Silicon Valley (2014–…): Season 2, Episode 3 - Bad Money - full transcript
While considering Gavin's proposal, Richard is approached by a billionaire.
RICHARD: This is a good buyout.
It's way better than what Gavin offered before.
And our packages include
nice salaries, cash earn-outs,
stock in Hooli, which vests after
only four years of working there.
I mean, this seems
like a pretty good deal, right?
Hooli?
You really think we'd go work for Hooli?
What the fuck is wrong with you, Richard?
What other options do we have?
We need serious funding
to go up against Nucleus,
and we don't have that.
- So, listen...
- I will listen
to the sound of you chortling on my balls.
- Okay.
Richard, I'm an independent businessman.
Emphasis on "independent" and "business."
And "man," come to think of it.
Count me out.
Actually, you're not
being offered employment at Hooli.
They'd give you a full buyout.
How big?
Okay, maybe I'm not explaining this right.
I mean, when you heard
Gavin Belson say it, it sounds much clearer.
He's saying, rather than
put us out of business,
he'd prefer to just take us
and make us part of his, um, Hoo...
Okay, that does sound bad.
But, look, you just had to be there, okay?
He's very articulate.
Richard, you didn't leave your drink
unattended around Gavin, did you?
Yeah, you don't sound like yourself.
I'm fine. And for what it's worth,
Monica thinks
this is the right thing for us to do.
What?
You told Monica about this
before you told us?
I don't know, Gilfoyle.
I guess I thought that Monica would
actually give this rational thought
as opposed to ordering me
to chortle her balls.
Guys, Richard's right.
It's a pretty good deal, all things considered,
and, Richard, I'd understand if you took it.
Thank you, Jared.
But Hooli was like an abusive spouse to me.
You know, like that guy who married
Julia Roberts in Sleeping with the Enemy?
It was dehumanizing.
But then, you, Richard,
you pulled me out of the life
and you gave me hope
and you gave me a sense of self-worth.
Like Richard Gere did to Julia Roberts
in Pretty Woman.
- This is weird.
- Every day here
has been like that shopping-spree scene.
- I'm putting on hats.
- RICHARD: Okay.
Julia Roberts aside,
are you guys saying
that you'd rather me let Pied Piper die?
'Cause that's what's going to happen
if we don't take this deal.
Face it, Gavin has us cornered.
He has you cornered.
Yeah, we can just go work on our apps.
Sorry, I'm not going to go work for Hooli.
Same for me,
except for the pan about being sorry.
And this buyout sucks.
I'll have nothing to do with it.
If you're going to go at this one,
it sounds like you're going
to have to go at it alone, hoss.
Okay, so if I go to Hooli,
you don't want your check?
Of course I want my check.
What are you, insane?
But I think it's important for me to show
my dissatisfaction by walking out on you.
Richard, I'd understand if you took it,
but watching you end up over there
would break my heart.
What, like Julia Roberts
from My Best Friend's Wedding?
I never saw it.
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
(SIGHS)
(HIP HOP BLARING)
(TIRES SCREECHING)
Richard Hendricks.
What's happening?
Russ Hanneman. True pleasure to meet you.
Oh, yeah, I think I recognize you from TV.
Yeah, you do.
Uh, how do you know who I am?
Good question. No reason I would.
But I watched your whole
TechCrunch thing online, twice.
That whole spazz thing you did...
(SPUTTERING)
(LAUGHS)
That was fucking priceless.
So I called the Pied Piper number,
and somebody said
you were heading over to Hooli.
The guy sounded like he was
either Chinese or retarded.
Uh, Jian-Yang.
Yeah, I don't know what that means.
You know, Richard, back before I blew up,
I got fucked with, too.
You think you're the first guy
to take this ride?
You're hot, you're sued,
then the guy suing you
offers you a buyout, am I right?
Wow. Yeah, actually you're exactly right.
That's what's happening.
- Like my ride?
- Uh...
They don't make it in this color.
They did it just for me.
Guys in this town
don't have the balls to drive a car like this.
They're billionaires
and they drive fuckin' Priuses.
Why?
I think mainly just environmental concerns.
They're all lemmings, Richard.
Everyone in this town is.
Just look at them. Lemming, lemming.
Okay.
I scratched my car.
It's the rivet in my pants.
These are cool pants, too.
Fuck, that's a deep scratch.
That will not buff out.
Motherfucker! Fuck it.
Let me ask you a question, Richard.
Have you ever had beef?
Like, with someone' like fighting?
- No, the food.
- Oh. Yeah.
No, you haven't. Get in.
-Okay.
- Giddy up!
- You in?
- Almost.
- Let's do this, Richard.
- Okay.
{MUSIC BLARING)
{ENGINE REVVING)
Shit. "D." Drive!
Come on, fuck you! Drive!
Which is why I counsel
any young founder today
to pursue your dream
not for profit or valuation or material wealth,
but for the good of humanity.
Which is easy for you to say,
being a billionaire.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
Let me change the subject. I have...
I don't care for your tone, Kara.
I'm getting a little tired of this bias
against the leaders of our industry.
I'm continually creating jobs
and helping people,
and I'm tired of getting slapped for it.
I didn't steal the money I have'
and I resent being treated like I did.
You know, there is a climate in this country
that is very dangerous.
It's dangerous out there for billionaires?
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
There's that attitude again, Kara.
Billionaires are people, too.
We are leaders in technology,
in industry, in finance.
Look at history.
Do you know who else vilified a tiny minority
of financiers
and progressive thinkers called the Jews?
(ALL JEERING)
Wait a minute. Did you just compare
the treatment of billionaires in America today
to the plight of the Jews in Nazi Germany?
Absolutely.
One could argue that billionaires
are actually treated worse.
And we didn't even do anything wrong.
