The Start-Up 3 Beautiful Code Read online

  “Do you have a laptop?” the agent asked.

  “Oh. Yes.” Adam had recently inherited a MacBook Air from Amelia. Given to her by Tom Fenway, Silicon’s richest venture capitalist, as a gift for joining his tech incubator, it was by far the most expensive thing Adam had ever owned. Even weeks after Amelia gave it to him, he kept half-expecting someone to come to his door and claim it.

  “Please remove it.”

  “Oh, right.”

  One day, Adam thought, he’d be a pro at this routine and look back and laugh. But for now, this was only the second flight he’d ever taken and his embarrassment was mixed with giddy excitement. This wasn’t just any flight: Adam and Amelia were going to Maui on a fully-paid weekend trip, courtesy of the annual Maui Waves of Disruption tech conference.

  Organized by TechCrunch, the leading Silicon Valley blog, the conference showcased thirty promising young companies that would show off their products at the two-day expo. Journalists, investors, and spectators from around the globe paid big money to attend, checking out the new companies by day and networking at huge hotel parties by night.

  Adam and Amelia’s start-up, Doreye, had been selected for the expo on November 15, exactly a month earlier, and Adam had hardly been able to concentrate on anything since. A free vacation was nice, but even better: Lisa was going to be in Maui the very same weekend for Patty Hawkins’s sister’s wedding. Adam couldn’t believe his good fortune: finally, fate or God or whatever was starting to make up for the shabby life he and Amelia had had until now.

  He was fairly certain he had bombed all his final exams for the term, but he didn’t care. Who could think about schoolwork when he was about to be on a Hawaiian beach with the super hot love of his life?

  “I think the gate’s that way,” Amelia said when he joined her on the other side of security. He couldn’t help but be impressed by his sister’s calm demeanor. Since the summer, she’d gotten comfortable presenting Doreye and dealing with the press around it, and she seemed to be treating this like just one more interview, as though flying to Maui to stay in a five-star hotel was a normal part of everyday business.

  “Aren’t you even a little excited?” he asked as he zipped his bag shut.

  Amelia looked up. “Honestly?” Her face broke into a huge grin. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited for anything.” She had been working around the clock for the past three months, struggling to balance Doreye with her schoolwork. The only break she ever took was on Wednesday nights when she went to the Lair to play VOSTRA, the virtual reality game her friend George had introduced her to. Otherwise, her autumn term had been a blur of coding, press interviews, meetings with her engineering team, class, and just enough homework not to flunk out. She and Adam hadn’t had time for movie nights or anything outside of Doreye, and she was glad they had the flight—just the two of them—to hang out a little.

  She laughed as Adam pulled her into a playful hug. This was going to be such an epic weekend.

  CHAPTER 2:

  Hawaii 2.0

  When they exited the terminal in Maui, they saw a man in a suit holding a sign that read Adam and Amelia Dory.

  The twins looked at each other. “Our driver,” Adam mouthed, with a grin. They had a driver. And that was after the first class seats and flight attendants who had actually known their names and handed each of them a glass of champagne and real silverware for dinner, along with a little package of socks, mints, and a tooth brush.

  The Land Rover pulled into the Ritz Carlton, a magnificent white fortress surrounded by lavish tropical gardens, fountains, and palm trees. Observing that the trunks of the palm trees were wrapped with Christmas lights, Amelia wondered what it was like to sing holiday carols when it was 90 degrees outside. A beautiful Hawaiian woman wearing a white wrap dress greeted them with leis made of real flowers and led them to their room.

  Their suite was airy and bright. Sunlight reflected off the teak wood walls and floor. Two queen beds with plush white comforters faced French windows that opened onto a majestic stone-carved balcony overlooking the whitest sand and bluest water Amelia had ever seen.

  Amelia walked out onto the balcony. “Adam, come look at this view!”

  But Adam was rummaging through his suitcase for his phone charger. He had forgotten to shut off his phone on the plane and the battery had died; he had been stressed about finding a power outlet since landing more than an hour ago. She looked back and saw him plugging the phone into the wall and furiously tapping a text message.

