First Meeting
"I am glad you all arrived during this time of the year in New York. I know most of you just arrived because you believe in my big brother or sister and that they would take care of you in case my company will not work out. I don't think there is anything wrong with this. I would be suspicious if you just came because of some random idea of a still underaged boy. Nonetheless we are now all here and for the near future we will be a team. The main point for the success of this company will always be technology and creativity. None of you studied either technology and art and that is completely fine with me. I am very good at art and Steve, right next to me, will be the technical director in the future."
Most of the seven people in front of Steve were quite surprised when they noticed the importance Simon placed on Woz, as they didn't find anything special about the just 20 year old Wozniak. Simon could feel their confusion of course.
"I know for you, who went to a great university, Steve might not be something special on the surface, but you will learn to value him in the future. I am sure you all started to talk about it before I came, but how about everyone introduced themselves before we talk business? I am sure my brother or sister explained everything about me and I just told you who the person beside me was, so the rest of you can just give a short introduction, we will figure out the rest while working."
Everybody was looking at each other when a tall blond guy with a British accent started to take the initiative.
"My name is Dennis Watson. I am 23 years old and come from London. I just finished my MBA in Oxford and I wanted to experience building a new company from scratch. I am not sure whether I can trust you with my future, but I respect your sister and she assured me of your talent. If your idea is truly special I can promise you to handle the operation of the company with all my heart."
Simon was very surprised by those honest and calm words. This young man might be able to take care of the company when it just started. We will see how he grows along the way with Atari together. He turned his head towards the girl right next to Dennis.
"Hello everybody, my name is Tanja Crawford and I started and finished University together with Dennis and we both finished our MBA. We teamed up for many projects and helped each other along the way, which means we are already a great team and know each other's strengths and weaknesses. Together we make a strong team and a think we will definitely be able to help this company achieve something."
A girl sitting right behind Tanja started clapping and only stopped after receiving a reproachful look from Tanja. She made a small face and started introducing herself.
"Hy everybody, my name is Claire Peterson. I finished my master in Advertising at the University of Oxford. I have known Dennis and Tanja for quite some time and you can consider me to be the joyful and humorous part of the trio. When it comes to selling and making something attractive you can always count on me."
Finally a person with a different and interesting character was Simon's only thought. He needed some creative and adventurous people if he wanted to become a successful gaming enterprise.
Simon's happiness didn't last long as the introduction of the students from Havard was similar to Dennis and Tanja, typical University elites.
Jim Bones and Clyde Anderson both finished studying law at Harvard and received their Bachelor's degree. They both came from middle class families and couldn't pay for a master's degree. They were very hard working and could definitely handle all problems related to law in partnership with the Smith Parker law firm until the company reached a larger scale.
The two girls studying finance had similar experiences. Olivia King, a black girl from Brooklyn, managed to get into Harvard with extremely hard work and Alisson Ortiz, daughter of mexican immigrants, who also had a very hard time climbing from a poor little girl to a Harvard graduate. Honestly Simon was quite happy with both of them and having them in control of the finance. Only when you truly face hardship can you value what money really represents.
"I know that all of you except for Woz and me don't even really know what our company will produce and sell in the future. I am sure my siblings told you that I majored in Art and already finished my Master's degree two years ago. I gained a lot of inspiration and I think the people of the world lack a lot of entertainment. I wanted to create games and bring happiness to people. The main product of our company in the near future will be an arcade machine. This machine will be placed in different locations like bars, shopping malls or entertainment venues. You would need to put a small amount of money to play for a period of time. The main job of our company is to produce this machine with the smallest possible cost and to produce games that are attractive to people. For the technical part Steve Wozniak will be completely responsible and for the creative part and the game planning I will take charge. Your responsibility will be to fill the company with the necessary stuff needed by me and Woz and to sell and market the products we create. I know that this description is very vague for you. I already have a major game plan for the first arcade machine we will produce and Woz is already close to perfecting his first design for the arcade machine. Let me first introduce you to the game I designed and you will probably have a feeling on whether it would be attractive for customers or not."