The Start-Up.
Beautiful Code.
Sadie Hayes.
Critical Acclaim for The Start-Up.
"Who knew Silicon Valley could be s.e.xy? Sadie Hayes" debut ebook series The Start-Up describes the real side of Silicon Valley and how its power corrupts. You will tear through this page-turner and will be begging for more!" Amy Gleason "In The Start-Up we see the beginning of Adam and Amelia Dory"s climb to wealth and power... This fast-paced novel has provocative characters trying to figure out how to navigate a world controlled by money and bad intentions. I dare you to put it down!" Becky Julian "Silicon Valley and cliffhangers may be strange bedfellows, but Palo Alto writer Sadie Hayes debut, The Start-Up, is an unexpectedly addictive new novel that combines high tech hi-jinks with high tech publishing: a serial eNovel with monthly new releases planned." Gary Griffiths "Sadie Hayes is on her way to becoming a new kind of bestseller - an eBook bestseller." Grady Harp "Exciting, entertaining, and informative - The Start-Up is a must read for anyone interested in the fast paced worlds of entrepreneurship, Silicon Valley, and venture capital." -J.R. Sedivy, Chairman and CEO, a.n.a.lytika, Inc.
"A well-crafted, fast-moving tale of the conflict which arises when honesty and integrity confront the wealth and oft-corrupted power of the high-tech world of Silicon Valley. An excellent read." Frederick J. Masterman, author of Season of the Plant "Sadie Hayes provides a screen shot of technology"s sordid underbelly in this riveting e-book novella." Bill Bentrim, "Start to finish it holds your interest and Hayes" writing is spectacular and absolutely breath-taking! The way the story was presented was like watching a movie...an incredibly good one. I am begging for more Sadie Hayes! A job well done and I would highly recommend it. This is a fun and fast-pace novel that I think most will thoroughly enjoy!" Jess, Sit Here and Read "Sadie Hayes has blown me away with this series. This is something new in the YA genre...get to your nearest Ereader device and buy these books." Courtney Wyant, Courtney"s Book Nook "The Start-Up is a short read, and the dialogue is sharply realistic. This story is something that I"ve never seen in Young Adult fiction, so it"s different and unique. I highly recommend it to someone who enjoys stories about backstabbing, pretentious college students who are involved in the business world. I"m totally looking forward to reading the second installment, The Anti-Social Network." Lauren Nicole, Books From a Shelf "The Start Up is particularly awesome, if I must say so myself. The novel was light and funny and carefree, yet it still reminded us of the sinister ways of society. It was terrifically well written, and extremely witty, I practically smiled through the whole thing!" Dana Hilgers, Dana Does Read "Deep-seated greed and corruption intricately blended with naivety and intelligence, The Start Up by Sadie Hayes, is sharp, fun and full of angsty dramatic brilliance. Gossip, intrigue and illegal corporate tactics sing from Silicon Valley, telling us of the money to be made and the people who will destroy anyone in their way to get that money." Jen, In the Closet with a Bibliophile "I loved these novellas! The Start-Up and The Anti-Social Network are, in my opinion, on the forefront of what is sure to be a great YA genre in the future because the topic of advancing technology is extremely relevant." Sandra, Panda Reads "It"s deliciously good. This read was a breath of fresh air. A brand new viewpoint on our favorite type of YA guilty pleasure." Sara Oestreich, The Librarian Reads "A new series that combines the wonderful world of technology with the backstabbing and glamorous life of the wealthy...I am hooked. The Start Up has everything you could want in a modern day series [and] will draw many male and female fans a like."