We're an even smaller minority.
There's a lot more of them.
These are facts.
RUSS: So then it hits me.
We take this thing called "the radio"
and put it on this new thing
called "the Internet.“
And no one was doing it. No one.
So we started Hoovering up the deals.
Eat this, open your mouth.
Open your mouth. Good.
Eat it, eat it. Don't chew, just let it dissolve.
- Hold.
- This is very hot.
Hold.
It just think it's physically impossible
for it to dissolve in my mouth.
Hold. Now chew, chew, chew!
It's very hot. It's good, it's good.
Good? It's the fucking best.
This whole place is.
You call this place and they don't know you,
they pretend they don't speak English.
You see a white face in here? No, you don't.
Anyway, next thing you know, we IPO,
stock triples in a day and AOL gobbles us up.
All of a sudden,
I'm 22 years young and I'm worth 1.2 B.
Now a couple decades later,
I'm worth 1.4. You do the math.
Okay. Well, that's a gain
of $200 million over 20 years.
16.66 repeating.
That's less than 1% return.
Inflation is, like, 1.7.
I think CDs are 2%.
So that's less than a CD.
Well, no one ever got laid
putting money in the bank. Am I right?
Those bad boys right there, they're all you.
You gotta flip 'em over. That side's done.
Listen, Richard, I want to back you.
You build whatever the fuck you've got going
in that crazy, fucked-up,
genius brain up there.
It's all up to you.
I'm white glove, hands the fuck off.
Let's make you a billion dollars.
Let's make me a billion more.
How's that sound?
You're not worried about the lawsuit?
Shit, no. I got three nannies suing me
right now, one of them for no reason.
So come on, let's do this.
Let's kick Gavin Belson's teeth in at CES.
And then when you're really worth something,
I'm gonna take you back
to those same spineless VCs who said no,
and I'm gonna shove you
right up their assholes.
Um...
That's a very enticing offer.
And I wish I didn't have to do this Hooli thing,
but I should probably at least...
"Should"? No, no, Richard.
Don't do what you should do.
Do what you want.
I mean, should I pay 800 bucks
for that tiny piece of meat?
Of course not. But I do it anyway.
Because I want it.
Simple question, Richard,
"What do you want?"
Gentlemen, what's the update on the apps?
Or the app-date, if you will?
I will not.
DINESH: Here's my app-date.
I was excited to work on it,
and then I looked at it with fresh eyes.
Wajeed was right. It's really shitty.
I don't know what the fuck I was thinking.
But I bought your pitch.
Yeah, you fucked up, too.
My app is still great.
But in the time that we've been
clicking around with Pied Piper,
ten other apps that basically
do the exact same thing have come out.
Guys, if I list you as references,
can I count on you
to say nice things about me?
Be honest.
Do you want me to be honest or nice?
What, did you get
a parking ticket or something?
Yeah, I still can't see it.
Could you use your mouth?
All right. Just read it.
-$5 million'?
- Yeah, yeah.
You guys are not going back to Hooli,
and neither am I.
How the fuck did you get that?
Russ Hanneman?
Oh, Monica, I see you got my text.
Are you out of your mind?
Nice to see you, too, and, no, I'm not.
You're putting your entire future
in the hands of the man
who put radio on the Internet?
I can only assume
that he mentioned that to you.
It may have come up.
Oh, this guy. That's the guy?
Yeah, that's the guy.
Does he actually smile like that with
his upper and lower teeth at the same time?
MONICA: The guy is a joke.
DINESH: How does he even do that?
He's a boorish, pompous,
womanizing douchebag
who got lucky, like, 20 years ago
and hasn't done anything since then.
Sounds like Erlich.
Sounds like he knows who he is
and he doesn't apologize for it.
So he's a joke. Who cares?
This joke is willing to give us $5 million
to fund Pied Piper.
And he doesn't own anything.
This whole thing is a loan.
Yeah, the demand note
is structured as a loan.
But he does have the option
to take repayment in the form of equity,
and he does get two board seats
right off the bat.
Yeah.
Which means you won't get rid of him, ever.
If you succeed,
he gets a huge chunk of Pied Piper
and if you fail, this lunatic
has ratchets to seize control of the company.
Love it or hate it,
at least Hooli is a real company.
You should take their offer.
I should. I should.
But I'm tired of doing what I should do,
and I kind of want to start doing
what I want to do.
And what I want to do is
be a self-centered, irrational asshole
that doesn't compromise
on anything, at all, ever.
And when Pied Piper is a big fucking deal,
Russ is going to take us back
to all those VCs who passed on us
and shove us right up their fucking assholes.
ERLICH: What?
Yeah, I don't want any part of that last bit.
It sounded better when Russ said it.
Again, lam not good at quoting in context.
It doesn't matter. I'm going to...
I'm going to call Ron LaFlamme,
and I'm going to tell him
that we're taking Ruse's money.
Okay, so I'm supposed to tell Laurie Bream
that she is publicly co-invested
with Russ fucking Hanneman?
So, you'd rather me
sell my soul to Gavin Belson
than you just having
an awkward conversation with your boss?
Oh, thanks, Monica.
The guy has calf implants, Richard.
How do they look?
GAVIN: Everyone on Twitter is saying
I'm an anti-Semite. You were there.
DENPOK: I was.
And what I saw was an anti anti-Semite.
(CELL PHONE RINGING)
Hello? Did you hear from Hendricks?
What do you mean
he went with someone else?
Who did he go with?
Are you fucking kidding me?
- Russ Hanneman?
- That's right.
The Russ Hanneman with whom I am familiar?
Yes.
That is with whom they chose to go?
Russ Hanneman?
Yes.
He's a vulgar human being.
He's utterly distasteful.
And it would not be inaccurate to say
that we at Raviga
are now co-investors
with Russ Hanneman.
