Valley of the Boom (2018–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - Part 4: priority inversion - full transcript

Did Microsoft
start bundling their
browser with their PCs?

That would take a huge
bite out of our market share.

Did they just threaten us?

Maybe that's a good thing.

Maybe they just broke the law.

AOL's big deal with
Microsoft didn't miraculously
lift their stock price

and now they're
crawling back to us.

Let them find
another lifeline.

You can
stop selling, we're in.
We'll be in touch.

Alright.

This guy who has been
calling himself Michael Fenne
is really David Kim Stanley,



fugitive of the law.

Why did Advance
Equities give Pixelon
$10 million-plus?

Because they wanted to
take Pixelon public and
pump it and dump it on

unsuspecting shareholders
and make a lot more money.

We're
onto something here,
guys, I can feel it.

Mike, Ed, I think
you guys feel it.

We're connecting
people to each other.

It's kinda powerful.

We're actually not based here.

Todd and I, we started
a little company
based out of New York.

Hmm.

It's this
online community.

You wanna
what an IPO feels like?

It feels like
you're about to die.



Jump already!

You're standing
at heaven's gate,

your whole life is
flashing before your eyes,

and there's a judgment coming.

Hey, hey,
hey, stop, stop!

Um, look uh, before
you make a decision
you cannot take back,

I need you to listen to me.

I know it doesn't feel
like it right now, but:

You. Matter.

Why don't you just
come on down, huh?

I'll make you
a chamomile tea,

and we can
chat this thing right
on out, that sound good?

It's a metaphor.

For real?

We're
in a metaphor here.

C'mon, man!

You know,
how about this!

Next time we're in metaphor,

you let me know,
okay, so I'm not out here

having a friggin'
heart attack?!

If you thought the Internet
bubble was about to burst,

think again.

While the Nasdaq,
points were up more than
70 points, a record high.

Internet darling,
Yahoo is closing in
on a gain of 2,000%.

I think Wall Street
both built and ruined the web.

So there was just
the rush, the machine, that
was investors getting IPOs,

getting the pop and
getting out.

We we're always told, "you
want the long-term investor,"

well, long-term
meant maybe 18 hours.

Felt like a money-making
scheme for everybody involved.

The usual roles for valuing
a stock such as revenues and

earnings no longer apply.

Suddenly the major
requirements that had
existed in the past for,

for being able to do
an IPO just went away.

Nobody knew really how to
measure this type of stuff.

eToys says heavy advertising

is necessary to
establish a brand name.

The most important
thing for these companies to
do right now is to establish

their market position,
not to be profitable.

Companies
with only a website
were going public and

making tens of
millions of dollars,

or hundreds of millions or
billions of dollars on paper.

All of a sudden you
were printing millionaires
out of nowhere,

there was this
paper that suddenly you
could sell because these

companies were going public.

GeoCities went public last
August was up about 340%.

Valuation prior to,
let's call this the Internet
boom, wouldn't have mattered,

but because the media
paid such attention to the
initial public offerings

at the time that if you
weren't worth a billion dollars
and your competitor was,

it was almost like this
stain on your company.

The myth-making was part
of the product making.

Mmhm,
there you go, mmm.

Have a
wonderful, positive day.

You know what I
see in every cubicle here?

A millionaire!

That means you.

And you. And you.

And, hey, don't think I
forgot about your niece,
you have her come see me,

we'll fix her up with a job.

Hey buddy.

Highlights bring
out your eyes.

Never discount the
value of a makeover.

Hey people!

Oh, hey, I'm
glad you're here, we need
to talk about something.

Hey, you are on it.
Isn't he on it?

Hey, you all are on it.

The energy in here is
electric, I can feel it
coursing through each and

every one of you.

I know you feel it
too, cause you all are
making history in here.

This is the biggest,
star-studded musical
event ever, 'kay?

A little bit country, a
lot rock and roll, and
everything in between.

So keep moving forward
to get it done.