"The Start-Up picks an ideal topic for ebook serial fiction, with genius programmer Amelia Dorey persuaded by her more worldly twin brother Adam to turn programs into dollars." Sheila Deeth "This pure CW teen drama in a lot of ways - it"s the problems of beautiful people as they juggle relationships, drama, and school. And yet...I can"t deny that I was absolutely addicted to the first two parts of this series. As a marketing idea, The Start-Up takes King"s serializing of The Green Mile and brings it into the digital age, both literally and figuratively." Joshua Mauthe "AHHH! Not again! Just as good as the first, or maybe even better...when I got to that last page and then tried to flip the virtual page, I was like "Noooo!"... The novels are hilarious, sweet, scandalous, and super awesome, I find myself smiling from ear to ear the entire time! I hope Hayes keeps up with the series, because I am not done with these characters, not anytime soon." Dana Hilgers, Dana Does Read "Book two of the Start-Up is another interesting story arc in the tale of computer genius Amelia and her more earthly twin Adam as they start up a business together. Guided by the wise, preyed on by the foolish, but never quite sure of their place in this high-finance world, they"re approaching the point where their wonder-product will be announced." Sheila Deeth "Similar to the first installment, The Anti-Social Network is built upon a foundation of true experience. Although the characters and story are fiction, the themes are very true to life, and entrepreneurs may learn a thing or two...The Anti-Social Network has a perspective of their acceptance of entrepreneurship and subsequent moving of the company from the idea, or seed stage, to an early and ultimately expansion stage. This realistically mimics the journey of an entrepreneur a.s.suming they have the burning desire, faith, and persistence to stay the course and rise to each ever increasing challenge." J.R. Sedivy, Chairman and CEO, a.n.a.lytika, Inc.
PROLOGUE:.
Bookmarks.
www.crunchbase.com/company/doreye.
CrunchBase.
Home>Companies>Doreye.
Doreye, Inc.
Doreye (p.r.o.nounced "Door-Eye") is a downloadable device and object recognition application created by Amelia Dory and her brother Adam Dory. In an interview with TechCrunch, Amelia called Doreye, "A remote control for the physical world." The application uses the phone"s native antenna and circuitry to receive and broadcast signals across a wider spectrum of frequencies than the manufacturers intended. As a result, Doreye currently allows the user to "see and control" any electronic device with their phone-televisions, garage doors and even microwaves are accessible via Doreye.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, who was gifted an early alpha version, called Doreye, "...physically impossible. I"d sooner believe the Loch Ness monster exists before I would believe Doreye exists... And, yet, here I am using it to unlock my car." The limitations of what is and isn"t possible doesn"t seem to prevent Amelia Dory from pushing the horizons of Doreye. Later this year, Doreye will be able to recognize and find inanimate objects. "Like how a bat uses sonar," Amelia explains that Doreye will use infrared signals and a sleek, lightweight AI (artificial intelligence) to recognize things like your keys, your car or even your friends.
Amelia Dory holds over a dozen patents related to Doreye. She co-founded the company with her twin brother Adam Dory, who is the company"s COO and head of Business Development. They started the company six months ago while freshmen at Stanford. Both hail from Indiana.
www.crunchbase.com/financial-organization/fenway-ventures.
CrunchBase.
Home>Financial Organizations>Fenway Ventures.
Fenway Ventures is a venture fund that focuses on seed and Series A investments to start-up companies. The fund also runs a start-up incubator, which is designed to speed the development of entrepreneurial companies by providing mentorship, as well as business and legal support.
Fenway Ventures is currently incubating two early-stage companies: WorldSight and Doreye. WorldSight uses advances in plastics technology to create eyewear that affordably prevents glaucoma in third world inhabitants. Doreye is a revolutionary software that the valley has deemed "The next Google;" it transforms anyone"s cell phone into both a remote control for electronic devices and an object recognition "radar" for inanimate objects.
Key People:.
Founder Tom Fenway is one of Silicon Valley"s most prolific investors and philanthropists. His Kadence music service formed the backbone of Apple"s iTunes as well as Final Cut Pro, and inspired most other online music aggregators. He is particularly known for his laid-back aesthetic, notoriously wearing flip-flops to high profile meetings.
a.n.a.lyst T. J. Bristol handles supervision as well as business support for Fenway"s incubator. He a.s.sists the founders in market a.n.a.lysis and fundraising. Formerly an intern at Goldman Sachs, T. J. is the son of Ted Bristol, one of Silicon Valley"s biggest venture investors. T. J. graduated from Stanford, where his father Ted is a trustee and his sister Lisa is currently a freshman.
Marie Hawkins and Chad Sebastian Bronson.
By: Margot Langsford.