  “Who are you so anxious to get ahold of?”

  Adam looked up. “I told Lisa I’d text her when we got here.”

  Amelia was afraid of that. She knew Lisa was going to be here for the Hawkins-Bronson wedding and was worried she’d be a distraction to Adam. “Are you going to see her?”

  “Probably,” Adam said. Who was he kidding? He was going to see her even if it killed him. “This place is so romantic, how could we not hang out?”

  Amelia swallowed. She also knew that Sundeep was here, and that Lisa had yet to break the news to Adam that she was secretly seeing Sundeep.

  Amelia’s mind flashed back to that fall’s English class. Of all the classes she rarely paid attention in, the freshman Shakespeare seminar she was taking to make up for the English class she’d failed last spring was the one she paid the least attention to. Which is probably why she’d never noticed that Lisa sat a few rows behind her…until the day the professor had announced partner assignments for the final project, and she had heard him say, “Amelia Dory and Lisa Bristol, analyzing Measure for Measure.” Stunned, she had turned to see Lisa, whose face had gone white. Amelia had put her head in her hands. Seriously? What were the chances?

  Amelia had planned to dart out of class and e-mail Lisa, hoping this whole project could be taken care of virtually, but Lisa caught up to her and suggested they meet the following evening to review the text and make an outline. Amelia reluctantly agreed.

  All of the next day, Amelia was on edge. She felt jealous that Lisa got to date Sundeep, and angry that she was also cheating on her brother. Most of all, though, Amelia felt guilty that she still hadn’t told Adam the truth. She couldn’t bear the thought of his sadness and disappointment. It was the only secret she had ever kept from him.

  Lisa had grabbed a large table at CoHo, the campus coffee shop, and two boys were flirting with her when Amelia arrived. Noticing Amelia, Lisa blushed and shooed them away, motioning for Amelia to take a seat at the table.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt,” Amelia said tartly.

  “You didn’t,” Lisa said.

  Silence.

  “So, I was thinking…” Lisa took a deep breath and turned her attention to the text opened in front of her. Her notebook, full of diligent notes in careful handwriting, was also open, and she tapped her purple pen lightly as she spoke. “I was thinking that the analysis on Measure for Measure is always around Angelo and Isabella, but maybe it would be interesting to think about the relationship between Mariana and Isabella.”

  Amelia hadn’t actually read the play, but she had skimmed the Wikipedia entry on her iPhone on the way to the meeting, and now she scrambled to remember who Mariana was. “Sure,” she said. “That works.”

  Lisa waited for her to say more and, realizing Amelia wasn’t going to, went on. “I think we could set up an interesting dissection of the supporting female characters, and the similarities and differences between Isabella and Mariana, whose moral stances are pretty much antithetical to each other and yet, working together, the women resolve the central dilemma.” Amelia wasn’t reacting and Lisa started to realize she hadn’t read the play. “And, of course,” Lisa continued, “consider the implications of having Mistress Overdone—the prostitute—in the work. Like, is Shakespeare trying to drop a hint that we all prostitute ourselves for something, even a nun like Isabella?”

  Amelia nodded absently. “Sure. That sounds good.”

  “Okay,” Lisa said.
She was beginning to sound a little frustrated by Amelia’s neutrality. “Well, I actually really like this stuff, so what if I take a stab at the outline and I’ll e-mail it to you?”

  “Great,” Amelia said, starting to stand up. If she sat there any longer, she was certain that Sundeep would walk in and join them, and she’d have to pretend not to care.

  Lisa looked at her in disbelief. Was Amelia really going to let her do this whole project? Lisa wasn’t letting her off that easily. “Let’s meet again later this week to talk about it,” she said.

  Amelia stopped and searched for an excuse. There was nothing. She sighed. “Yeah, sure.”

  By the following week, Lisa had e-mailed Amelia a thorough outline of her proposed thesis. Amelia read it on her laptop during class. It actually made the book sound kind of interesting, which led her to read the play. Well, most of it.