Get-It-Done.

Okay!

It's amazing what can
happen once money arrives.

And the idea was to
have this big crazy party
with all this you know,

high-name talent I
think to you know to
market the company,

to be able to say
hey, look, look at
what we're doing.

Remember,
we're announcing to the world,

Pixelon is number one
in Internet broadcasting.

"Coming to you live,
full motion, full
screen, full speed.

Pitch-perfect."
Write that down.

Pitch-perfect.

Oh, hey, that ain't
nothing compared to the
vision I had last night.

The heavens suddenly
parted and what
was previously dark

was suddenly
illuminated and clear,
so very, very clear.

The writing, right in
front of my eyes, big
iBash.

We eventually
settled on iBash,
which was a suggestion that

I had made so I'm
actually the person
who named iBash.

iBash.

It's not bad, man.

It's absolutely good.

Right?

Oh hey,
we gotta' talk budget.

Hey, no
limited thinking.

I made you a promise whatever
you need, you'd have.

iBash was
going to be a way that
Pixelon could immediately

hit the market with
a huge amount of content.

Hey, we
gotta get the Who.

You know what I mean?

With Internet
Explorer 3.0, we finally
had something on Netscape,

we finally had something that
we were frankly proud of.

Uh, up to that point
in time the browsers that we
shipped were kind of a joke and

it was the first
one in which we actually
won competitive reviews.

That really was
their first browser
where they took,

I don't know exactly
what the numbers were,

but they started
to take a big chunk
of our market share.

They bundled
Internet Explorer into
their operating system with

Windows 95 or somewhere

in there for free in their
operating system which
was 90% of the market.

That was a devastating blow.

How long?

Three, four
quarters before it blows
up our bottom line.

It's the
damn definition of
predatory pricing!

Which last time I checked,
was anti-trust level illegal.

Am I wrong?

There's definitely
an argument to be made, but...

Nobody can
compete against free.

Plus it's still an
inferior piece of coding.

Roberta,
whadya got for us?

Our focus needs
to be on the consent
decree Microsoft signed

with the government.

It forbids the company from
using its operating system and

software dominance
to squash competition.

Which is exactly
what they're doing.

- Is that right?
- Doesn't surprise me.

Okay, Microsoft is evil.
Got it.

Did you all hear
the part where Jim says
we have three or four

quarters before we're dead?

You sure guys
don't want to sit down?

We gotta staunch the
bleeding before everyone sees
just how badly we've been hit.

We get out of the
water where the shark
has the advantage and

back in the forest where
the bear has the advantage.

Sharks and bears, oh my.

I'm saying we make have
to build something that is
undeniable so companies and

consumers have no choice
but to come back to us.

E-commerce,
business-to-business.

What's gonna' stop
Microsoft from ripping that
out from under us as well?

Oh, I don't know. Laws?

Let me handle that.

We can't force the
DOJ to prosecute, but
we can give them all the

ammunition they'll need.

Alright.
Thanks, Roberta.

Look, we're small and
agile, and they need to keep
feeding the Window's beast.

So why don't we keep
our heads down, focus
on what we can control.

Got it?

Hello.
Blow us a kiss up here.
Nice spoon.

Join a club, telekinetics.

Hey baby!

Gettin' lonely up here.

Hey, hey, hey.

Who wants buffalo wings?

From telekinetics to
football fanatics,

you'll find thousands
of clubs to choose from.

Build
a world around you.

The Internet
market was simply
heating up more and more.

GeoCities had just
filed to go public.

EBay and Yahoo and Netscape,
they were just really
rocketing and we realized,

dammit, even with
Mike's 20 million,
we can't stay private,

we're gonna actually
have to go public.

We had this
huge amount of traffic, but
we did not have that paired

with a working business model.

We had to support what
used to be tens of thousands
of paying members and now

millions of free members
and so we had to pay for
more servers, server farms,

more electricity,
and more employees
and more programmers.

Millions of dollars
were rapidly vanishing.

