Page 9 of Business Temptations

Matteo remained still, but now she could see the gears in his head turning. And he was quickly getting up to speed. Bailey had forgotten how quickly Matteo’s mind worked, but seeing him now, she watched as he quickly worked through the possible challenges.

Cautiously, Matteo looked at each of them, even Anna. “And you want to do…what?”

Bailey grinned, relieved that he hadn’t rejected her idea completely. He was listening!

“Well, I was thinking that you could use your connections to find a place to manufacture this additive. Tim can continue to perfect the recipe,” she turned and grinned playfully at Tim because, of course she’d used the wrong term, “and I will start marketing and building up connections within stores that will allow us to distribute this new product to the world.”

Matteo remained perfectly still and Bailey knew that he was thinking through all of the possible issues. He snapped several questions to Tim, who was able to answer them with clarity and confidence.

In the end, Matteo slowly nodded and turned to Bailey. “And your role would be to market this product to stores?”

“Yes,” she replied and pulled something out of her purse. “I spoke to Tim about this several months ago and I’ve been researching possibilities. I know the best stores and the contact people in those stores. I’ve also worked on how to get the information out to consumers.” She went over a more detailed business plan and Matteo had to admit that he was impressed with the thoroughness of the idea.

Then he turned to Anna. She’d been sitting back, watching the conversation. “What do you think?”

She grinned and nodded. “I think it’s brilliant actually. What’s more, I’ve added Tim’s formula to my gas tank and I’ve been to the gas station only once in the past month, even as I’m driving the forty miles each way to my job.” She lifted one shoulder. “I’m so confident in this product, I’m prepared to sell my townhome and move into something smaller to finance the startup.”

Anna poured more of the cheap champagne, handing it to Matteo.

Matteo looked at the trio and Bailey knew that his mind was working overtime. Matteo was absorbing, processing, calculating…he was most likely already making a list of potential clients, or maybe figuring out the best place to manufacture the product so that it can be easily distributed to the stores.

Nodding slowly, Bailey watched, her muscles tight as he asked, “So Anna is the financial backing, Tim has the idea, you most likely have the marketing plan all figured out…What do you need me for?”

She grinned, leaning forward in her excitement. “You’re the business guy. You’re the one that knows how to coordinate each of the various aspects of our idea.”

Matteo liked that. Looking at each of them, seeing the cautious eagerness in their expressions, he silently assessed the risks and benefits. “What about patents?” he asked. His eyes sharpened on Tim. “You haven’t submitted anything to the patent office yet, have you?’

Tim swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing nervously at Matteo’s harsh tone. “I’ve started the process, filled out most of the forms, but I haven’t submitted anything yet. It’s all ready to go. I was just waiting until we had something more solid to move forward with.”

Matteo shook his head. “Don’t submit anything yet. You’ll need to speak with a lawyer and get a contract in place. You’ll also want to wait until production is ready to go before the patent and trademark office gets hold of the formula. And you’ll need to add something to the formula that will block other companies’ ability to reverse engineer the formula.” He looked over at Tim and the man swallowed nervously again. “Can you do that? Can you mask the formula well enough that it will take competitors longer to figure out what’s in the additive?”

Tim considered that question for a long moment, the intelligence in his eyes masking the nerdy aspects of his appearance. When he lifted his hand to straighten his glasses, he nodded slowly at first. Then, as his smile grew, his nod became more emphatic. “Yes. And I know exactly what to add to the mix that will confuse everyone for…” he paused and tilted his head. “Well, I don’t know how long it will confuse anyone, but I know how to create a masking agent that will at least confuse others until we have the additive on the market. That way, we can stay in ahead of the competition.”

Matteo nodded sharply. “Good.” Then he turned to Bailey. “You’re going to need to triple the number of distribution sites,” he tapped his finger on the business plan papers, “and have them ready to go as soon as production is ready. Plus, you’ll need a much broader social media presence. The best way to get a new product out to the world is through social media. And you’ll need to monitor other marketing sources and ensure that you stay flexible enough to shift once a new way to market comes out. Which will definitely happen.”

Bailey nodded with calm confidence. “I can do that,” she replied, serious now.

He turned to Anna. “How much capital can you get from your house?”

She reached over and pulled out a file folder from her inexpensive, but serviceable purse. “This is what I can get from the sale of my house, plus I have a bit of extra savings I’ve been able to put away over the past six months.”

Matteo surveyed the amount, then thought about the money he’d been squirreling away. He’d been looking for a business opportunity just like this. If Tim’s formula was as good as he said, then this might just be the breakthrough that he’d been looking for.

“I also have this much,” Bailey said and pulled a piece of paper from her purse, handing it over. It was a bank statement and it had a tidy balance.

“And I have this much,” Tim replied, handing over another piece of paper.

Matteo quickly calculated the total amount, adding in his own savings. “With the amount that I have, we might have enough. But we’ll also need to reach out to banks and get funding from them, although we won’t want to do that until after we’ve set up enough of the baseline with the product.”

A high pitched squeal was Matteo’s only warning before Bailey threw her arms around his neck. The force of her excitement knocked them over and Matteo had to move quickly to hold her safe while he took the brunt of their fall.

“You’re obnoxious,” he told her softly, keeping his arms securely around her.

Bailey merely laughed and kissed his cheek before climbing off him.

They all sat on the blanket, tossing out ideas and questions. By the time they drove back to the university to pick up Matteo’s rental and Tim’s ancient car, they had a solid plan in place.

Chapter 1

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