for it.’
‘Maybe you could have got more if you’d got the algorithm right.’
‘Maybe. But what was it? A site where you could see if your friends were shitting on you. Dude, life’s too short. I don’t want to be setting myself up here to give you advice but, guys, what you’ve got to ask yourself is, are you doing the single most important thing you can possibly be doing? I’m not saying there is a one most important thing, objectively, for all people to do. Everyone’s going to define that in a different way. To some people, the most important thing is to change the world. To some people, it’s to have a good time. To the Aboriginals of Central Australia, it’s to honour the Dreamtime. As long as you’re not hurting anybody, define it as you will. But you’ve got to look at yourself, and say, “Me, Andrei Koss, or Kevin Embley, or Ben Marks, does Fishbowll give me the best shot at doing the most important thing that I want to do?” Because if it doesn’t – and a site to see if your friends are shitting on you was fun but it absolutely was not the most important thing in the world – so if it doesn’t, then sell the hell out of that thing and go do something else. Seriously.’ Chris sat back as the next round of mojitos neared. ‘That’s what I’m saying.’
Kevin nodded. ‘Cool.’
Chris looked at Andrei. ‘What are they offering you for Fishbowll?’
Kevin and Ben looked at him as well. They would have liked to know.
‘I don’t know,’ said Andrei.
Chris stared at him for a moment, then laughed.
‘I don’t know.’
‘You mean you don’t ask?’
Andrei shook his head.
‘Well, shit, that is funny.’ Chris shook his head disbelievingly. ‘You don’t even ask?’
‘I keep telling him he should find out,’ said Kevin.
‘What about you, Ben? Don’t you want to know?’
Ben shrugged. ‘Andrei’s got seventy-six per cent of the company.’
Chris picked up his glass. ‘Here’s to not even wanting to know what your company’s worth!’
Andrei looked at him quizzically.
‘I’m not mocking you, Andrei. I’m admiring you. Most guys, the first thing they do when they sniff a little revenue is spend their time talking to VCs. Spend so much time, they usually stop doing what got them that far in the first place, and that’s the end of the business. Pick up your glass, Andrei Koss. That’s a toast I’ve never made before.’
Andrei warily picked up his glass.
‘To you guys,’ said Chris, glancing in turn at each of them. ‘To not wanting to know what your company’s worth.’
Andrei sipped silently from his mojito and put the glass down. Chris glanced at him, then launched into a story about one of his other start-ups.
The food came in a succession of dishes that Chris described and explained. He did most of the talking that night. At twenty-eight, with the things he had done and the places he had travelled, he had so much more to talk about than they did. He told them about the time he had just spent with the Aboriginals in Arnhem Land, and his time two years earlier in the Amazon. And there were stories about the big names in the internet world he knew. He did a little name-dropping for Kevin and Ben’s sake. Andrei hardly said