These IPOs are
becoming this rite of passage

that legitimizes
these companies,

that distinguishes
the interesting Internet
companies from the best

Internet companies.

We met with all
the major banks.

But there were two
banks in particular that
were hungry for this and

they hadn't had yet a breakout
IPO in the tech sector.

I guess we made the
fateful decision of going
with the Bear Stearns.

So...

We'd seen Lycos become a
multi-hundred-million-dollar
company.

We'd seen Excite become a
multi-hundred-million-dollar
company.

We'd seen Netscape become
a multi-hundred-million,
or billion-dollar company.

And these other startups had
similar audience sizes to
us and were maybe building

technologies that
were comparable.

-Listen, a little too much
like Geocities...
-Nevermind Geocities...

And so,
those comparables of
traffic size and audience

started to equate,
get that higher valuation.

Aren't those
numbers a little high?

Maybe
not high enough?

So before we
went on the road show, uh,
the bankers and Mike and Ed

wanted us to have a
particular professional look.

We did not
know how to pitch.

We did not know how to dress.

We did not know any part
of the process really.

They asked
us to also get a coach
who could teach us how to

present properly and
the physicality of it,

because Todd and I each
had these little weird
idiosyncratic behaviors

that needed to be addressed.

Think of
online community like
your offline community.

Except much bigger.

In the next few years there's
going to be 100 million
people on the Internet.

Do you have
to take a piss?

Uh, no.

We didn't understand
the communication style,

and this was incredibly
frustrating to Steph.

Are you defending
the goal on a free kick?

No.

Then why are
you standing there with your
hands in front of your balls?

Huh?

Now we're
totally vulnerable if they
do kick a soccer ball at us.

Something you want
to share with the class?

- No.
- We're good.

Todd and I had
always been dressing
totally casually.

The bankers and Mike and Ed
were all in agreement this
is a traditional road show,

we need to look like we're
professionals and we need to
look as old as we can look.

Oh, crap.

Servers are down.

Uh, I'm sorry, I gotta go.

I'll go.

No, no,
you're definitely better
dealing with the grownups.

Am not.

Nice try.

How great will
it be when we can just get
back to running our company?

With 30 million
more in capital to play with.

This is actually
happening, isn't it?

This is
actually happening!

But the bundling
gave us our strongest
argument for antitrust.

We wrote a
220 page white paper that
compiled all Microsoft's

crimes and misdemeanors.

The reality of the

high-technology industry.

And read
like a pot boiler.

Good for consumers.

Oh, hey Roberta.

Yeah, there was talk of
publishing it as a book,
court of public opinion.

The title wasn't exactly sexy.

Jim Barksdale
thought that releasing
the white paper to the public

would make the
company look weak.

The main thing about
a smoking gun is it means
someone's been shot.

So it was decided
that the white paper would
have an audience of one.

The DOJ said that if we
presented "credible evidence"

they'd jump on it
like a dog on a bone.

All of Microsoft's actions
have been completely legal.

Of course the entire
DOJ team investigating
at the time consisted of

two lawyers in a
San Francisco field office.

So things moved a helluva
lot slower than we had hoped.

From what I saw
Pixelon's goal was to...

You have to understand,
it was before YouTube,

so there wasn't any idea
of an online video portal,

and I think that's what
Pixelon was really going for,

was to be able to have
this destination where you
could go watch a ton of video.

The idea was to get as
much content populated
on the site as possible.

You switch here,
change input, it gets run
through the intake encoder.

Okay.

Then I edit output
and upload to the server.

And now it's on our website.

Okay.

The technology
that we were utilizing at
Pixelon was definitely new and

it was definitely
interesting and there wasn't
a lot like it out there.

Full screen, TV style
video on the Internet.

There just weren't
a lot of people that were
doing that kind of thing.

So he told
you about the box?

Yeah,
what's up with that?

He said he spoke with
the CIA, that he's
got it booby trapped?

Yeah, I know.

