Before I know it, the morning is gone, even though the real part of my onboarding paperwork was taken care of last week in the lawyer's offices when I sold my company for three times its value. All ten of my employees are transitioning this morning, too, but they all work remotely. Honestly, my business was small potatoes compared to the deals SHN works, but it was a lot to me.
Over the past five years, I grew Clear Professional Services into a dominating provider of all the back-office things small- and mid-sized businesses need, but may not want to do here in Silicon Valley and beyond. We handle billing and accounts receivable, accounts payable, manage the HR function which includes recruitment, and our goal is to never say no when a client asks for something for their business.
Sara and I walk over to lunch to stretch our legs and enjoy a bit of the rare sunshine. “I love this area, but I sure do miss the sunshine,” Sara admits.
“It’s getting hot out in the desert. It’ll bring the fog in, and summer will be gone. Tell me how things are going with your new boyfriend… Henry, was it?”
Blushing, she shares, “He’s great. It’s still new, but it was unprofessional of me to tell you about him. Please don’t let the guys know I said anything. They are very particular that our personal lives should remain personal.”
“I understand. It will be our secret. But tell me about Henry. I have no social life, so I need to live vicariously through you.”
“He’s positively wonderful. I’ve never been able to be so free and open with anyone like I am with him. He works for a start-up down in Palo Alto.”
“Sara! I don’t want his stats, I want his stats! Is he a good kisser? Does he make you feel all gooey inside?”
Sara blushes a deep shade of pink, which turns even her ears. “He does. He has this way of making me feel good about myself but also seems to want to hear my opinions and ideas. We’re moving fast, but we both agree this is pretty great.”
I squeeze her arm. “That sounds amazing. I’ll admit, I am a bit jealous, but it gives me some hope that there are still some decent guys out there.”
We arrive at the trendy waterfront restaurant and are shown to a private room, where the three other partners are waiting for us.
CHAPTER TWO
Dillon
Sara and Emerson walk into the meeting, the girls both look amazing. I played with Sara before she joined the firm, but she wanted more from me than that. It had been a mistake, and thankfully only Mason, one of the other partners, figured it out; however, we almost lost Sara and her partnership because of it, which would have been devastating. Though looking at the two women now, I can’t help but briefly fantasize about the three of us together.
Emerson is beautiful. She’s tall and also wears a significant heel, which puts her over six feet. I love her blonde hair cascading down her back below her shoulder blades. The slit in her black pencil skirt is demure enough, work appropriate, but at the same time it makes me want to peek underneath to see what she’s wearing. Her silk cream blouse with a black velvet trim is sexy in a librarian way.
“Ladies, welcome. Please have a seat.” We put Emerson at the head of the table and order a bottle of 1992 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s expensive, but we’re excited to have Emerson as part of our team. We toast to her joining us.
It wasn’t an easy sell at the beginning. Emerson had put together an interesting concept, and she didn’t need us. Her company would do all the business management for various hot start-ups across the bay area and a few other tech hubs across the country—pay bills, recruit, stock option management, manage building issues and anything else that keeps the start-up from doing what they’re supposed to be doing.
Before meeting Emerson, I remember someone talking at a party about the business management concept, and I didn’t understand the value. Now I know that all those things are part of running a business, and it’s certainly beneficial for someone else to deal with it.
In the last three years, we became the most sought-after venture capital firm in the Bay Area. Mason has an MBA from Harvard with an uncanny ability to understand the business side and positioning for sale or going public, Cameron brings a strong technology background to the table, and I bring the knowledge of the numbers. All three of us met at Stanford as undergrads. We were recruited by various start-ups out of school, and we lucked out with all three going huge, making us extremely wealthy very young.
We began our funding of start-ups together as a hobby and a way to share some of our luck, giving seed money to projects we liked as a side gig to our jobs. When four of our investments were bought for millions of dollars each, we were addicted to the gamble and the high of identifying a winner when investing in an exciting idea. Don’t get me wrong, not everything we invested in has been successful, but our hit rate has been pretty high, and we like to get in early.
Sara was our company attorney at a law firm we used. We hung our shingle as Sullivan Healy Newhouse, or SHN, about three years ago and hired Sara out of the law firm, offering her partnership. Now we have close to fifty employees helping with the various start-ups and investigating up-and-coming trends. However, we knew something was missing, though we couldn’t figure out what it