- I tried to talk him out of it. I did, but...
- Mmm-hmm.
You know what?
Peter used to say
that every successful company
could look back at a defining moment early on
where they would have died
had it not been for
the courage and the tenacity
and maybe the insanity of one
visionary person who put it all on the line
even though it seemed
like a huge mistake at the time.
A moment where all the metrics
and the numbers didn't mean anything.
It was all about the emotion.
It was about belief, rational or irrational.
And I think...
I hope that I just witnessed that.
I did not understand
any of what you just said.
Oh...
- None of it?
- None of it.
I will not interact with Russ Hanneman
in any way. Is that clear?
It is, Laurie.
I feel very strongly
that you should have prevented this.
- This exchange is now over.
- Okay, but I...
This exchange is now over, thank you.
JARED: Well, Richard?
Firstly, congratulations
on finally being funded.
I hope you took a little time out
to enjoy this moment and celebrate.
I certainly did.
(CLICKING)
- You did?
- I did indeed.
I celebrated earlier this morning.
You did, this morning?
Oh, yeah.
(CHUCKLING)
But now it's down to business.
We have a huge amount of work to do
between now and January.
I know $5 million sounds like a lot of money,
but even if we set
our burn rate conservatively,
it's only going to last 18 months.
Litigation wipes out half our funds
right off the bat.
And we have to stand up sewers,
pay for financial and HR,
pay LaFlamme,
and payroll alone is going to be pretty hefty.
Did you see the hiring proposals
that Dinesh and Gilfoyle submitted?
- No.
- They're untenable.
Well, I need four web-app devs,
two front end, two back end.
I need a guy to turn your ref code
into a production-quality library.
I need two more guys
to port the decompression libraries,
do JavaScript, iOS, Android,
and I need a few more guys
to build out our APIs,
so I need all those guys.
Ditto. I need every one
of those guys on my list.
Okay, it's just that there's...
That's 15 people each.
I mean, that's like
an entire division at Facebook.
Fine, I could do it with 12.
I could do it with 11
because I'm a better leader than Dinesh.
Okay, great.
Well, good news.
I got them to cut it down to 12 and 11.
A positive step,
but we need to cut a little deeper.
Okay, well, what's the max amount of people
we can afford to hire for them?
Three for each of them.
Three? Are you serious?
Can you just tell them?
Oh, I have, several times.
But they just kept saying if I didn't waste
so much money at the butthole doctor,
then we'd have enough money,
but I pay for all my medical out of pocket.
We can only afford to hire
three people for each of you.
I'm sorry, but that's it.
- Okay, that's fine.
-It works for me.
What?
If you could do it with three people,
why didn't you just say so?
Because we're negotiating against each other.
No, we're not. We're on the same team.
We want the same thing.
Disagree. I just got you to give me three guys
for a job I could easily do with two.
God damn it.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
Knock, knock, who's there? This guy.
Hey, Russ, what's up'?
- RUSS: How are you?
- I'm good. What brings you here?
I had to meet this lawyer
and his fucking kid's sick,
so now I have a few hours 10 kill.
Did I see a McLaren 650 S with
the extra-trim package pull into the driveway?
- Or did I not'?
- Yep.
So this is the team.
Whoa...
I'm just gonna say it.
This guy fucks. Am I right?
'Cause I'm looking at the rest of you guys,
and this is the guy in the house
doing all the fucking.
Am I right? You know I'm right.
This guy fucks.
Thank you.
Hey, what's up, al-Qaeda?
No, I'm totally kidding.
I'm diffusing the tension with humor.
What tension? There's tension?
No, of course not.
Seriously, no beheadings, though, all right?
Russ Hanneman.
How you doing, motherfucker?
Oh, man.
I want to know what kind
of fucked-up childhood this guy had.
(CHUCKLES)
All right, fellas, what are we doing here?
Mr. Hanneman, l am Erlich Bachman.
I am the owner and proprietor of this house.
So I can give you
a tour of the premises if you like,
show you where the actual fucking happens.
Nah, I'm good.
Listen, I don't want to disturb the flow.
I just wanted to check out the magic in action.
So I'm gonna grab a seat right over there.
I'm gonna be a fly on the wall.
I'm not gonna say a word. Shh.
We have a meeting that we were going to do,
so maybe we could just do that?
It was nice to meet you, Russ.
So, uh, I think we'd actually save a lot of time
if we got on the same page
in regards to the budget.
So what I need from you guys is to...
I'm sorry, do you really talk like that?
- Like what?
- Like that.
I mean, this is...
This is my normal speaking voice.
Like right now, like how you're talking,
is that real?
This one? This is real.
Wow!
All right, yeah. Doesn't matter, go, go.
This is the same way
as I was talking back there.
- RUSS: Keep going.
- At the door. Okay.
Okay, so I think, actually,
if we went back closer to...
C Dog! You, homo.
-...our requests with an eye...
- Nothing.
RUSS: No, you should come here.
- Keep going, keep going.
- Okay.
-...that's more in line with...
- What's the address here again?
I would just clear it with Erlich...
Hang on.
It's 5230 Newell Road.
Did you get that? Keep going, keep going.
- Okay, back to it.
- Get a fucking pen.
Go again. Say it one more time.
The address is...
- Go for it.
-It's 5230 Newell Road.
Keep going. Did you get that?
I don't know. He's a fucker.
GAVIN: That little Hendricks prick
fucked me over' again.
I want this suit to be more
than a holding action. I want to win it.
What can we do here?
Well, this lawsuit is going lo be
a protracted and lime-consuming ordeal.
But with our superior resources,
top litigators,
we feel this gives us the advantage
over Pied Piper.
Translation?
Ultimately, the suit will turn based on proving
that Pied Piper was created here at Hooli.