It's weird.

Just don't look,
don't touch, don't ask.

Ok.

That black rack
mounted box was off limits
for anybody to open.

It was explained to us that
each of them had been booby
trapped to prevent reverse

engineers from opening
it up and stealing the
technology out from under us.

So the booby
trap was a acid pill, it
was explained to us that

as soon as the case was open,

an acid pill would break,
spilling acid into the computer

and destroying the
internal components of it.

I'm not really
sure if the protection inside
there was supposed to harm the

individual going in there
or destroy the technology.

My sense of things
was it was supposed to
destroy the technology.

That rumor came
down from the top.

So, I was thinking.

Uh-huh.

With our broadcasting
the Iowa Straw Poll next week.

Hey, did I tell
you that my good friend
Ronnie Reagan called to

congratulate me on our deal?

Yeah, just yesterday.

He and Nancy are very
excited about what Pixelon's
doing do for the GOP,

bringing 'em into
the Internet age.

Exactly, it's
our biggest event so
far, so I was thinking,

we should do a test run.

Why would I do that?

Well, to find out
if there are any kinks and,

if there are, iron them out.

You think
there are kinks?

No, no, no, I'm not
saying there are any kinks.

I'm just
messing with you, Barry.

I appreciate your
diligence, but this is
way above your pay grade.

Engineering and high-tech
stuff's best left to me
and my programmer, okay?

Barry, you look exhausted.

Very pale.

Are you tired?

Yeah, I've been
working 18-hour shifts.

Ok.

Here's what I want you to do.

I want you to go home,

take the rest of the
day off, just get
some sleep, okay?

Thanks.

But if you do a test
run, if I could be there.

"Even a fool,
when he holdeth his
peace, is counted wise;

and he that shutteth
his lips is esteemed a
man of understanding."

Proverbs 17:28.

The Lord fuels us to do his
work, but the body is weak.

Where the
hell is the DOJ?

Gathering their evidence.

The wheels of justice don't
turn on Netscape time.

How much more credible
does it have to get?

We can't mistake a clear
view for a short distance.

Things Marc Andreessen
doesn't like:

nostalgia, parties
and physical displays

of just touching.

Not necessarily in that order.

I never took
you for someone whose
plan for the future

relies on white knights.

Yeah, well
screw you and the patience
you're trying to teach me.

My pleasure.

You know, I learned
a while ago that if you make
your mission real clear and

a lot of smart
people work on it,
you'll figure it out.

We got a simple mission
and you know it's
never really changed.

Keep the Internet open.

Keep creating
products that are
important and relevant,

make a whole lot
of people's lives
a whole lot better,

something we call
changing the world.

Yeah!

So your job is
to keep running as fast as
you can toward that cliff.

My job is to keep
moving the cliff.

We were ready to
go on the actual road show.

We wanted to go as fast
as we could because
our competitors,

they, they, you know,

GeoCities, they had
already gone public.

They were safely on the
other side, flush with cash,
and we were sitting here

hurrying up trying to see
if we could make it before
this IPO window closed.

To refresh your memory,
a road show's where you
go and whore yourself out

to all the major
institutional investors

and big money managers
in the country to drum up

interest in your IPO.

You get five minutes to tell.

These stodgy, grey-haired
guys what the Internet is,

and why they need to own
a piece of your company.

All in 10
luxurious, fun-filled days.

Yay.

Remember the
Netscape road show?

Goodness.

Thank you uh for having
us and thank you for
inviting the entire world.

Yeah, ours
wasn't quite like that.

So what
do you guys think?

Mm. Any questions?

We started
on our road show,

which is expensive
and time consuming.

And in that time the
NASDAQ really falls apart.

Wall Street is growing tired
with the Internet itself.

The once red hot initial
public offering market
has cooled recently.

Things were a bit in a flux,

investors were definitely
a little cautious here.

Nearly 80 new issues have
been yanked so far this year.

I mean,
it was unbelievable.

