Epilogue

Two months had passed since the company had been able to come back to work. The effects on the economy had started to ease, and our numbers were starting to show it.

Charles and I were having lunch at Naan, our favorite restaurant. It still felt a little weird, and the restaurant was not as crowded as it once had been.

I looked around and observed, “I think it’s going to take a while for things to get back to normal, if they ever do. I did hear they’re doing a ton of take-out business, maybe that’s where things will net out for retail.”

“Possibly,” agreed Charles. “Tell me how things are going for you.”

“We reinstated everyone’s full salary,” I was happy to report.

“That’s great to hear,” Charles said.

“Yep, that was a good moment,” I said.

“And what do we have here?” he asked, looking down at the paper I had brought with me. It was a list of traits that we had outlined that successful entrepreneurs seemed to have. We had been working on a thought experiment with the question being, could a non-entrepreneur embrace these characteristics?

“Looks like we have 14 different traits. That’s still far too much. I think we need to get it well below ten,” he said.

“I know if this ever becomes something we’ll need to simplify it. Just don’t force me to fit them into some kind of silly acronym,” I said.

He laughed. “Now, how did you know my mind was going there? No, of course not...unless it happens naturally.”

Just then, my phone buzzed with a text message. I normally had my phone on silent, but I must have forgotten. I took a quick look down at it. It was a message from my old colleague, Matt. I heard he had gotten a big promotion at the company he’d joined after we worked together at Crackersnap. It’d been a while since I saw him, I wonder what he wanted.

Luckily Charles excused himself to go to the restroom, giving me the chance to read the text. It said:

Hey Will, hope you’re well. We’re about to issue a big RFP for our brand and advertising business. Let me know if you guys want to be included.

Huh, well, that could be interesting. Maybe we’ll throw our hat in the ring.

I just hope Matt hasn’t changed too much.