Now so far, concrete evidence of that is thin.
So thicken it!
Gavin, your visitors are here.
Ah! Gentlemen! And lady.
(SPEAKING HEBREW)
Thank you for coming today
to open a dialogue.
Now if you'll follow me.
In an effort to hardwire sensitivity
into our corporate mind-space,
I'm having a scale replica
of the Hall of Names at Yad Vashem
constructed right next to the bike shop.
RICHARD: Okay, so...
No, no, no!
It's got to be afternoon. Afternoon.
No, no. Bring him' too.
Which Raoul? Lawyer Raoul?
RICHARD: Litigation and payroll
are both capped.
- SG&A, we still have a little wiggle room.
-(VIDEO GAME PLAYING)
And we're going to punt...
RUSS: No, fuckhead!
Sir, you know you can
turn the volume down on that.
Just on the side.
RICHARD: Where does that leave us?
ERLICH: Let's go open an IPA, huh?
I'm sorry, what? I couldn't hear you.
Someone was talking. What did you say?
Keep going, keep going.
- Right.
Richard, one potential issue.
Our hosting fees could become
a challenge as we scale.
Right, but we can offset a lot of that
once we get a few customers
and start a subscription-revenue model.
What? Revenue? No, no, no.
No revenue. I'll call you back.
What?
Why would you go after revenue?
Because to make money.
No.
If you show revenue, people will ask,
"How much?" And it will never be enough.
The company that was the 100xer,
the 1,000xer, becomes the 2x dog.
But if you have no revenue,
you can say you're pre-revenue.
You're a potential pure play.
It's not about how much you earn,
it's about what you're worth.
And who's worth the most?
Companies that lose money.
Pinterest, Snapchat, no revenue.
Amazon has lost money every fucking quarter
for the last 20 fucking years
and that Bezos motherfucker is the king.
The king.
There's no revenue.
No one wants to see revenue. Go.
I just thought that mainly
the goal of companies is to make money.
Yeah, no, no, no. That's not how it works.
I don't want to make
a little bit of money every day.
I want to make a fuckton of money all at once.
ROI.
ROI. You know what that stands for'?
- Uh, return on...
- Return on investment!
No.
- Radio on Internet.
-Internet.
Did you put radio on the Internet?
- No.
- So everything you just did, do the opposite.
So you want us to take files
and make them bigger?
(LAUGHS) That guy!
That guy is crazy. I love that guy.
You said that you were going to be hands-off.
Is that still happening?
Yes, please.
Do me a favor, make the right
fucking decisions and leave me the fuck out.
You think Corey wants to be here'?
Corey, let's bounce. Come on.
- Uh, Richard? The check.
- RICHARD: Right.
Mr. Hanneman, I think
the bank had some issue with the check.
They said the funds are on hold
for some reason?
Wait, you didn't try to cash that check,
did you'? (LAUGHS)
Did you try to cash that check I gave you?
That's the show check. That's the one
you frame and put up on your wall.
You didn't try to cash that, did you?
So do we arrange a wire transfer or...
No. No, you don't get it all at once.
We set your burn rate and then
I cut you a new check every other week
between now and CES in January,
unless you fuck up too badly.
All right, hit it hard, boys.
This guy fucks.
You know, Russ,
I've been known to fuck myself.
(DOOR CLOSES)
Well, he's the worst man in America.
And now he owns us.
(RICHARD SIGHS)
ERLICH: Why the fuck would he have us
come all the way out here?
RICHARD: I don't know.
Boys.
RICHARD: Russ, what's up? Um...
I know you had asked us to concentrate
more on branding and less about the product,
but we were thinking about that and...
I got it.
God?
No. No, shitheads. Look!
RICHARD: Oh.
"I am Pied Piper'?
Who is that?
DINESH: Yeah, how is she Pied Piper'?
- What is this?
- Brand awareness.
We're getting Pied Piper out there.
Right.
But what exactly is the product?
I mean, what's... What's this selling?
Pied Piper, idiot.
-I like n.
- Uh-huh.
Yeah, here's the new check I promised you.
This one you can cash.
Obviously, I had to subtract the cost
of the ad agency that nailed that slogan.
The photo, legal, lay-out,
plus the cost of the 15 billboards.
Don't worry,
I gave you guys a sweet deal on them.
- Gave us?
- Yeah.
Hanneman Outdoor Media.
I own the billboards.
That's how I talked the ad agency into
giving you guys that slogan for only 30 grand.
Synergy, bitches. Know what that means?
Does it mean taking a stack of cash
and lighting it on fire?
(LAUGHING) Crazy fuck! I love this guy.
You fucking guy! Oh, and get this.
I found out where Gavin Belson lives
and I placed 15 of these babies
between his house and his office.
And guess where I placed
the biggest one of all?
GAVIN: This is the most
hostile and aggressive act
of provocation I've ever had to endure.
It crosses every line of decency.
This is war.
You better have something good for me.
We believe we have a way to win this case.
What if there were an individual here at Hooli
with whom Hendricks
had had a lot of contact?
What if this individual were, arguably,
a member of the original Pied Piper team?
What if we took steps
to present this individual in a tight
such that his talents were undeniable?
Surely an individual this brilliant
would move quickly up the ladder
here at Hooli.
Surely he'd be promoted rapidly
and repeatedly, no?
And surely these impressive promotions
would lead a mun to agree
that someone this brilliant,
who was there at the inception of Pied Piper,
must be integral to,
if not solely responsible for its creation.
It's all right. You can come in.
Hmm.
So you're saying the more praise
and promotion we heap on this person,
the more it looks
like Pied Piper was created here at Hooli.
(CELL PHONE RINGING)
Big Head!
Sorry. Sorry, guys. Hooli phone?