  When they met again, Amelia had been a little more animated. Lisa had proposed that they write that Isabella used Mariana for her own gain, and, therefore, was no better than Mistress Overdone, the Madame in the local brothel. But Amelia insisted Isabella had done what was necessary to stick to her moral grounds and that made her strong and respectable. Besides, she said, Mariana didn’t have strong morals, she just wanted to get married.

  “I think you misunderstand Mariana,” Lisa had said.

  Amelia looked at Lisa. There was something deliberate and serious in Lisa’s tone. Was Lisa talking about Mariana, or about herself? Either way, Amelia respected Lisa’s assertiveness and agreed to write the first draft of the paper.

  When they met to review the paper the following week, Lisa had basically rewritten Amelia’s draft, fixing the broken prose and circular logic. It was a lot better. Amelia was a little embarrassed.

  “You did a really good job,” Lisa offered, “I love this part.” She pointed to the one section of the paper she hadn’t changed.

  “Shakespeare isn’t my thing,” Amelia deflected.

  “If I had your talent, it wouldn’t be my thing, either.” Lisa smiled.

  They sat in silence for a moment. Amelia hated to admit it, but Lisa was incredibly sweet, and she was actually starting to enjoy their meetings. No one had ever really explained English to her, or forced her to take ownership of her opinions about a character. Even if her attempt at the paper had sucked, it was the first time she had written an essay she hadn’t hated, and seeing Lisa’s improvements made her respect her partner’s ability to understand this stuff.

  “I’m sorry I’ve been a pain of a partner,” Amelia finally said.

  “It’s okay. I wouldn’t have wanted to work with me if I were you, either.”

  More silence.

  “For what it’s worth, I really care about Adam. A lot,” Lisa finally said.

  Amelia looked at her over her glasses.

  “It’s complicated,” Lisa said. “I have an obligation to Sundeep.”

  “I’m not going to break my brother’s heart,” Amelia said. “It’s up to you to tell Adam, but you ought to do it soon.”

  That had been two months ago, and Adam was still in the dark. Amelia had never told him about her project partner, but she had made up her mind to do it after the conference. That would give him winter break to recover, she reasoned, and start the New Year fresh.

  CHAPTER 3:

  Get To Know Me

  T. J. saw Adam and Amelia step off the elevator and gave a big wave to them, excusing himself from the tiki table where he was sipping a mojito with two hot, blond club promoters who had just promised him a VIP table that night at Timba, Maui’s hottest celebrity nightclub. The party theme was “Santas and Snowbabes,” which was code for hot girls in skimpy fur-trimmed costumes.

  “Hey guys!” he said cheerfully, shaking Adam’s hand and giving Amelia a kiss on the cheek. “How’s the room? Was your flight okay?”

  “Yeah, it was cool,” Adam said in his best frat-boy, chill accent. Amelia tried not to roll her eyes, embarrassed for her brother. But T. J. didn’t seem to notice the way Adam tried so hard to be like him. “And you, Amelia? Feeling good?”

  “Yeah,” she smiled. “This place is amazing.”

  T. J. looked genuinely pleased. “Wonderful! Listen, the press is having a conference that starts in about ten minutes. They’re all dying to hear from you, but I didn’t want to commit you if you weren’t feeling up to it.” He looked at Amelia questioningly.

  “Oh, sure. I feel up to it. Adam, are you okay with it?”

  “Great!” T. J. clapped his hands without waiting for Adam to answer. “Let’s go get you ready, then.”

  T. J. led Amelia and Adam to a large meeting room that was set up like a post-game sports conference. There were a hundred or so seats for the press that faced a stage with a long table and three chairs, each accompanied by a bottle of Fiji water. Behind the table was a white board covered in the logos of conference sponsors and, behind that, floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out onto a veranda leading to the white sandy beaches. The press corps was starting to file into their seats, and T. J. gestured to a man with a headpiece and a clipboard.

  “Are these the Dorys? Are they up for joining the panel?” The man smiled at Adam and Amelia.

  “Yes! Mike, meet Adam and Amelia Dory. Mike is the press organizer for the conference.”