I mean, you couldn't
script this thing.

Like we just filed to go
public and you're telling
us the market just died?

Thank God
only five more cities.

Six.

Did that guy
really say, "Well I guess
all you young people

will have to go back to
working for a living now?"

At least he
didn't keep leaving the
room to check his stocks.

You know, according
to the bottle, you're
actually supposed to wash

cold medicine down
with gin, not vodka.

It's soothing.

170 other companies have
already pulled their IPOs.

174.

Everyone's asking,
why are we out here?

We're either
braver or dumber.

And more in need of money.

Oh, thank you
for driving that point home,

that would have been
totally lost on me.

Want to go into how
if this doesn't happen
we'll have to fire,

why don't you tell
me how many people, since
you always go into it.

Always?

You want to get
into always now?

Why don't you work?

This sucks!

C'mon, why don't you work?

No, no, no, no!

Oh, suck it, ah!

No!

- Damn it, Sean!
- What?

"What?"

I think I broke it.

Yep, we're gonna have
to change the installer code.

Three engineers,
12 hour days, add
on 3 more days, guys.

I'm sorry.

No, not sorry.

Booze.

Tequila, please.

Top shelf, none of
that no label crap.

Bribery booze was a
glorious tradition where
every time the build team

got completely hammered by
something the engineers did,

um, usually, inadvertently,

they would bring
us some booze.

And by version 4 of
the Navigator, actually we
were kinda calculating how

successful the
development of the Navigator
was going by how much

booze the build team had.

We'd drink it all too!

It was like, oh, God,
it's 10:00 at night,
who wants a shot, right?

Totally unprofessional,
but it was awesome.

Who wants a shot?

Okay.

Ah, it's hideous.

You know,
Microsoft was in town,
they had this big like

cardboard or plastic
board you know "e" logo,

and uh yeah they
bring it over and they
plant it right in front

of Netscape headquarters.

Unbelievable.

"It's just not fair.

Good people should'nt
have to feel bad.

The IE team."

That's their
idea of funny, what the
hell does it even mean?

They talk trash as
lame as they write code.

I do
remember that event.

You know, I just thought
it was a desperate act.

I remember thinking that
it made them look dumb.

You know, it's sort of like,
when you're a big giant and
you have to go stomp on the

smaller competitor?

You give the smaller
competitor credibility.

Word spread
quickly and somebody
got the brilliant idea,

like oh well
we've got Mozilla.

Mozilla, was this
dinosaur like creature which
was our mascot for our company

and our browser and so
we put that on top of their
brand and put a market share

number up there and said,
"We're still dominant."

Yeah, whoo!

I can't believe they
gave us this opportunity to
have this totally symbolic,

Mozilla's totally stomping
on Internet Explorer and
uh, it was really glorious.

What Pixelon
said was that they had
a super whizzbang codec that

blew away everybody else.

And that was their big lie.

Pixelon had
never streamed anything
live at this point.

We did stream the
Iowa Straw Pole.

Yeah!

Whoo, congratulations!

When we streamed
the Iowa Straw Pole that
was the first time it was

exposed that Pixelon
had no capability of
doing anything live.

We tapped into I think
it was Iowa Public Television
and we were actually

receiving that
signal via satellite
from the satellite truck

that we'd just paid
100 grand for encoding

it, but not with
Pixelon's technology.

It wasn't possible.

The claim was
that the technology
was proprietary,

it was all built
in house from the
ground up by Pixelon.

Searches that I did
with the U.S. Patent office

didn't turn up a
single registered patent.

People did see
it on the Internet.

They didn't see it
full-screen, full motion.

Plenty more,
this is just for the toast.

The technology
that's supposed to
be delivering this over the

Internet is the thing
that we're supposed
to be delivering.

When it came time for
us to actually demonstrate
that, we failed.

Not only did we fail,
we didn't even try.

We used Windows
Media Encoder and the
Windows Media Player to

actually facilitate that.