I didn't even know the ringer was on.
No one's ever actually called it before.
Hello?
Nothing. Why?
It's way better than what Gavin offered before.
And our packages include
nice salaries, cash earn-outs,
stock in Hooli, which vests after
only four years of working there.
I mean, this seems
like a pretty good deal, right?
Hooli?
You really think we'd go work for Hooli?
What the fuck is wrong with you, Richard?
What other options do we have?
We need serious funding
to go up against Nucleus,
and we don't have that.
- So, listen...
- I will listen
to the sound of you chortling on my balls.
- Okay.
Richard, I'm an independent businessman.
Emphasis on "independent" and "business."
And "man," come to think of it.
Count me out.
Actually, you're not
being offered employment at Hooli.
They'd give you a full buyout.
How big?
Okay, maybe I'm not explaining this right.
I mean, when you heard
Gavin Belson say it, it sounds much clearer.
He's saying, rather than
put us out of business,
he'd prefer to just take us
and make us part of his, um, Hoo...
Okay, that does sound bad.
But, look, you just had to be there, okay?
He's very articulate.
Richard, you didn't leave your drink
unattended around Gavin, did you?
Yeah, you don't sound like yourself.
I'm fine. And for what it's worth,
Monica thinks
this is the right thing for us to do.
What?
You told Monica about this
before you told us?
I don't know, Gilfoyle.
I guess I thought that Monica would
actually give this rational thought
as opposed to ordering me
to chortle her balls.
Guys, Richard's right.
It's a pretty good deal, all things considered,
and, Richard, I'd understand if you took it.
Thank you, Jared.
But Hooli was like an abusive spouse to me.
You know, like that guy who married
Julia Roberts in Sleeping with the Enemy?
It was dehumanizing.
But then, you, Richard,
you pulled me out of the life
and you gave me hope
and you gave me a sense of self-worth.
Like Richard Gere did to Julia Roberts
in Pretty Woman.
- This is weird.
- Every day here
has been like that shopping-spree scene.
- I'm putting on hats.
- RICHARD: Okay.
Julia Roberts aside,
are you guys saying
that you'd rather me let Pied Piper die?
'Cause that's what's going to happen
if we don't take this deal.
Face it, Gavin has us cornered.
He has you cornered.
Yeah, we can just go work on our apps.
Sorry, I'm not going to go work for Hooli.
Same for me,
except for the pan about being sorry.
And this buyout sucks.
I'll have nothing to do with it.
If you're going to go at this one,
it sounds like you're going
to have to go at it alone, hoss.
Okay, so if I go to Hooli,
you don't want your check?
Of course I want my check.
What are you, insane?
But I think it's important for me to show
my dissatisfaction by walking out on you.
Richard, I'd understand if you took it,
but watching you end up over there
would break my heart.
What, like Julia Roberts
from My Best Friend's Wedding?
I never saw it.
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
(SIGHS)
(HIP HOP BLARING)
(TIRES SCREECHING)
Richard Hendricks.
What's happening?
Russ Hanneman. True pleasure to meet you.
Oh, yeah, I think I recognize you from TV.
Yeah, you do.
Uh, how do you know who I am?
Good question. No reason I would.
But I watched your whole
TechCrunch thing online, twice.
That whole spazz thing you did...
(SPUTTERING)
(LAUGHS)
That was fucking priceless.
So I called the Pied Piper number,
and somebody said
you were heading over to Hooli.
The guy sounded like he was
either Chinese or retarded.
Uh, Jian-Yang.
Yeah, I don't know what that means.
You know, Richard, back before I blew up,
I got fucked with, too.
You think you're the first guy
to take this ride?
You're hot, you're sued,
then the guy suing you
offers you a buyout, am I right?
Wow. Yeah, actually you're exactly right.
That's what's happening.
- Like my ride?
- Uh...
They don't make it in this color.
They did it just for me.
Guys in this town
don't have the balls to drive a car like this.
They're billionaires
and they drive fuckin' Priuses.
Why?
I think mainly just environmental concerns.
They're all lemmings, Richard.
Everyone in this town is.
Just look at them. Lemming, lemming.
Okay.
I scratched my car.
It's the rivet in my pants.
These are cool pants, too.
Fuck, that's a deep scratch.
That will not buff out.
Motherfucker! Fuck it.
Let me ask you a question, Richard.
Have you ever had beef?
Like, with someone' like fighting?
- No, the food.
- Oh. Yeah.
No, you haven't. Get in.
-Okay.
- Giddy up!
- You in?
- Almost.
- Let's do this, Richard.
- Okay.
{MUSIC BLARING)
{ENGINE REVVING)
Shit. "D." Drive!
Come on, fuck you! Drive!
Which is why I counsel
any young founder today
to pursue your dream
not for profit or valuation or material wealth,
but for the good of humanity.
Which is easy for you to say,
being a billionaire.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
Let me change the subject. I have...
I don't care for your tone, Kara.
I'm getting a little tired of this bias
against the leaders of our industry.
I'm continually creating jobs
and helping people,
and I'm tired of getting slapped for it.
I didn't steal the money I have'
and I resent being treated like I did.
You know, there is a climate in this country
that is very dangerous.
It's dangerous out there for billionaires?
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
There's that attitude again, Kara.
Billionaires are people, too.
We are leaders in technology,
in industry, in finance.
Look at history.
Do you know who else vilified a tiny minority
of financiers
and progressive thinkers called the Jews?
(ALL JEERING)
Wait a minute. Did you just compare
the treatment of billionaires in America today
to the plight of the Jews in Nazi Germany?
Absolutely.
One could argue that billionaires
are actually treated worse.
And we didn't even do anything wrong.
We're an even smaller minority.
There's a lot more of them.
These are facts.
RUSS: So then it hits me.
