Disclaimer - I do not own Silicon Valley,HBO does.
Chapter 2 - Jared Dunn
So when I came back, I managed to convince the Big Head, Dinesh and Gilfoyel to sign on. They weren't happy with the 1%, but I put my foot down to either accept 1% of a potential billion-dollar company and future salary in millions or I would find someone else. I was quite happy when Gilfoyel said, "Richard has grown balls." So they agreed and now we were having our launch party.
And outside the window, I saw the man we were waiting for. Jared Dunn. I quickly put down my beer and got up to open the door.
"Hi, Jared. What's up?"
"Hi, Richard. I heard you were having a launch party. Am I early?"
"No. The party is just pathetic. Want to come in?", I said snorting.
"Yes please." He said presenting me the bottle of…. Something.
"Oh, and in case, Gavin sent you. I want you to know, you won't be able to convince me. I am going with Peter Gregory. I have made my decision.", I told him inviting him in and walking inside to sit on a chair and offering him one as well.
"That's not why I am here actually. Its just….watching you say no to 10 million dollars to build your own thing, there is just something very exciting about that.", he said with a wide-eyed wonder looking at me. I always felt pity for Jared when I watched the show. He was the most unappreciated character of the show.
"Whoa….Whoa…Whoa Whoa Whoa…. What the fuck are you doing here? What is he doing here? This is a private party buddy. I am gonna ask you to leave." Erlich said in a very annoying way that pissed me off.
But I didn't say anything not yet.
"Oh, I didn't mean to…" He said getting up from the chair.
"You know in the state of California you can kill a man for entering your house without permission."
"Okay. I understand. Thank you." He said with a resigned look at the insulting dismissal. He walked to the door but gathered some courage and turned back to me.
"Richard I just want to say, that I really respect what you are doing here. And if you could ever use someone with my business development skillset then I would love to be a part of this." He nodded as he said his peace.
"The fuck you will be!", Erlich the asshole announced. As Jared was just about to walk outside the door, I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
"Jared, do you trust me? Do you believe in me?", I asked Jared looking him in the eye.
He didn't reply for a few seconds but then his answer came. "Yes".
"1%. You are hired. Don't fail me, Jared. Now come inside and enjoy the party as shitty as it is.", I said slinging an arm around his shoulder and bringing him in. By the shocked, surprised and then an extremely happy look, he seemed agreeable to the arrangement.
"The fuck?",Erlich exclaimed. Others were just looking on in wonder at the new Richard.
"Holyshit! Who are you and what did you do to Richard.", That was Gilfoyle.
"I am an alien face snatcher who killed and buried Richard in a desert and stole his face. And now in looking for new victims. Preferably with one's with a beard like yours.", I said in a monotone voice filled with dry sarcasm.
"Cool," he said in a similar dry voice but with a twitch of his lips into a smile as he took another sip of his beer and turned back to his work station.
I felt Erlich was about to reprimand me when the doorbell rang and his present to us arrived. I am not the old Richard and if I had to pay the dam stripper then at least I was going to get a strip dance. By the end of the night, all of us were wasted, I had managed to get multiple lap dances and even got Jared, Dinesh and Bighead a few. Their faces were hilarious for the first few but then they eventually relaxed. The best part was that I managed to get Erlich so wasted that he ended up paying instead of me.
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The next day, Jared started working on the business plan. He also sat down with all the members of the team to understand what their role would be with the company. I wanted things to go the same way did on the show with Big Head. So as Big Head heard all the terrible things Gilfoyel, Dinesh and Elrich said about him. The crack about Mass Effect 3 was especially cruel according to me.
Big Head was gone all night and then as in the show, I went to find him at the hookers place, we had a heart to heart and he decided he was quitting silicon valley. He departed from there to pack up his cubical at Hooli where I knew he would be snatched up by Gavin Bellson.
I got home at Seven-ish in the morning.
"Jared!", I called out to the sleeping Jared as I closed the door.
"Sorry. I am sorry that I was sleeping.", he said waking up with a shock from the desk.
Hearing my voice others came to the hall as well.
"So… Richard should I add Big Head to the tables or not?", Jared asked.
"Big Head is out. He was leaving the valley but I think he got hired by Gavin. I am not sure but I think he wanted to get back at me for stealing you away from him.", I said.
"How do you know?", Dinesh asked in shock.
"I have my sources.
Jared! You are with me. We need to lock a business deal down and then I need you to do what you have to, to register Pied Piper as a company. I don't think peter will cut a check for my personal account.", I said giving Jared marching orders.
"Yes boss.", he said taking his laptop and following me to the kitchen.
I came back into the room to look at Gilfoyle. "Gilfoyle, you are good at hacking correct? I need to talk to you later to help me with a fuck up."
XxxxxX
So I got the call from Big Head I was expecting. Gavin Belson was trying to rip me off with Nucleus. He even went and announced without having a product ready or the algorithm figured out.
We also had our meeting with Peter. He liked the business plan but we told him to hold off on giving us the cheque till we could register the Pied Piper name. But we did sign an agreement so neither of us could back out now.
Right now I was sitting at my work station in the Incubator, experimenting with Richard's brain and using it create things using the ideas I saw on the show, that Richard hadn't even thought off yet.
"Richard….", Jared tried to grab my attention as I was working on the algorithm.
"Hmm…"I answered Jared.
"Richard we have a problem with the name Pied Piper. Someone already owns the name and runs a business with that name in California. So we need to change that name.", Jared told me.
Then everybody started giving me shit about the name. I just took it all in with a smile. I liked the name it was going to stay. Thankfully this time I hadn't bought a Margareta machine or ugly shirts so I had flexibility when it came to the name.
"Name stays. Jared, I have a job for you. Go down to whoever owns that name and buy it for me. Your spending limit is 3k max. If they don't agree, just add a 'P' to Piper. That should protect us on the legal side. And when and if you make a handshake deal, close it down with paperwork as fast as possible. I don't want him to get greedy later on when he hears about how big the company potential is. Can I trust you with this Jared?", I asked Jared with one hand on his shoulder looking him in the eyes.
"You can count on me, Richard. I won't disappoint you.", He responded as a loyal puppy would to its master. There are times I feel bad about manipulating Jared like this, but he was hungry for appreciation, love and friends and I was dam well going to give it to him in exchange for his loyalty.
"Of course I can. I have complete trust in your ability.", he shook his head like a soldier would and left the house to complete his mission.
"I definitely like this Richard better." I head Dinesh whisper to Gilfoyle. I said nothing but smiled and got back to work.
By the end of the day, the name was ours for 2000 dollars with all the papers signed. I rewarded Jared by taking him out to the bar and buying him drinks and dinner and loudly acknowledging his contribution to all the patrons of the bar by raising a glass in a toast.
I didn't think I would ever see him this happy. Next day Pied Piper was all over the internet creating a buzz with no backlash. Well except for Erlich somehow still managing to kidnap a child from a gas station.
XxxxxX