Bear Stearns told us all the
institutions are spooked.

Everyone was saying it
looks like we're entering
a recessionary period.

If we couldn't
go public, it was game
over for going public.

Hey, can I
still get into the IPO?

Too late for
friends and family?

You are neither.

I think some degree of
panic was setting in.

You want to be confident
and project how great
things are going, right?

'Cause all the other guys
are living it up and their
careers are going great and

the money's rolling in.

And meanwhile in the
back of your mind you've
got this problem that

your company might just die.

What?

What?

What?

What?

I could take you
through the whole thing,
but suffice it to say:

I'd never met anyone
like Jenn before.

Guten morgen!

Okay, I know
what I'm smiling about.

The question is, what
are you smiling about?

We got the call!

Bear Stearns is getting
inbound calls from all
the companies we met with,

they're interested.

IPO, baby.

I-P-O, whoo!

Three days, we
only have until?

Friday.

Hello, it's Jerry
from Bear Stearns.

Jerry, I'm here
with Steph right now,
we are so excited.

Bear Stearns called us
up and said, listen the
markets very turbulent,

we strongly recommend you
just get out into the public,

that's what's most important,

take what you can and
just go and do it.

Todd and I,
being as inexperienced
as we were,

we didn't know how
hard we could push back.

If we're getting all this
unprecedented demand that Bear
Stearns was telling about,

why can't we move the price?

Yesterday you told
us we have 45 million
shares of demand for our

three-million share offering.

And two days ago we
couldn't sell a single share.

C'mon, we gotta
get it higher than $8.

Pricing is
a delicate balance.

Ok, you've got to leave
enough meat on the bone
so people will want to keep

coming back and feeding.

Nearly twelve times
demand's "not a little meat."

There has to
be a middle ground.

Gesundheit.

Hey, are you lost?

What's your name?

I'm Izzy Young.

Okay, well,
Izzy Young, you can't.

And I'm pretty good
at math, so don't worry,

I can make this
simple for you.

When a company is trading,

the price of its stock
is made by something
called supply and demand.

But in an IPO, the
bankers already figured
that out and they come up

with an offering price.

It's kind of hard
to tell who makes the
most money in IPOs,

so let's see the winnings
if they price it at $8

and it sells at $8.

This bigger pile is for
our guys and this smaller
pile's for the old dudes.

But don't feel too
bad for the bankers.

Grape jelly, ugh.

Ok, now let's see
what happens when the
stock is underpriced.

The stock shoots up like
a rocket on the first day
of trading, blows up 100%!

Bankers, it turns out,
are really good to their
BFFs and big clients,

Friends of Finance, they get
onto IPOs before anyone else!

Ok, now let's see what
happens when the price
for all this triples!

The bank's big clients
can sells the stock right
away for a huge profits.

And pass some
of that back to their
bankers in commissions

and more business.

So yeah, they
get a ton of money,

but everyone else,
these other people who
came onto the scene like

three months ago who
didn't create anything,
get so much more.

It's totally not fair,

but once you
agree to an offering
price, no matter what,

that's all you get.

And that is how
the game is played.

When I grow up, I want to
be an investment banker.

And?

It's
Windows Media Player.

A doctored version, but still.

Lesser minds
cast aspersions, that's
what lesser minds do.

Wrought by jealousy no doubt.

Think, for a minute just how
crazy you sound right now.

And, if, IF, you admit
that you made a mistake
now, I'll forgive you,

there will be beneficence.

There's no mistake.

The Microsoft branding
was scrubbed using a
customization feature that's

actually in
Windows Media Player.

That's quite a story.

And here I thought we'd
come to an understanding
the other day,

about your limitations.

Ok, well you know what?

Despite my limitations,
I was able to see that our
whole company is built around

modifying an existing
program from the biggest
company in the world!

It's completely
illegal and just wrong.

You know, I was
genuinely excited about
being a part this,

something completely
new, but nothing here
makes sense anymore.

Nothing.

