The Start-Up Read online

  In the meantime, he’d gone to Gibly headquarters and found Amit and the team in a state of panic. Everyone was typing away at computers, trying to figure out how someone had broken into the system. They could see that there had been a security breach but had no way of locating an IP address for the person who had done it. Ted didn’t tell them he knew the answer.

  When he asked him about the database, Amit confessed it existed, but insisted it was only temporary; they’d just kept it to make sure the app was working. Temporary databases typically don’t last through one hundred million users however. Amit was hiding something. This made Ted a little nervous, but he decided that the less he knew about it, the better.

  The blatant illegality notwithstanding, if anyone found out that an eighteen-year-old hacked into Gibly, the deal would be off and his reputation would be finished. He had to shut her up somehow.

  Sitting at the corner table where Amelia had said she’d be was a slender teenager with long brown hair and glasses. She tapped her foot anxiously, watching the television over the bar. Upon seeing her, Ted let out a sigh of relief. There was no way this fidgety little girl—she couldn’t weigh more than 110 pounds—could be the threat that brought him down. He felt his confidence coming back for the first time since his conversation with T. J.

  “Amelia?” he asked as he walked up to the table, sticking out his hand.

  “Ted Bristol. Thank you for meeting me on such short notice.” Amelia jumped, startled, when he said her name. “Oh, hi, Mr. Bristol.

  Yes, of course. No problem. I really want to—” Ted put his hand up to cut her off. “We have all night,” he said as he sat down across from her and motioned for the waiter. “Have you eaten dinner?

  Would you like to order anything? I’m going to have a little something.”

  “Oh, sure.” Amelia hadn’t expected such an offer; she had thought she was in trouble.

  Ted ordered eggplant Parmesan. Flustered, Amelia said she’d have the same.

  “Do you want wine?” he asked her.

  Amelia was stunned. Didn’t he know she was eighteen? “No thanks,” she answered quickly. “I’ll just have a Coke.”

  “Suit yourself.” Ted smiled. “I’ll take a glass of the cab. Thanks, Martin,” he always made a point to pay attention to waiters’ nametags and address them in the first-person.

  “So, Amelia,” he said, crossing his hands on the table. “Do you mind telling me a little about what you found on Gibly?”

  “Well, first I want to say I’m sorry for breaking in. I really didn’t mean to. “No need to apologize. On the contrary, you’ve helped us realize a flaw in our security, which our team is addressing as we speak.” He was buttering her up, making her feel comfortable.

  Amelia let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, that’s great. How did you find out, though?”

  “Not important, Amelia. What is important is that I understand what you saw once you were in.” Ted smiled again.

  Amelia didn’t think how he found out was exactly “not important”

  —she was certain she’d covered all her tracks—but for now she knew that making sure Ted knew what was going on with the website was more important.

  “Well, I found the database where Gibly is storing all of its users’

  information. Billions and billions of cells recording the web movements and physical locations of every person using Gibly. It’s insane. I mean, that’s, like, totally unethical if not illegal, right? It’s a complete infraction of users’ privacy.”

  Ted kept the same neutral smile. “Well, yes, I suppose it would be, if it existed. Did you see anything else?”

  “Well, then I started thinking that maybe that was why the company had sold for so much. I mean, it’s illegal, but that kind of information would also be insanely valuable to everyone from advertisers to terrorists.

  So, I tracked Lloyds’ accounts.” She stopped, not sure she should have admitted that.

  “It’s okay, Amelia. I’m not going to tell anyone.” Reassured, she went on. “So, I tracked Lloyd’s, and they’ve been receiving ten-million-dollar payments every month from someone named VIPER.”

  Ted took a moment to consider this, but quickly chose to ignore it.

  What Lloyd’s did was not his problem. His problem was the possibility of this being discovered and his reputation being destroyed.

  He took a sip of his wine. “Amelia, I want to reassure you that the database was temporary, just something the engineering team did to make sure that the applications we were putting out were working on different browsers and in different network areas. Last week, when you got into the system, the team was actually disabling everything. In fact, that might be why you were able to get in; the security wall was probably compromised when they were reprogramming. Because of you, though, we’re re-patching that, too.”

  Amelia stared at Ted. That didn’t make sense, and he knew it as well as she did.

  The food arrived and Ted picked up his fork and knife to cut a piece of eggplant. “So I want you to know that it’s all being taken care of. Okay?

  But I need a favor from you.”

  He casually took a bite of his eggplant. “I need you to promise me that you won’t say anything about this. To anyone.” Amelia looked down at her food. She twisted a few noodles around her fork.“And to thank you for your discretion,” he went on, “I want to offer you a payment of ten thousand dollars.” Amelia put her fork down. She was no longer hungry. “You want to pay me?”

  “Consider it a consulting fee for helping us increase our security. Your getting in has saved us a lot of potential trouble down the road; we’ll be much stronger now with the new security patches.”

  “I don’t think . . . I don’t want your money.” She felt her voice growing more assertive. “Your programmers can’t just disable the database. They could hide it, maybe, but the recording system is embedded into the software’s core code. It would take an entire team six months, maybe more, to undo all of that.”