We take this thing called "the radio"
and put it on this new thing
called "the Internet.“
And no one was doing it. No one.
So we started Hoovering up the deals.
Eat this, open your mouth.
Open your mouth. Good.
Eat it, eat it. Don't chew, just let it dissolve.
- Hold.
- This is very hot.
Hold.
It just think it's physically impossible
for it to dissolve in my mouth.
Hold. Now chew, chew, chew!
It's very hot. It's good, it's good.
Good? It's the fucking best.
This whole place is.
You call this place and they don't know you,
they pretend they don't speak English.
You see a white face in here? No, you don't.
Anyway, next thing you know, we IPO,
stock triples in a day and AOL gobbles us up.
All of a sudden,
I'm 22 years young and I'm worth 1.2 B.
Now a couple decades later,
I'm worth 1.4. You do the math.
Okay. Well, that's a gain
of $200 million over 20 years.
16.66 repeating.
That's less than 1% return.
Inflation is, like, 1.7.
I think CDs are 2%.
So that's less than a CD.
Well, no one ever got laid
putting money in the bank. Am I right?
Those bad boys right there, they're all you.
You gotta flip 'em over. That side's done.
Listen, Richard, I want to back you.
You build whatever the fuck you've got going
in that crazy, fucked-up,
genius brain up there.
It's all up to you.
I'm white glove, hands the fuck off.
Let's make you a billion dollars.
Let's make me a billion more.
How's that sound?
You're not worried about the lawsuit?
Shit, no. I got three nannies suing me
right now, one of them for no reason.
So come on, let's do this.
Let's kick Gavin Belson's teeth in at CES.
And then when you're really worth something,
I'm gonna take you back
to those same spineless VCs who said no,
and I'm gonna shove you
right up their assholes.
Um...
That's a very enticing offer.
And I wish I didn't have to do this Hooli thing,
but I should probably at least...
"Should"? No, no, Richard.
Don't do what you should do.
Do what you want.
I mean, should I pay 800 bucks
for that tiny piece of meat?
Of course not. But I do it anyway.
Because I want it.
Simple question, Richard,
"What do you want?"
Gentlemen, what's the update on the apps?
Or the app-date, if you will?
I will not.
DINESH: Here's my app-date.
I was excited to work on it,
and then I looked at it with fresh eyes.
Wajeed was right. It's really shitty.
I don't know what the fuck I was thinking.
But I bought your pitch.
Yeah, you fucked up, too.
My app is still great.
But in the time that we've been
clicking around with Pied Piper,
ten other apps that basically
do the exact same thing have come out.
Guys, if I list you as references,
can I count on you
to say nice things about me?
Be honest.
Do you want me to be honest or nice?
What, did you get
a parking ticket or something?
Yeah, I still can't see it.
Could you use your mouth?
All right. Just read it.
-$5 million'?
- Yeah, yeah.
You guys are not going back to Hooli,
and neither am I.
How the fuck did you get that?
Russ Hanneman?
Oh, Monica, I see you got my text.
Are you out of your mind?
Nice to see you, too, and, no, I'm not.
You're putting your entire future
in the hands of the man
who put radio on the Internet?
I can only assume
that he mentioned that to you.
It may have come up.
Oh, this guy. That's the guy?
Yeah, that's the guy.
Does he actually smile like that with
his upper and lower teeth at the same time?
MONICA: The guy is a joke.
DINESH: How does he even do that?
He's a boorish, pompous,
womanizing douchebag
who got lucky, like, 20 years ago
and hasn't done anything since then.
Sounds like Erlich.
Sounds like he knows who he is
and he doesn't apologize for it.
So he's a joke. Who cares?
This joke is willing to give us $5 million
to fund Pied Piper.
And he doesn't own anything.
This whole thing is a loan.
Yeah, the demand note
is structured as a loan.
But he does have the option
to take repayment in the form of equity,
and he does get two board seats
right off the bat.
Yeah.
Which means you won't get rid of him, ever.
If you succeed,
he gets a huge chunk of Pied Piper
and if you fail, this lunatic
has ratchets to seize control of the company.
Love it or hate it,
at least Hooli is a real company.
You should take their offer.
I should. I should.
But I'm tired of doing what I should do,
and I kind of want to start doing
what I want to do.
And what I want to do is
be a self-centered, irrational asshole
that doesn't compromise
on anything, at all, ever.
And when Pied Piper is a big fucking deal,
Russ is going to take us back
to all those VCs who passed on us
and shove us right up their fucking assholes.
ERLICH: What?
Yeah, I don't want any part of that last bit.
It sounded better when Russ said it.
Again, lam not good at quoting in context.
It doesn't matter. I'm going to...
I'm going to call Ron LaFlamme,
and I'm going to tell him
that we're taking Ruse's money.
Okay, so I'm supposed to tell Laurie Bream
that she is publicly co-invested
with Russ fucking Hanneman?
So, you'd rather me
sell my soul to Gavin Belson
than you just having
an awkward conversation with your boss?
Oh, thanks, Monica.
The guy has calf implants, Richard.
How do they look?
GAVIN: Everyone on Twitter is saying
I'm an anti-Semite. You were there.
DENPOK: I was.
And what I saw was an anti anti-Semite.
(CELL PHONE RINGING)
Hello? Did you hear from Hendricks?
What do you mean
he went with someone else?
Who did he go with?
Are you fucking kidding me?
- Russ Hanneman?
- That's right.
The Russ Hanneman with whom I am familiar?
Yes.
That is with whom they chose to go?
Russ Hanneman?
Yes.
He's a vulgar human being.
He's utterly distasteful.
And it would not be inaccurate to say
that we at Raviga
are now co-investors
with Russ Hanneman.
- I tried to talk him out of it. I did, but...
