Chairman

After a few hours of grinding, Sanjay got up from his bed, freshened up, and put on his suit for the day's meeting.

Jiji also dressed up; Sanjay had requested the hotel staff to deliver a dress for her. As a five-star hotel, they usually kept some emergency clothing for their guests. After putting it on, she gave Sanjay a goodbye kiss and returned to her hostel, with plans to come back later that night.

Sanjay headed to the lobby, where his uncle was already waiting for him.

"Hey Sanjay, enjoyed last night?" His uncle had seen him bringing a girl to his room and was cool with it.

"Uncle, you also enjoyed, right?" Sanjay replied, noticing the red mark on his uncle's neck.

"Haha!! This is the time to enjoy, kid. Let's go, or we will be late." They both got into the car without further discussion on the topic.

"So, Sanjay, what are you planning to do? I think they might force you to sell both BuzzTalk and Instagram," his uncle expressed concern for his nephew.

"I know, uncle. I'm not planning to sell, but I am very much interested in knowing what they would offer," Sanjay said, showing no concern.

Soon they arrived at the Twitter office in Silicon Valley, where they were not taken seriously. Sophia came to greet them and escorted them to meet the chairman. After Sanjay entered the room, she left, leaving them alone to talk.

There were only two people in the room: a man in his late fifties and a woman in her early twenties.

"Hello Sanjay, how are you?" The man in his late fifties extended his hand for a shake, already aware that this young-looking boy was Sanjay, thanks to Sophia.

"Hello Mr. James, it's nice to meet you," Sanjay returned the pleasantries with a smile and a firm handshake. James exchanged a brief handshake with his uncle as well.

"Do you need anything? Cappuccino? Latte?" James offered.

"Cappuccino will work fine. Thanks," Sanjay replied, not wanting to offend.

James signaled his young secretary to bring the coffee. Sanjay noticed the secretary's disheveled hair and recognized the perfume as the same one worn by James.

"So, Sanjay. I would not beat around the bush. I called you today to negotiate the acquisition of your company BuzzTalk in India," James stated, waiting for Sanjay's reply. At that moment, the secretary returned with the coffee.

"And how much are you offering?" Sanjay asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Your company is not worth that much. We are only acquiring it because we don't want to waste time capturing the Indian market. We will give you 10 million US dollars for the entire share and, if you are willing, an extra 500K US dollars for your new photo uploading venture. Everyone knows that without a big angel investor, you can't fight a big behemoth like us. It's better if you sell the company to us," he said, not trying to hide his fangs of acquiring the company in one go.

He showed no concern for Instagram, considering it to be a failed venture despite the huge marketing and investment, and instead viewed it as a genuine offer to create a competitor against Flickr, a popular photo-sharing platform at the time.

"Oh! But I have a different figure in mind," Sanjay said, writing an amount on a piece of paper and passing it to James.

James frowned upon seeing it. "Is this a joke, Sanjay? Who in their right mind asks for 50 million dollars for such a small company?"

"This is not for my company. This is for me, to keep my mouth shut about your relationship with your secretary," Sanjay said confidently, sipping his coffee. His uncle, who had been silently observing, was shocked at what his nephew was saying.

"You! Who do you think you are?" James shouted, and his secretary was in shock.

"The one who is going to destroy your career. Imagine what will happen if the news is leaked to the media," Sanjay smiled and looked at James.

"You don't have any proof. I will destroy you!"

"I don't need any proof. Your wife will find proof before divorcing you." James was shocked. His wife's family was among the investors of Twitter and one of the most powerful families in the world, the Rothschilds.

His position was only there because they put him in that place. They could destroy him anytime they wanted, if they thought he was tarnishing their family name.

Sanjay didn't know this; he had only mentioned it because he thought the divorce laws in the USA were stringent, often awarding a significant percentage of the husband's property to the wife.

James was visibly concerned. He hadn't expected Sanjay to come after him; otherwise, he would not have called him for such a small company. Unsure of what to do, he couldn't give Sanjay money, as doing so would imply an admission of guilt.

"Sanjay, why don't we both take a step back? Why don't I leave your company alone, and you forget about what happened today. It's not that I am accepting what you are saying; I just don't want to ruin my reputation and waste my time on false accusations," James suggested, concealing his worry.

"Sure, if you like that," Sanjay smiled and agreed.

Soon, both he and his uncle left the Twitter office with smiles on their faces.

"Nephew, why are you smiling? How did you know about his affair? Is it true?" his uncle asked, intrigued by Sanjay's expression.

"Yes, it's true, uncle," Sanjay admitted, but he wondered why James's reaction was different than he expected. He had anticipated James to be angry and throw them out of his office, but the reaction was completely different. Perhaps it had something to do with his wife.

"Then why did you give in to him so easily? If you had insisted more, he might have paid you," his uncle asked, waiting for an explanation.

"Uncle, do you know how we can earn more money and make our venture successful in a short time?" Sanjay asked his uncle.

"Advertisements?" his uncle pondered.

"Correct. And do you know how to make the biggest advertisement such that everyone knows about it?" Sanjay asked, keeping his plans to himself.

"No, what is it?" his uncle had no idea about Sanjay's strategy.

"You will know in a few days," Sanjay smiled, keeping his thoughts private. His uncle didn't inquire further, hoping that his nephew had a solid plan. He didn't want Sanjay to get hurt by any potential failure but acknowledged that his nephew was remarkably mature for his age. Sometimes, he even wondered who was the more mature person, him or his nephew.

After returning to the hotel room, Sanjay called the room service to clean the room. The remnants of yesterday's activities still lingered in the air.

Jiji was still at her college, and she would return in a few hours. In the meantime, Sanjay took out his laptop and began typing random codes. After a few hours, he successfully hacked into Mr. James's office PC and accessed his recent emails.

His suspicions were confirmed; Mr. James had written an email to his Indian counterpart, instructing him to destroy BuzzTalk by any means necessary. Sanjay genuinely irritated him.

He then searched for information about James's wife on the internet, but there was no relevant data about their marriage. Information was scarce compared to 2023; otherwise, he could have found wedding photos easily.

After not finding anything, he started checking the usage of Instagram and found that it was more than he had imagined, considering it was launched only yesterday in the USA. Yesterday's party had been a success, with influencers busy promoting and sharing photos. As a result, their followers were also installing Instagram to get an inside look at their favourite celebrities.

Next, he called his two team members for a meeting; his uncle had told him he was busy. Sanjay didn't try to involve him as he might be having his own meeting with the twins. Since they were all staying in the same hotel, it was easy to call for a meeting, and the hotel had readily available meeting rooms.

He inquired about the progress of promotions and marketing. He advised them to focus on teenagers and people in their early twenties, suggesting that they market in colleges and universities to integrate Instagram into their daily social life. He gave them ideas for hosting parties in different colleges, inviting only the most beautiful girls to enjoy the party and share photos on Instagram. This way, everyone in the college would download Instagram to get the latest updates on those girls, and the other left out students would also download it, feeling threatened by their diminishing popularity.

Excited about the concept, the team's eyes lit up; they understood Sanjay's vision for Instagram. He also instructed them to hire temporary personnel if necessary. If he wanted Instagram to become popular, he would need to invest money; otherwise, the original Instagram team's app would gain fame once again.