“The mystery is how many consumers will change and when. That’s what xTV got wrong. They overestimated consumer adoption. They ran out of money before the consumers adopted their product.”

“Okay. I’ll buy that.” She was peeking around him. Monica had just inherited a dollhouse. How this show was so popular was a mystery to Desmond.

“It comes down to the founders,” he said. “Companies that succeed have a founder or a leadership team that fundamentally understands their customers, sometimes even better than customers know themselves. They imagine what the customer wants before they know they want it, and they package it in a way that is irresistible. And, they manage well. xTV had the vision, but not the discipline. They didn’t watch their bank account close enough.”

“Uh-huh. So what are you going to do about this grand revelation?”

“Tomorrow, I’m going for three job interviews.”

“Really?” She sat up, tossed the magazine aside. “Where?”

He told her, and she nodded.

“You going to wear the steel-toed boots?”

“Very funny. And yes. I am. Because I keep it real.”

On New Year’s Eve, he accepted a job offer. When he told Peyton which company, she looked surprised.

“SciNet?”

“SciNet.”

“I didn’t see that coming.”

The company was boring. It was early stage and developing an e-commerce platform to sell scientific equipment and products.

“It’s a home run,” Desmond said. “Low X factor. Very little waiting for consumer adoption. Their customers are scientists and office admins—very rational people, easy to target. Very easy to predict their behavior patterns.”

“Don’t be so sure. I was raised by a scientist.”

“Well, you know what I mean. They’ll hit it out of the park. Won’t be a multi-billion-dollar company, but it’ll succeed and do what I need it to do.”

“Which is?”

“Provide financial security. The job offer is solid. Tons of options and a good salary. I can start buying options in other companies again.”

“So you haven’t given up on that?”

“Not by a long shot.”

They went to a New Year’s Eve house party that night. It was like no New Year’s Desmond could remember. The whole world felt new again. He felt hopeful about everything: the new job, and his relationship with Peyton especially.

The vibe at SciNet was very different from xTV. Where xTV had an almost Hollywood feel, SciNet felt like a university or a lab. Everyone was pretty uptight. Well, everyone except for a few of the developers, Desmond included. They couldn’t help but make a few pranks to lighten the mood. Most were related to the movie The Terminator, in which an artificial intelligence called SkyNet becomes self-aware and tries to wipe out humanity with a robotic Arnold Schwarzenegger. Whenever the database or website was acting weird, someone would say, “Oh God, I think SciNet’s becoming self-aware.”