- Mmm-hmm.
You know what?
Peter used to say
that every successful company
could look back at a defining moment early on
where they would have died
had it not been for
the courage and the tenacity
and maybe the insanity of one
visionary person who put it all on the line
even though it seemed
like a huge mistake at the time.
A moment where all the metrics
and the numbers didn't mean anything.
It was all about the emotion.
It was about belief, rational or irrational.
And I think...
I hope that I just witnessed that.
I did not understand
any of what you just said.
Oh...
- None of it?
- None of it.
I will not interact with Russ Hanneman
in any way. Is that clear?
It is, Laurie.
I feel very strongly
that you should have prevented this.
- This exchange is now over.
- Okay, but I...
This exchange is now over, thank you.
JARED: Well, Richard?
Firstly, congratulations
on finally being funded.
I hope you took a little time out
to enjoy this moment and celebrate.
I certainly did.
(CLICKING)
- You did?
- I did indeed.
I celebrated earlier this morning.
You did, this morning?
Oh, yeah.
(CHUCKLING)
But now it's down to business.
We have a huge amount of work to do
between now and January.
I know $5 million sounds like a lot of money,
but even if we set
our burn rate conservatively,
it's only going to last 18 months.
Litigation wipes out half our funds
right off the bat.
And we have to stand up sewers,
pay for financial and HR,
pay LaFlamme,
and payroll alone is going to be pretty hefty.
Did you see the hiring proposals
that Dinesh and Gilfoyle submitted?
- No.
- They're untenable.
Well, I need four web-app devs,
two front end, two back end.
I need a guy to turn your ref code
into a production-quality library.
I need two more guys
to port the decompression libraries,
do JavaScript, iOS, Android,
and I need a few more guys
to build out our APIs,
so I need all those guys.
Ditto. I need every one
of those guys on my list.
Okay, it's just that there's...
That's 15 people each.
I mean, that's like
an entire division at Facebook.
Fine, I could do it with 12.
I could do it with 11
because I'm a better leader than Dinesh.
Okay, great.
Well, good news.
I got them to cut it down to 12 and 11.
A positive step,
but we need to cut a little deeper.
Okay, well, what's the max amount of people
we can afford to hire for them?
Three for each of them.
Three? Are you serious?
Can you just tell them?
Oh, I have, several times.
But they just kept saying if I didn't waste
so much money at the butthole doctor,
then we'd have enough money,
but I pay for all my medical out of pocket.
We can only afford to hire
three people for each of you.
I'm sorry, but that's it.
- Okay, that's fine.
-It works for me.
What?
If you could do it with three people,
why didn't you just say so?
Because we're negotiating against each other.
No, we're not. We're on the same team.
We want the same thing.
Disagree. I just got you to give me three guys
for a job I could easily do with two.
God damn it.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
Knock, knock, who's there? This guy.
Hey, Russ, what's up'?
- RUSS: How are you?
- I'm good. What brings you here?
I had to meet this lawyer
and his fucking kid's sick,
so now I have a few hours 10 kill.
Did I see a McLaren 650 S with
the extra-trim package pull into the driveway?
- Or did I not'?
- Yep.
So this is the team.
Whoa...
I'm just gonna say it.
This guy fucks. Am I right?
'Cause I'm looking at the rest of you guys,
and this is the guy in the house
doing all the fucking.
Am I right? You know I'm right.
This guy fucks.
Thank you.
Hey, what's up, al-Qaeda?
No, I'm totally kidding.
I'm diffusing the tension with humor.
What tension? There's tension?
No, of course not.
Seriously, no beheadings, though, all right?
Russ Hanneman.
How you doing, motherfucker?
Oh, man.
I want to know what kind
of fucked-up childhood this guy had.
(CHUCKLES)
All right, fellas, what are we doing here?
Mr. Hanneman, l am Erlich Bachman.
I am the owner and proprietor of this house.
So I can give you
a tour of the premises if you like,
show you where the actual fucking happens.
Nah, I'm good.
Listen, I don't want to disturb the flow.
I just wanted to check out the magic in action.
So I'm gonna grab a seat right over there.
I'm gonna be a fly on the wall.
I'm not gonna say a word. Shh.
We have a meeting that we were going to do,
so maybe we could just do that?
It was nice to meet you, Russ.
So, uh, I think we'd actually save a lot of time
if we got on the same page
in regards to the budget.
So what I need from you guys is to...
I'm sorry, do you really talk like that?
- Like what?
- Like that.
I mean, this is...
This is my normal speaking voice.
Like right now, like how you're talking,
is that real?
This one? This is real.
Wow!
All right, yeah. Doesn't matter, go, go.
This is the same way
as I was talking back there.
- RUSS: Keep going.
- At the door. Okay.
Okay, so I think, actually,
if we went back closer to...
C Dog! You, homo.
-...our requests with an eye...
- Nothing.
RUSS: No, you should come here.
- Keep going, keep going.
- Okay.
-...that's more in line with...
- What's the address here again?
I would just clear it with Erlich...
Hang on.
It's 5230 Newell Road.
Did you get that? Keep going, keep going.
- Okay, back to it.
- Get a fucking pen.
Go again. Say it one more time.
The address is...
- Go for it.
-It's 5230 Newell Road.
Keep going. Did you get that?
I don't know. He's a fucker.
GAVIN: That little Hendricks prick
fucked me over' again.
I want this suit to be more
than a holding action. I want to win it.
What can we do here?
Well, this lawsuit is going lo be
a protracted and lime-consuming ordeal.
But with our superior resources,
top litigators,
we feel this gives us the advantage
over Pied Piper.
Translation?
Ultimately, the suit will turn based on proving
that Pied Piper was created here at Hooli.
Now so far, concrete evidence of that is thin.
So thicken it!