  Ted felt his anxiety rising. The deal was closing in three weeks; six months was five months and one week too long to save his reputation.

  “Amelia, I can assure you we’ll do what needs to be done and all your concerns will be addressed down the line. But right now the deal has to go through. I can’t have anything delay it.” He reached into his briefcase. “I brought a contract for you to sign. Just sign it, and I’ll write you a check right now for twenty-five thousand dollars. Twenty-five thousand just for doing nothing.”

  To her surprise, Amelia felt calm and confident. “I’m not signing anything,” she said.

  Ted decided to try a new tactic. “What if I brought you onto the team?

  I can guarantee you a job. Do you have a summer job yet? I’ve got an entire portfolio of companies. You can have your pick of any of them. I’ll help make you the next Mark Zuckerberg.”

  Amelia couldn’t help but laugh. “No offense, but I don’t want to start a company, Mr. Bristol.”

  “What do you want, then, Amelia?”

  “I don’t want to be exploited and I don’t think Gibly’s users do, either. The Internet should be a free and open place. Your company steals users’ private information without their permission. It’s irresponsible. It’s immoral.” The passion in her voice surprised even Amelia.

  Ted looked at her carefully. This girl, this tiny little thing, was actually serious. “One hundred thousand,” he told her.

  But Amelia didn’t flinch. “I don’t want your money.”

  “Do you know how much money one hundred thousand dollars is, Amelia? It would take you and your brother a very long way.”

  “How do you know about my brother?” Amelia asked.

  “I know more than you think, Amelia. A lot more.” His expression hardened. “I’m telling you right now, you want to take this offer. After this, things only get worse.”

  Amelia couldn’t believe she was being threatened. “I’m not afraid of you, Mr. Bristol.”r />
  Ted took a deep breath. “Listen, go home and talk it over with your brother. I’ll call you in the morning and you can tell me your decision then.

  Once we’re in agreement, I’ll wire the money to you immediately—and we can discuss any job you might want. I can make your life incredibly easy, Amelia. All you have to do is sign the letter.” Amelia stood up from her chair and put on her jacket. “Thank you so much for dinner, Mr. Bristol, but I can assure you, you’re wasting your time.”

  She walked out with her head high. As the café door closed, Ted slammed his fist into the table. “Dammit!” The whole restaurant turned to stare but he didn’t care. He threw a fifty-dollar bill onto the table and stormed out.

  Chapter 15

  Part of Something Real

  Amelia’s head was spinning as she got onto her bike and headed back to campus. University Avenue, where the café was, turned into Palm Drive, the majestic entrance to Stanford University. One hundred sixty-six palm trees lined the road that led to the main quad, the magnificent Spanish fortress that composed the original University and sat at the base of the Foothills, providing a gorgeous view up into the mountainous skyline. No matter how many times she biked this road, its beauty never failed to make Amelia pause. Tonight was no different, and she felt her heart slow as she looked down the stretch, noticed the breeze in her hair, and watched as the sun set behind the mountains and turned the tiled roof of the main quad a majestic red. Over the past year this place had become a part of her, and she a part of it, and it demanded that she live according to what she knew was right. She owed it to all the minds that had worked on the campus to pioneer a new world of technology. She knew what she had to do.

  With calm determination, Amelia raced back to her dorm room, opened her laptop, and created a secure, untraceable e-mail address. She then logged into TechCrunch, the popular technology blog, and looked up the e-mail address for the editorial staff. TechCrunch was known for its stances on freedom of information and user protection, and Amelia knew they’d faithfully handle the information she was about to give them.

  SUBJECT: Privacy Invasion at Gibly STATUS: URGENT

  TO: The Editor

  I’m writing to inform you of a serious issue with the Gibly platform.

  I’ve discovered that the company’s applications drop tags on users’ phones and, through the web browser and GPS units, are monitoring and recording user movement. A large database containing all user information, listed by unique user ID, is housed on the company server. Moreover, I have reason to believe it’s this database, and not belief in the marketability of the company’s applications, which is driving the sale of the company to Lloyd’s.

  I have attached directions to the movement that got me to the database in order to prove my logic; however, I’ve put a security algorithm on the pathway, so the direction will only work for the next hour; if you need more time, reply to this e-mail and I will reconstruct a new pathway. I’m writing to you as someone deeply concerned with the ramifications such a violation of user trust could have on future internet applications, for I fear that if the Gibly deal goes through without major changes to Gibly’s programming infrastructure, user security will be irreversibly compromised.

  She attached the directions, reread the paragraph and stared at the

  “Send” button. Her finger hesitated on the mouse and she felt her heart racing. She wasn’t saying that she wanted to take them on, she was just encouraging someone else to look into it, right? That was all she had to do; just send the e-mail, and her part was finished. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and clicked “Send.”

  Ted let out a grunt as he pushed the bench press forward. Six. Seven.

  Eight. Rest.