You know the
thing about a germ, Barry?

It's nothing, a small
thing really, can't even
see it with the naked eye.

You can wipe it
away with your sleeve
and not even know it.

But if you don't wipe
it out, it spreads.

It divides.

And soon it infects
not only one, but many.

It becomes
like water turned
into blood, fiery hail,

it becomes the pestilence.

For the greater good of all,
I can't let that happen.

That's sad.

I'm sorry, what are you?

You're a germ.

You are a germ, Barry.

Now, get out!

Get out of my office!

Get out of my company!

You hear what I say?

You're fired,
I swear to God, get
your ass out of here!

Good evening, beautiful.

Well, good evening.

I think it's
time for an upgrade.

What do you say we trade
this in and get you a Rolls?

A Rolls Royce?

Now a lot
of folks like the silver,

but they do make a
Peacock Blue that's
quite fetching.

Think on it.

Oh my gosh.

Okay.

You must have had
a good day at work.

Things at
work just keeps getting
better and better.

Really?

Always.

We went,
we made a trip to
Washington and met

with the Department
of Justice and

kicked off the anti,
the antitrust law suit.

Finally the
DOJ took on the contempt
case and had it put before

a District Court Judge.

It was out of our
hands at that point.

All we could do
was keep waiting.

Until...

Surprising everyone,

federal judge
Thomas Penfield Jackson
ordered Microsoft to

cease and desist its
practice of forcing PC makers

to carry its Internet
Explorer browser.

What
the government's saying
is that we shouldn't

put as many features
into our products.

It's like telling someone
that can't buy a car,

they've gotta
go buy the motor,

they've gotta go
out and buy the tires,

they've gotta go
out and buy the radio.

The government claims that
Microsoft is trying to

use its overwhelming
dominance in computer
operating systems to compete

unfairly in the browser market.

The Antitrust
Division at the Department
of Justice believes that

no consumer
should be denied the
browser of its choice.

Yes!

That was heartening,
by then it was too late,
and didn't matter that much.

We weren't gonna
profit from it.

We're not gonna make
any sales before Christmas.

I'm afraid this
quarter's gonna line
up with our projection.

An $80 million loss.

In all likelihood,
closer to 90 million.

The analysts are
already snuffling for it
like pigs for truffles.

We scrambled
as best we could finding
markets for what we had and

building new products
for what we didn't have.

I just think we had
a whole new world we
had to figure out.

Marc, we're gonna
have to lay off some
folks in the New Year.

I'll work with HR, make
sure they have the best
terms and packages.

You'll have to come
up with your list.

That's very common
in the tech industry,
and it's very unpleasant.

It was unpleasant for
me, you hate to do that.

We haven't had to do
this before, but I can tell
you it is always painful.

It was really tough.

I cried so hard, I left
work and I went back to
my apartment and hid,

and I was just blubbering.

I just felt awful.

I mean, when you're
so emotionally tied up
with an experience and

with a community,
even if it's a work community.

That was just devastating
for me and for a lot of us.

You look at the
graphic for the word "Pixelon"
and the "X" is a cross.

So Michael, purported
to be a religious man,
I believe there were even

prayer meetings in his
office from time to time.

"We have here only
five loaves and two fish,"
the disciples replied.

"Bring them to me,"
Jesus said.

And he directed the people
to sit in the grass.

I thought
you were Jewish.

I am, but I didn't get
the sense this was optional.

It's odd when you're
in a circumstance like
that because you sorta

take your cues about what
everybody else is doing.

And if everybody else takes
the same cue, everybody
else behaves the same way.

My grandmother,
bless her soul, was a
woman who had the

great gift of making
all of her grandchildren,

and there were
8 of us, feel as if we
were each her favorite.

As I look out
on y'all here,

I can honestly say that
I understand my grandmother.

I love each and every
one of you equally.

Please join hands in prayer.