Gavin, your visitors are here.
Ah! Gentlemen! And lady.
(SPEAKING HEBREW)
Thank you for coming today
to open a dialogue.
Now if you'll follow me.
In an effort to hardwire sensitivity
into our corporate mind-space,
I'm having a scale replica
of the Hall of Names at Yad Vashem
constructed right next to the bike shop.
RICHARD: Okay, so...
No, no, no!
It's got to be afternoon. Afternoon.
No, no. Bring him' too.
Which Raoul? Lawyer Raoul?
RICHARD: Litigation and payroll
are both capped.
- SG&A, we still have a little wiggle room.
-(VIDEO GAME PLAYING)
And we're going to punt...
RUSS: No, fuckhead!
Sir, you know you can
turn the volume down on that.
Just on the side.
RICHARD: Where does that leave us?
ERLICH: Let's go open an IPA, huh?
I'm sorry, what? I couldn't hear you.
Someone was talking. What did you say?
Keep going, keep going.
- Right.
Richard, one potential issue.
Our hosting fees could become
a challenge as we scale.
Right, but we can offset a lot of that
once we get a few customers
and start a subscription-revenue model.
What? Revenue? No, no, no.
No revenue. I'll call you back.
What?
Why would you go after revenue?
Because to make money.
No.
If you show revenue, people will ask,
"How much?" And it will never be enough.
The company that was the 100xer,
the 1,000xer, becomes the 2x dog.
But if you have no revenue,
you can say you're pre-revenue.
You're a potential pure play.
It's not about how much you earn,
it's about what you're worth.
And who's worth the most?
Companies that lose money.
Pinterest, Snapchat, no revenue.
Amazon has lost money every fucking quarter
for the last 20 fucking years
and that Bezos motherfucker is the king.
The king.
There's no revenue.
No one wants to see revenue. Go.
I just thought that mainly
the goal of companies is to make money.
Yeah, no, no, no. That's not how it works.
I don't want to make
a little bit of money every day.
I want to make a fuckton of money all at once.
ROI.
ROI. You know what that stands for'?
- Uh, return on...
- Return on investment!
No.
- Radio on Internet.
-Internet.
Did you put radio on the Internet?
- No.
- So everything you just did, do the opposite.
So you want us to take files
and make them bigger?
(LAUGHS) That guy!
That guy is crazy. I love that guy.
You said that you were going to be hands-off.
Is that still happening?
Yes, please.
Do me a favor, make the right
fucking decisions and leave me the fuck out.
You think Corey wants to be here'?
Corey, let's bounce. Come on.
- Uh, Richard? The check.
- RICHARD: Right.
Mr. Hanneman, I think
the bank had some issue with the check.
They said the funds are on hold
for some reason?
Wait, you didn't try to cash that check,
did you'? (LAUGHS)
Did you try to cash that check I gave you?
That's the show check. That's the one
you frame and put up on your wall.
You didn't try to cash that, did you?
So do we arrange a wire transfer or...
No. No, you don't get it all at once.
We set your burn rate and then
I cut you a new check every other week
between now and CES in January,
unless you fuck up too badly.
All right, hit it hard, boys.
This guy fucks.
You know, Russ,
I've been known to fuck myself.
(DOOR CLOSES)
Well, he's the worst man in America.
And now he owns us.
(RICHARD SIGHS)
ERLICH: Why the fuck would he have us
come all the way out here?
RICHARD: I don't know.
Boys.
RICHARD: Russ, what's up? Um...
I know you had asked us to concentrate
more on branding and less about the product,
but we were thinking about that and...
I got it.
God?
No. No, shitheads. Look!
RICHARD: Oh.
"I am Pied Piper'?
Who is that?
DINESH: Yeah, how is she Pied Piper'?
- What is this?
- Brand awareness.
We're getting Pied Piper out there.
Right.
But what exactly is the product?
I mean, what's... What's this selling?
Pied Piper, idiot.
-I like n.
- Uh-huh.
Yeah, here's the new check I promised you.
This one you can cash.
Obviously, I had to subtract the cost
of the ad agency that nailed that slogan.
The photo, legal, lay-out,
plus the cost of the 15 billboards.
Don't worry,
I gave you guys a sweet deal on them.
- Gave us?
- Yeah.
Hanneman Outdoor Media.
I own the billboards.
That's how I talked the ad agency into
giving you guys that slogan for only 30 grand.
Synergy, bitches. Know what that means?
Does it mean taking a stack of cash
and lighting it on fire?
(LAUGHING) Crazy fuck! I love this guy.
You fucking guy! Oh, and get this.
I found out where Gavin Belson lives
and I placed 15 of these babies
between his house and his office.
And guess where I placed
the biggest one of all?
GAVIN: This is the most
hostile and aggressive act
of provocation I've ever had to endure.
It crosses every line of decency.
This is war.
You better have something good for me.
We believe we have a way to win this case.
What if there were an individual here at Hooli
with whom Hendricks
had had a lot of contact?
What if this individual were, arguably,
a member of the original Pied Piper team?
What if we took steps
to present this individual in a tight
such that his talents were undeniable?
Surely an individual this brilliant
would move quickly up the ladder
here at Hooli.
Surely he'd be promoted rapidly
and repeatedly, no?
And surely these impressive promotions
would lead a mun to agree
that someone this brilliant,
who was there at the inception of Pied Piper,
must be integral to,
if not solely responsible for its creation.
It's all right. You can come in.
Hmm.
So you're saying the more praise
and promotion we heap on this person,
the more it looks
like Pied Piper was created here at Hooli.
(CELL PHONE RINGING)
Big Head!
Sorry. Sorry, guys. Hooli phone?
I didn't even know the ringer was on.
No one's ever actually called it before.
Hello?
Nothing. Why?