Shandi Marie Hawkins and Chad Sebastian Bronson are to be married at noon on Sat.u.r.day at the Hibiscus Grove, on the island of Maui, Hawaii. The Rev. Frederick Wilton, an Episcopal priest, will officiate.
The bride, 23, will take her husband"s name. She is pursuing her Master of Art History from Yale University, where she received a Bachelors degree this past May. She is the daughter of Ronald and Chloe Hawkins of Atherton, California. The bride"s sister Patricia Hawkins, a soph.o.m.ore at Stanford University, will serve as maid of honor.
The bridegroom, 27, is receiving his M.B.A. from Stanford"s Graduate School of Business. He is the son of Bradley Fitzgerald Bronson and Vivian Wells-Bronson of Darien, Connecticut. Before attending Stanford, he worked as an a.s.sociate at Deutsche Bank, and received his A.B. in Economics from Harvard College.
The couple met three years ago at the annual Young Patrons of Lincoln Center charity ball.
online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405231545674219645274003298926316.html.
The Wall Street Journal | Technology | Top Stories.
Secrecy Shrouds Gibly Sale and Court Proceedings.
By: Steven Messing.
In the world of technology, a single blog post can turn success into failure.
Last June, Gibly, Inc. was on the verge of being sold to Lloyd"s (LLYL.l) for $3.8 billion in what was immediately heralded as the best return on investment in tech to date. Gibly"s lead investor and de facto CEO Ted Bristol considered the sale to Lloyd"s his swan song, and Silicon Valley awarded it as the crowning achievement to Bristol"s remarkable career.
Days after the announcement and out of the blue, TechCrunch broke the tech story of the decade. Gibly was known for being a remarkable software program that acted as a personal a.s.sistant, doing everything from transcribing text messages to managing payments with one"s cell phone. The article by TechCrunch revealed Gibly"s much more secretive function. A mystery hacker discovered-and leaked to the blog TechCrunch-that Gibly was actually constructed to create a database of users" private information. Over one hundred million users had their pa.s.swords, home addresses, credit card information and more stored in the Gibly server.
The deal was put on hold indefinitely and Gibly was immediately the subject of both a cla.s.s action suit and a lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission over privacy concerns. At the time of this writing, Ted Bristol was unavailable for comment.
Rumors abound as to the ident.i.ty of the mystery hacker who took down Gibly, as well as his motivations. Some claim it"s the Internet civil disobedience group Anonymous, while others point towards a covert team at the CIA. Many technology blogs claim it"s either a head engineer from within the company or, least likely, a teenager with time on his hands. Regardless, some lone gunman single-handedly cost Silicon Valley"s best investors billions of dollars and their reputations.
What Gibly was really up to-or why the sale to Lloyds was simply put on hold instead of sc.r.a.pped altogether-is as much a mystery as the ident.i.ty of the mystery hacker.
CHAPTER 1:.
Lift Off.
"Please remove your shoes, sir," the airport agent said. Adam unlaced his Converse sneakers. He yanked off his socks and tossed them, along with his sneakers, into the gray plastic bin. The security agent rolled his eyes. "Just your shoes."
Adam grabbed his socks and fumbled to put them back on. He blushed as he tried to avoid the eyes of the pa.s.sengers behind him who, like the agent, all seemed to be experts at this airport security drill. Why hadn"t he just followed his sister Amelia to the line without the body scan? Naturally, she had preferred a pat-down to a government-authorized body scan (who knew what they did with the images? she had insisted), and right now a pat-down sounded far less uncomfortable than the annoyed glare of this security agent.
Adam placed his messenger bag on the conveyor belt. As it slumped against a shopping bag full of wrapped Christmas gifts, Adam felt a tightness in his chest as he remembered that there are rich, happy families who fly to Hawaii to celebrate Christmas. The holidays had always been a dark reminder for Adam that he and his sister had almost nothing to give or receive, and no family except each other.
"Do you have a laptop?" the agent asked.
"Oh. Yes." Adam had recently inherited a MacBook Air from Amelia. Given to her by Tom Fenway, Silicon"s richest venture capitalist, as a gift for joining his tech incubator, it was by far the most expensive thing Adam had ever owned. Even weeks after Amelia gave it to him, he kept half-expecting someone to come to his door and claim it.