Lord, we ask your blessing
as we walk the righteous
path towards towards iBash,

serving your mission,
a mission that will nourish
the multitudes and provide

abundance beyond our
wildest imagining.

For this, and all
things, we thank you.

Amen.

Amen.

It was the dot-com era.

Everybody there thought
that they were on the
precipice of great wealth.

It's odd what
that does to people,
it did it to me.

We're super
excited, there's no question.

We don't know what
it means to be public,

we don't know what
it means to run a publicly

held company but we
understand this is some
rite of passage we're

about to go through.

I basically
had a sleepless night.

You look
like a hundred bucks.

Don't worry,
Bear Stearns will price
me at a tenth of that.

The price that had been left,
that everybody had heard of
was $8 a share,

which was what Bear Stearns
had floated to them.

And Egan got on the
phone with the chairman and
convinced them at some point

to at least budge by a dollar,

so we got from 8
bucks back to 9 bucks.

That's the good news,
we're going public.

The mechanics
for how an IPO actually happen
are sort of cloaked in mystery.

But because of that,
sometimes they don't
always go so smoothly,

and ours was no different.

You know I woke up this
morning and I realized that
today is Friday the 13th.

Why did
you tell me that?

Cause
it's the date.

Of course it is.

I really wish I
didn't know that.

We're so screwed.

This is the
first holding pen, where
they're holding us until

our whole team is there.

We don't know what's going
on, we're just waiting there.

And waiting.

Are we going to price?

Is this thing going
through or what?

Yes, yep we are.

Oh, and by the way,
word is it's gonna open
between $20 and $30.

$20?

We weren't so focused
on the fact that we
had locked in at nine,

we were so incredibly
excited that the demand was
so high that they're saying

it's going to open
around 20 bucks a share.

They take us down the
hallway, take us to this
little bullpen area,

where there's a huge
trading floor, where there's
a bunch of senior traders

sitting around their monitors.

Everyone in the
room all looked in our
direction at Todd and I.

And I don't know
what to expect.

I've never seen this
before, I'd never watched
a movie about this before,

I had no concept.

Ace Greenberg
who's the CEO and sort of a
famous CEO of Bear Stearns,

and he's doing card tricks.

That's the chairman.

He does this for every,

sort of every exec
team as they're, they're
about to go public.

Gentlemen.

-Boys.

So, the deal's
not going to open at $20.

It may hit $60!

- What the?
- Are you kidding me?

I mean, at this
point, it seems surreal,
like what is going on?

When are you
guys going to tell us,
like, it's a big joke,

or the thing's collapsing
and it's not happening?

That was the last
update we got.

Ace Greenberg.

- Todd Krizelman.
- Good to meet you.

You too son.

So, you're the guys
making all this fuss, huh?

- I guess so.
- Yes.

Well,
CNBC just picked
up on the discussion,

so fasten your seat belts.

Okay, here we go.

You guys
ready for your lives
to change forever?

- Yes.
- Yes.

Ten, nine,
eight, seven, six, five...

Four, three...

87!

87!

$87, $87!

Two seconds later.

97!

I mean,
I was, I think there was
like a ring in my ears.

It was in every
way life-altering,
in one fell swoop it

completely validated
everything Todd and
I had been telling everyone

about this thing
called the Internet.

It was euphoric.

We're
on CNN right now!

Your stock just
made the highest first day
gain in stock market history!

What does it feel like
to be $97 Million Men?

I couldn't believe
what, what was happening.
I'm euphoric.

Euphoria.

Enjoy it boys.

We're a
billion-dollar company.

For now.

And our initial
reaction in the first few

minutes and hours
even was euphoria.

But pretty quickly
it was anger.

They get a ton of money,

but everyone else,
these other people who
came onto the scene

like three months ago,

who didn't even
create anything,

get so much more.

You know,
when a deal goes from
$9 to $87,

that means the company
just left a lot of
money on the table.

It's totally not
fair, but once you agree
to an offering price,

no matter what,
that's all you get.

And that was
obvious pretty quickly.

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