  “We’re thrilled to have you,” Mike said as he shook both their hands. “We’re going to get started in a few minutes. Shouldn’t be any difficult questions. No one’s going to be drilling you on technology or funding or anything. They’re just here to get to know the entrepreneurs.”

  Mike smiled at them both as he snapped his fingers at an assistant, gesturing for her to put two more chairs on the stage for Adam and Amelia. Then, responding to something broadcast in his headpiece, he ran off.

  “Wow.” Adam turned to Amelia and T. J. “This is so official.”

  T. J. smiled. Back in Palo Alto, Adam and Amelia had done a lot of one-on-one interviews with tech bloggers, but nothing on this scale. T. J. had spent the last six weeks networking with the press, raising excitement for Doreye and making sure that Adam and Amelia had a seat on every high-profile panel.

  T. J. understood that great technology was only part of the formula for a really successful start-up. The other part was about image and perception, making sure users and influential thinkers promoted the brand the way you wanted them to. And this was the part where T. J. really hit his stride. He was determined to guarantee that, when it launched, every cool kid in America was chomping at the bit to download and own Doreye.

  Besides, Amelia had the potential to become an absolute media darling. Sure, at first he’d written her off as awkward and uncool. But then he realized how much America loves a rags-to-riches tale, and what could be better than a foster-kid-turned-successful-entrepreneur story? Not only that, but there weren’t many successful female tech geeks. The more time he’d spent with Amelia, the more he’d started to see past her second-hand clothes, unkempt hair, and chunky glasses. She was actually pretty. Her slim waist and long legs were kind of hot, and with contact lenses and a little mascara, her eyes could be stunning.

  But it wasn’t time for that just yet. People would take more to her now while she was still awkward and poor. Once Doreye started to take off, they’d do a makeover and guys would buy into Doreye because they wanted to sleep with her, while girls would buy into it because they wanted to be her. The only thing people loved more than rags-to-riches, T. J. thought, was ugly-to-hot, and he was planning to accomplish both with Amelia.

  Mike’s assistant led Adam and Amelia to two seats at the middle of the table and adjusted their microphones. In the other seats were two venture capitalists and the CEO and founder of PocketFun, a mobile gaming company worth $2 billion. They smiled as they introduced themselves to Adam and Amelia.

  “You’re with Tom Fenway’s incubator, right? I’ve heard such great things about Doreye,” said one VC. “I can’t wait to see the demo.”

 
; Amelia smiled politely. Adam grinned. “We’ll be sure you get a front row seat!”

  Mike stood on the side of the stage and coughed into a microphone to get the attention of the press, who started to quiet down. He introduced the panel and opened the floor for questions. The journalists immediately focused on Adam and Amelia, hardly asking any questions to the venture capitalists or the guy from PocketFun.

  “Did you come to Stanford expecting to start a business?” a woman in a blue dress asked.

  “Not at all!” Adam answered. “We didn’t even know what we wanted to major in, much less whether we would start a business.”

  “But then Tom Fenway found you?”

  “That’s right. Tom spotted Amelia at University Café and the rest is history.” Adam smiled. He was totally in his element with all these people hanging on his every word.

  “What is the dynamic like in Tom Fenway’s incubator?”

  “It’s great. We all get along really well, and there’s always plenty of free food.” The audience laughed and Adam glowed.

  “Amelia, we haven’t heard much from you,” a young, slender redhead in a white dress piped up from the back. “How are you enjoying Hawaii?”

  Hearing her name startled Amelia. She had been studying the chandelier hanging from the ceiling—a thousand tiny crystals refracting sunlight into the spectrum of visible light. It was absolutely beautiful. Amelia liked when Adam answered the questions and she could just listen. This was the part he loved, and she was happy for him to take care of it.

  She looked at the woman and sat up to speak into the microphone in front of her. “Oh, it’s just wonderful,” she said, thinking about the beauty of the chandelier. “Then again, I’m happy anywhere I can code.” The room laughed lovingly. There was something surreal and comforting about sitting in a room full of people who were so captivated and supportive.