The Lost Prince

Meeting and a Dinner

At 3 pm on the dot, Eric walked into the conference room with the managers he had never met other than Peter. His laptop immediately connected to the projector, and he used the remote.

"Hi, for those who don't know who I am. I am Eric Knight, founder, co owner and Head Coder and Programmer. Today we will be discussing the next program we will be developing, and work has actually already begun on. As proof of concept, we already have a meeting with White Manufacturing to work on the machinery of a dozen factories." he said as the first slide showed them that it would infact be his plan as the next operational management system would be specifically designed for manufacturing plants and factories.

"Wait, how is this going to make economical sense if they just have us upgrade the systems and not provide support?" Peter asked.

"We will be providing support in conjunction with their maintenance teams. Some of these companies built the machines second hand and have no idea that the control systems can be manipulated now. The best part is the changes we are making are unlocking the full potential of the machinery, my results showing a 62 percent increase in the operations efficiency. The best part, once we upgrade one of these legacy machines, we have the code ready for upload with no additional development needed to charge full price for the systems we develop." he said showing that the fees he would have charged White Manufacturing had it not been for the school project. They were stunned his bill for just a few months of work would have been $90,000 dollars for the improvements. A price Henry White said he would have gladly paid for the results he received when Eric told him when he scheduled dinner.

"How many companies have these types of machines?" Hellen asked him as he flipped to the next slide.

"There are roughly 820,000 factories across the nation, with 70 percent fully equipped and operational with legacy machinery. 40 percent of those using them, do not have in house IT support that is capable of coding these machines. We are looking at between 220,000 and 550,000 factories just in America." he said showing that the market wasn't small. "This system if properly designed and maintained, could be an even larger success than the Restaurant management system with increased profits as we do not actually have to replace the machinery. We are only updating the coding and programming to allow their own machinery to function. With proper support, we could potentially charge $10,000 a year per location and only be responsible for the software itself."

His presentation took 2 hours of their time, every department on board for its development when he showed them with the 12 machines he had already performed this on, they potentially already had 50,000 clients that all they had to do was send someone out for a day to upload the new program and ensure that the machine operated properly afterward. Being able to charge $75,000 for these upgrades for a day of work, most of it would be pure profit once they had the program so it was essentially plug and play. But he also knew that it would be a lot of work as he estimated there were at least 15,000 different types of legacy machinery that they would need to write new programming for to make it easier to work in the future.

Henry White was already waiting for them at the restaurant when Eric told the host on duty to give them the VIP table as it was the only one available. He knew it was going to cost a bit, but he had been saving his grant and scholarship money all year and had over 2 million in the account with a 4.0 as his grades had been posted.

"Fancy place, I wasn't aware we had a restaurant with a Michelin Star let alone two." Henry said as Eric smiled.

"Actually hoping for our third this year." Eric said with a knowing smile as they were taken to the table and he got to see into the controlled chaos that was the kitchen. "So Mr. White, you asked for this meeting, what would you like to discuss?"

"I want to hire your company to do what you did in our factory over the last few months. We have 8 more that need the same treatment and we don't have the ability to hire an independent IT team to accomplish it." Henry White said as Hellen nodded.

"You are in luck that Eric was telling us of this success just today and we decided to add it to our offerings. The question is going to be about cost for each machine series and ongoing support." Hellen said as he smiled.

Henry nodded as he looked at her. "We are prepared to pay $100,000 for each machine series with a $25,000 per location support contract guaranteed for 10 years. I believe it should be standard for what you are offering, as it is far cheaper than what we were just quoted. $2.8 million for each machine and $50,000 per location support for a decade." he said being upfront about it.

Eric smiled. "The difference between their quote and our price is who owns and controls the code. For what you just offered, I maintain ownership so that I can charge other customers with these machines as well. If you want exclusivity, it will cost the $3 million, but you could recoup those costs yourself selling the coding to recoup the costs to others."

Hellen nodded as she agreed. "I believe all that is left is to draw up the contracts and for you to copy the current code-" she said as he pulled out a manilla folder and several flash drives that he had in a case.

"Have your legal review the contract we drafted, those are the copies of the entire hard drive operating each machine series." Henry said prepared as they brought out the appetizers and drinks for them.

"How did you know we would accept the offer?" Hellen asked.

"Eric suggested he would be interested in our offer if not for his position in your company. After he showed what he can do, it was obvious we needed his expertise to replicate what he did at our other facilities. If the price is allowing you to make another product that will make you millions as well as enable us to increase our own production and do the same, it is a price I will gladly pay every time." Henry told her honestly as he didn't need to hide his factories desperation. It was well known they had been slipping for years, this was a chance for them to regain what they once had.

"I will start processing this tomorrow with my team, so hopefully it won't take more than a few months to get all of it processed and operational." Eric told him.

"You have a team now?" Henry asked.

"He always had a team, but his assignment at your factory was for the school and his education. We don't interfere with that, but we will surely utilize his new experience to increase our own offerings as well. Now that you are working with the company and not just the individual, you get access to our entire team of highly specialized coders, programmers and tech support that will focus only on servicing the program we are building to control everything. As you can see for yourself, the restaurant industry has greatly benefitted from our initial operations management program." Hellen told him showing him the tech in use that they had designed all over the restaurant.

"This is one of your clients?" Henry asked shocked as the entree was served to them.

"Our flagship location where we actually developed and tested the system. I am still technically the front of house manager, just taking the night off in order to have this meeting." Eric informed him as the man's eyes went even wider.

Henry chuckled as he shook his head in amazement. "Well, I think you should quit this place and focus on your tech work. You could be unstoppable if you focused." he advised before taking a bite of the steak and moaning at the experience of the best steak he had ever had.

"Still need to find and train my replacement here before I do that, I am also a minority share holder here, so I won't do something that would damage what we have built. Besides, sometimes you just have to have a break from staring at a computer screen. This lets me clear my mind so it remains sharp when I am working on the coding."

Henry White could respect that, especially as Eric had shown even when swamped he could code miracles in a fraction of time others could. "Well, I am not one to criticize how someone else handles their business. Especially when they have proven it works with what they have managed to achieve in such a short time. Just a year old company and already having cash flow from your own product north of $20 million a year, that is extremely impressive. How long before you think you will be able to program two dozen machines types?" he asked.

Eric smiled as he looked at the man. "We should be able to debug the current code within a week for all of them. Until it is done we won't be able to begin the rewrite to current standards, but with the team we have working on it, should be done by the end of summer." he answered as Hellen nodded knowing that it would be tight but possible.

"3 months? Other firms say it could take a year per!" Henry exclaimed as Eric shrugged.

"We take the projects we want, and offer specific services to clients who might be able to utilize it. You are the first customer in the new product series, which means our teams will be focusing on the 24 machine types you have brought us, so we can expand our offerings beyond the 12 we already have. Anyone who comes on after as a customer with new coding required, will have to wait in line like everyone else. I think I have shown that even doing 18 credits in college, working here and doing my assignment for your company that I can handle immense pressure. Double the workload without the college work, I might be entertained all summer." Eric told him making Henry laugh as they kept eating the tasting menu he had ordered for them.