“Don’t borrow trouble from tomorrow,” added Jake. I nodded agreement.
We started discussing what was going to take place, and then a secretary came in and ushered us to the conference room. The Microsoft team was already inside, and a number of papers were laid out on the conference room table. Introductions were made first. I remember that Bill Gates was wearing a suit and tie, which was unusual for him. Also present was his father William Gates, Jr., a prominent Seattle attorney in his own right, and who was obviously involved in the stock purchase. He shook hands with me, and I lingered in front of him. “It’s very much a pleasure to meet you, Mister Gates. I have to say, your son must make you very proud. This is quite an accomplishment.” I waved my arm around lazily, as if taking in the entire company.
“Thank you, Doctor Buckman. Bill has said many kind things about you. I think his most interesting comment was that he wished you had gone to work for him when you got out of college, and not the army,” he said with a smile.
I smiled and shook my head. “I think I have the independent bug as much as he does. I do have to ask, though, what did you think when he told you that he was dropping out of college to start up a computer programming company?”
He glanced over at his son and grinned hugely. “I thought he was nuts!” We all laughed at that, Bill Junior also.
After that, we all sat down around the table and started reviewing paperwork and signing. On our side of the table, it was John as chairman and me as the president; on the other side it was Bill Gates and James Towne, the new president of the company. He was supposed to be the designated grownup, but I knew it wouldn’t last. They were just too different. Also in the room was Dave Marquardt, who was on the board and represented Technology Venture Investors. They had bought six percent of the company a year ago. The Buckman Group would probably be the last outside investor until the IPO. Eventually, after we had all suffered from terminal finger cramp, it was finished. John slid a check across the table. Several bottles of champagne were brought out and we had a quick celebration.
It was during this period that Bill came up to me, with one of his senior programming developers, and asked, “Remember when you were out here the last time. You commented on a menu program you had developed. Did you ever do anything more with it?”
I had almost forgotten that during the signing, but I had been a good Boy Scout ahead of time and was prepared. I set my champagne down and went over to my briefcase. “Actually, I did do some work ahead of time, in case you were interested. I just forgot about it until now.” I pulled out a 5¼" floppy and some printouts, and handed them to Gates, who handed them off to the programmer. “Put that into a PC and run it from the command prompt,” I said. I laid the documentation out on the table and picked up one of the pens we had been signing with.
I noticed the rest of the room staring at Gates and me as I led him through the printout on the menu program. I ran down through the logic and discussed shell operations and non-shell operations, which were important in that period of limited memory. “Most of it I wrote in Assembler, since I don’t have access to your source code. I never gave it a name. If you want it, it’s yours. Just send me something to assign it to you.” We then had a brief discussion of programming choices. “If you guys can’t tighten this up and clean it up, I’ve invested my money with the wrong people,” I finished, smiling.
“I really wish you had come here instead of the Army,” smiled Bill.
I simply shook my head. “We’d have butted heads at some point. Besides, my home is back east, not out here.”
Later, when we were in a corner, Jake gave me a funny look, with John joining him. “You really do understand this stuff, don’t you?” he commented to me.
I nodded. “I really do.”
John asked, “So, why did you give them that program? Why didn’t you go into business on your own?”
“It’s only going to be useful for the next few years. After that the computers will be more powerful and the programming environment will have changed. Besides, I don’t need to be a competitor. You watch. Bill Gates is like a shark after chum. He will run roughshod through this industry. I don’t need him chasing me.” Then I just grinned at them. “Besides, that would be like… work! I’m too lazy for that!”
John rolled his eyes and Jake snorted. The meeting broke apart before noon.
I led the others outside, stopping on the front walkway to take a deep breath. I looked at the others and said, “You have no idea guys, but we just became a billion dollar company! Jesus Christ! I am going to drink those two bottles of champagne on the plane. I have been having nightmares something was going to derail this at the last moment.”
“A billion dollars? Us?” asked John incredulously.
“I know the upside is big, but that big?” asked Jake.
I snorted and took another deep breath. “You just have no idea what they are doing. In five years, this place will have done an IPO and will have a billion dollar capitalization. What’s six percent of a billion dollars? What will it be in ten years? Ten billion, twenty billion? Come on John, even a lawyer can figure this out! What’s six percent of twenty billion dollars?”
John’s eyes bugged out at that. Jake commented there would be some dilution at the time of the IPO, but I just waved it off. “Guys, if we can find a few more deals like this, we are all going to make a fortune!” I saw my driver standing by the limo, and I waved him towards us. He got back into the car, and I turned back to Jake and John. “Gentlemen, this has been a good day for us. I want to thank you both, and make sure you thank Missy and Junior for me. I’ll be back in the office on Monday in any case, and I’ll thank them as well.” We shook hands and I got into the limousine and left.
I had too much nervous energy on the flight back to Hawaii to nap, and not enough energy to do any more work. I sorted some papers in my briefcase before saying ‘Fuck it!’ to myself. At that point I looked inside the mini-fridge and found the two bottles of champagne, and pulled a bottle out, and then grabbed a flute. These I set on a table, and then I knocked on the door to the cockpit. The door popped open and the pilot came out. “What can I do for you, Doctor Buckman?”
I smiled at that. Very few people called me Doctor anymore. It might be useful as tech credentials, but that was about it. “I think I’m going to have a drink, some of that champagne, but before I do that, I have a question to ask. Can I make a phone call from this plane?”
He shook his head. “Not really. I can have the tower relay a message to somebody, but we really aren’t rigged for that.”
“Okay, I wasn’t sure. Would it be possible to get a message to the charter office to call my wife and let her know when we are scheduled to land? Later, I mean, not now, say an hour before we land.”
“Sure thing. Want to sit up here? The view’s better,” he asked, pointing to the co-pilot’s seat. “Joe can move if you want.”
I waved him off. “The last thing you need is me sitting up here drinking and playing with all the buttons. Maybe some other trip!”
He laughed and nodded, and moved back into the cockpit. I just shook my head and smiled. I knew my limitations, and I somehow figured that being a pilot was beyond them! It’s one thing to jump out of airplanes, quite another to drive them. I closed the cockpit door and went back to the table and grabbed the bottle of champagne. Moet & Chandon, one of the good ones. I knew I was paying for it, so I might as well enjoy it. I carefully removed the wire cage and popped the cork, and then filled my flute. The G-II was flying as smooth as silk, and as I looked around the cabin, I decided that this really was the way to travel!