  When he’d gotten home from University Café he’d tried to work, but it had been a fruitless effort. He was too distracted. He’d come down to his home gym to relieve some stress. The large room had tiled floors and seven pieces of gym equipment, plus a stretching area with a mirror and the Pilates junk his wife was obsessed with.

  Working out was helping. The more he exercised, the more he became convinced Amelia would come around to see things his way. One hundred thousand dollars for a scholarship kid from foster homes in Indiana?

  That was like winning the lottery; no sane person would turn it down.

  Everything would be fine.

  He got up from the bench and moved to the treadmill, pointing the remote to turn on the flat screen television on the wall as he dialed the treadmill up to a healthy running pace. He began trotting and smiled at a clever Volkswagen advertisement. What a great rebranding campaign that company had pulled off, he thought.

  When the commercial break ended, a news anchor for CNBC appeared.

  “Folks, we’ve got breaking news. Internet accusations claim that Gibly, the Silicon Valley company in the process of finalizing its sale to Lloyd’s for 3.8 billion dollars, has spent the past several years stealing users’ private information. Everything from your whereabouts to purchases to your ATM’s PIN have been tracked. We’re going now to our tech correspondent Christian Johnson for the latest. Christian, what can you tell us about these stunning allegations?”

  Ted pulled the emergency stop break on the treadmill and stared at the television, though he could no longer hear a word they were saying. Just then, his cell phone and the house phone started to ring. He took a deep breath and composed himself. That little nerd didn’t know what was about to hit her.

  Chapter 16

  Homeless

  Adam raced up the stairs of the Gates Building, clenching a letter tightly in his hand, his head whirring with panic. He’d only been in this building twice before; once when Amelia had fainted—she’d been holed up coding something and had forgotten to eat for more than twenty-four hours and Adam’s name had been first on her speed dial—and another time to smuggle out the old monitor he kept assuring Amelia he would return any day now.

  He didn’t like the building. It was too sterile and clean and the blue light and the just-barely-audible buzz of all the computers made him anxious.

  Plus, all the people there were such dweebs. Not that he was the emperor of cool, but at least he knew where he fell short; these people had created an environment where social weirdness was totally acceptable. Like, it was fine to stare at a machine and not shower for three days because the guy next to you hadn’t either. It wasn’t fine; it was weird.

  But he knew Amelia would be there and he had to talk to her about the letter he’d just gotten.

  He found her on the third floor, at a cubicle near the window, wearing headphones and deeply engrossed in whatever she was typing.

  He walked up behind her and shook her shoulder.

  “Amelia, we’ve gotta talk.”

  “Just a sec.” She hardly acknowledged him, still absorbed in whatever was on her computer.

  He pulled off her headphones a little too forcefully. “No. Now!”

  “Geez, Adam. What is it?”

  “They’re taking away our scholarships.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  He threw the letter down in front of her. “Our scholarships: our tuition money, our room and board, our monthly stipend. They’re taking it away.

  All of it. The letter says the University is cutting back on aid next year and we no longer qualify. Do you think they found out?”

  “What more could they find out? We were totally honest about everything that happened when we applied.”

  “How else could we no longer qualify?” Adam felt his voice shaking.

  “We’re, like, the poorest people on this campus. Amelia, we have nothing to our names.”

  Amelia was looking down at her hands and was silent.

  “Hello? Amelia? Are you listening?” Why did she not get the gravity of this? Then it dawned on Adam what she was thinking. “You don’t think it was Tom Fenway do you?” he said. “Do you think he’s blackmailing you to take the job? Oh my God! Do you think t
hat’s it?”

  “No, Adam. It’s not Tom Fenway.” Amelia paused. “It’s Ted Bristol.”

  “Ted Bristol? Lisa’s—I mean, T. J.’s dad?” he hadn’t told Amelia about Lisa yet and this didn’t seem like the time.

  Amelia took a deep breath, still looking down at her hands. “Yes.

  We . . . we had a meeting the other day and I didn’t exactly give him the answer he wanted.”

  “Wait, what? What are you talking about? What meeting?”

  “He somehow found out that I hacked into Gibly.”

  “How? Didn’t you conceal your identity?”

  “I don’t know how, but he found out. And he called me and it sounded like he wanted to fix it, and so I went to University Café to meet him and explain everything. I thought he was going to ask me how to fix the problem. He was so nice on the phone, I was certain he wanted to do the right thing.”

  Adam felt his face go white. Oh, God. What had she done?

  “But then he tried to pay me off, Adam. He didn’t want to do what needs to be done to change the monitoring, and he said the whole Lloyd’s payment issue wasn’t his problem, that the deal just needed to go through.”

  “How much did he offer you?”

  “At first it was ten, then it was twenty-five, then it was a hundred. And a job, nothing specific, kind of like choose your own—”

  “Wait,” Adam interrupted, feeling his ears turn red. “One hundred . . . thousand?”

  “Adam, that is dirty money and you know it.” He couldn’t speak. It felt like there was something lodged in his throat, preventing the expulsion of air

  Amelia glanced away. She knew she had to tell him the last part, but he looked so devastated. “And then I . . . ” she said, meekly.