"Please remove it."
"Oh, right."
One day, Adam thought, he"d be a pro at this routine and look back and laugh. But for now, this was only the second flight he"d ever taken and his embarra.s.sment was mixed with giddy excitement. This wasn"t just any flight: Adam and Amelia were going to Maui on a fully-paid weekend trip, courtesy of the annual Maui Waves of Disruption tech conference.
Organized by TechCrunch, the leading Silicon Valley blog, the conference showcased thirty promising young companies that would show off their products at the two-day expo. Journalists, investors, and spectators from around the globe paid big money to attend, checking out the new companies by day and networking at huge hotel parties by night.
Adam and Amelia"s start-up, Doreye, had been selected for the expo on November 15, exactly a month earlier, and Adam had hardly been able to concentrate on anything since. A free vacation was nice, but even better: Lisa was going to be in Maui the very same weekend for Patty Hawkins"s sister"s wedding. Adam couldn"t believe his good fortune: finally, fate or G.o.d or whatever was starting to make up for the shabby life he and Amelia had had until now.
He was fairly certain he had bombed all his final exams for the term, but he didn"t care. Who could think about schoolwork when he was about to be on a Hawaiian beach with the super hot love of his life?
"I think the gate"s that way," Amelia said when he joined her on the other side of security. He couldn"t help but be impressed by his sister"s calm demeanor. Since the summer, she"d gotten comfortable presenting Doreye and dealing with the press around it, and she seemed to be treating this like just one more interview, as though flying to Maui to stay in a five-star hotel was a normal part of everyday business.
"Aren"t you even a little excited?" he asked as he zipped his bag shut.
Amelia looked up. "Honestly?" Her face broke into a huge grin. "I don"t think I"ve ever been so excited for anything." She had been working around the clock for the past three months, struggling to balance Doreye with her schoolwork. The only break she ever took was on Wednesday nights when she went to the Lair to play VOSTRA, the virtual reality game her friend George had introduced her to. Otherwise, her autumn term had been a blur of coding, press interviews, meetings with her engineering team, cla.s.s, and just enough homework not to flunk out. She and Adam hadn"t had time for movie nights or anything outside of Doreye, and she was glad they had the flight-just the two of them-to hang out a little.
She laughed as Adam pulled her into a playful hug. This was going to be such an epic weekend.
CHAPTER 2:.
Hawaii 2.0.
When they exited the terminal in Maui, they saw a man in a suit holding a sign that read Adam and Amelia Dory.
The twins looked at each other. "Our driver," Adam mouthed, with a grin. They had a driver. And that was after the first cla.s.s seats and flight attendants who had actually known their names and handed each of them a gla.s.s of champagne and real silverware for dinner, along with a little package of socks, mints, and a tooth brush.
The Land Rover pulled into the Ritz Carlton, a magnificent white fortress surrounded by lavish tropical gardens, fountains, and palm trees. Observing that the trunks of the palm trees were wrapped with Christmas lights, Amelia wondered what it was like to sing holiday carols when it was 90 degrees outside. A beautiful Hawaiian woman wearing a white wrap dress greeted them with leis made of real flowers and led them to their room.
Their suite was airy and bright. Sunlight reflected off the teak wood walls and floor. Two queen beds with plush white comforters faced French windows that opened onto a majestic stone-carved balcony overlooking the whitest sand and bluest water Amelia had ever seen.
Amelia walked out onto the balcony. "Adam, come look at this view!"
But Adam was rummaging through his suitcase for his phone charger. He had forgotten to shut off his phone on the plane and the battery had died; he had been stressed about finding a power outlet since landing more than an hour ago. She looked back and saw him plugging the phone into the wall and furiously tapping a text message.
"Who are you so anxious to get ahold of?"
Adam looked up. "I told Lisa I"d text her when we got here."
Amelia was afraid of that. She knew Lisa was going to be here for the Hawkins-Bronson wedding and was worried she"d be a distraction to Adam. "Are you going to see her?"
"Probably," Adam said. Who was he kidding? He was going to see her even if it killed him. "This place is so romantic, how could we not hang out?"
Amelia swallowed. She also knew that Sundeep was here, and that Lisa had yet to break the news to Adam that she was secretly seeing Sundeep.
Amelia"s mind flashed back to that fall"s English cla.s.s. Of all the cla.s.ses she rarely paid attention in, the freshman Shakespeare seminar she was taking to make up for the English cla.s.s she"d failed last spring was the one she paid the least attention to. Which is probably why she"d never noticed that Lisa sat a few rows behind her...until the day the professor had announced partner a.s.signments for the final project, and she had heard him say, "Amelia Dory and Lisa Bristol, a.n.a.lyzing Measure for Measure." Stunned, she had turned to see Lisa, whose face had gone white. Amelia had put her head in her hands. Seriously? What were the chances?
Amelia had planned to dart out of cla.s.s and e-mail Lisa, hoping this whole project could be taken care of virtually, but Lisa caught up to her and suggested they meet the following evening to review the text and make an outline. Amelia reluctantly agreed.
All of the next day, Amelia was on edge. She felt jealous that Lisa got to date Sundeep, and angry that she was also cheating on her brother. Most of all, though, Amelia felt guilty that she still hadn"t told Adam the truth. She couldn"t bear the thought of his sadness and disappointment. It was the only secret she had ever kept from him.
Lisa had grabbed a large table at CoHo, the campus coffee shop, and two boys were flirting with her when Amelia arrived. Noticing Amelia, Lisa blushed and shooed them away, motioning for Amelia to take a seat at the table.
"Sorry, didn"t mean to interrupt," Amelia said tartly.
"You didn"t," Lisa said.
Silence.
"So, I was thinking..." Lisa took a deep breath and turned her attention to the text opened in front of her. Her notebook, full of diligent notes in careful handwriting, was also open, and she tapped her purple pen lightly as she spoke. "I was thinking that the a.n.a.lysis on Measure for Measure is always around Angelo and Isabella, but maybe it would be interesting to think about the relationship between Mariana and Isabella."
Amelia hadn"t actually read the play, but she had skimmed the Wikipedia entry on her iPhone on the way to the meeting, and now she scrambled to remember who Mariana was. "Sure," she said. "That works."
Lisa waited for her to say more and, realizing Amelia wasn"t going to, went on. "I think we could set up an interesting dissection of the supporting female characters, and the similarities and differences between Isabella and Mariana, whose moral stances are pretty much ant.i.thetical to each other and yet, working together, the women resolve the central dilemma." Amelia wasn"t reacting and Lisa started to realize she hadn"t read the play. "And, of course," Lisa continued, "consider the implications of having Mistress Overdone-the prost.i.tute-in the work. Like, is Shakespeare trying to drop a hint that we all prost.i.tute ourselves for something, even a nun like Isabella?"
Amelia nodded absently. "Sure. That sounds good."
"Okay," Lisa said. She was beginning to sound a little frustrated by Amelia"s neutrality. "Well, I actually really like this stuff, so what if I take a stab at the outline and I"ll e-mail it to you?"
"Great," Amelia said, starting to stand up. If she sat there any longer, she was certain that Sundeep would walk in and join them, and she"d have to pretend not to care.
Lisa looked at her in disbelief. Was Amelia really going to let her do this whole project? Lisa wasn"t letting her off that easily. "Let"s meet again later this week to talk about it," she said.
Amelia stopped and searched for an excuse. There was nothing. She sighed. "Yeah, sure."
By the following week, Lisa had e-mailed Amelia a thorough outline of her proposed thesis. Amelia read it on her laptop during cla.s.s. It actually made the book sound kind of interesting, which led her to read the play. Well, most of it.
When they met again, Amelia had been a little more animated. Lisa had proposed that they write that Isabella used Mariana for her own gain, and, therefore, was no better than Mistress Overdone, the Madame in the local brothel. But Amelia insisted Isabella had done what was necessary to stick to her moral grounds and that made her strong and respectable. Besides, she said, Mariana didn"t have strong morals, she just wanted to get married.