Page 109 of Wants and Needs
“Uh, yes, I think he mentioned it back at your birthday party.”
“Good.” He nods and takes a seat in one of the armchairs. I sit in the one next to it and cross my legs then steeple my hands and place them on my lap so they won’t twitch. “I recently quit my surgical residency, because two years ago I gained control of the Clemson trust.”
I feel my frown harden. “I don’t know what the Clemson trust is,” I tell him apologetically.
“It’s simply the trust of the Clemson family. My mother is a Clemson and her father left her in charge until I reached an acceptable age in his eyes. That’s not the important part. The important part is that it’s a lot of money that I’m working on making sure goes into the right places. To charities that help marginalized communities, to schools, scholarship funds, and all kinds of places, really. Anyway, what I’m getting at is that I want to invest in ESoothe.”
I... “I don’t understand.” Why is he doing this?
Instead of answering immediately, he looks to the side and breathes deeply before he speaks again.
“Imagine you have unlimited knowledge,” he says when he turns to look at me again, then he leans forward to rest his elbows on his knees. I nod at him to show I’m following, even though I have no clue where he’s going with this. “Knowledge that can help as much as it can hurt or cure. Enlighten or make people more ignorant. So you have all this information and you want to make sure it helps somehow.
“You’ve done that with this algorithm, with ESoothe. You’re going to make a big change in people’s lives, in their relationships with their mental health. You’re going to give a brand new tool to therapists.”
He pauses there, and I risk a quick glance to see his brown eyes staring up at me with a bright interest.
“That’s also what I want to do. But instead of knowledge and information, I have money.So much money,” he exaggerates and sighs.
I take a moment to think through everything he’s said and it... actually makes sense.
“Are you only offering because Carter and I are in a relationship? Because Tristan tried to convince me to talk to his husband, but I don’t want anyone investing who doesn’t absolutely believe in ESoothe.”
He lets out a soft chuckle and shakes his head.
“I like that about you, Liam, but no. I’m definitely not planning on giving you an absurd amount of money just because mybest friend was lucky enough to meet you and you were crazy enough to like him.”
I can’t help but snort, and then it’s me shaking my head.
“Carter is amazing,” I correct him softly.
“So are you,” he says earnestly. “I can give you all the money you want to ensure you retain access to the streaming services.” I feel my eyes open wide at that statement since that’s... a lot of money. “But,” he continues before I can ask about that. “This deal you’re trying to make with them isn’t the right path, I don’t think.”
My frown is back in a millisecond.
“I don’t think the end goal is wrong,” he speaks more quickly now. “I think having it connected to people’s accounts on those streaming services will lead to the most streamlined process possible, but you have to realize that they’re the ones who should be banging on your door and offering you money for the access to ESoothe. You need to get those people in a room and show them the facts.”
“And what are the facts?” I ask quietly.
“The most important one is thattheyneedyou, not the other way around.”
“But you just said the end goal?—”
“I know, I know,” he holds up a hand. “But you could work around them at first. Offer your app to the public, and instead of actually creating a playlist, you create a list of songs. The list isn’t linked to any streaming service, it’s just words. The process the user would go through to set up their profile is the same. They indicate their musical preferences, even favorite artists and whatever other information your algorithm needs, and then theusers have to go into their apps and create the playlists themselves.”
“This would take more time for the users,” I counter.
“That’s true, but that wouldn’t matter in the long run.”
Now I’m not following anymore.
“Why not?”
“Because people will pay for your app at first simply because you have some very famous people who believe in you and who would absolutely film small videos and do advertisements for the app before it even launches. Hell, they’d hype it up on social media and not ask for a dime.” I let that sink in for a moment.
“That would mean having users without having ESoothe linked to any music streaming services?”
“Exactly. You twist their arms,” he cries out. “You launch without the connection to them so people know it’s separate, and when they see the incredible success you can have without them, they’ll be begging you to let them connect your users to their platforms. You don’t even need my money, which I’m still more than willing to give to you. If you want to be nice to these big companies, what you do is to go to them and say, ‘Listen, I’m launching this app. You give me one week to advertise with the plug-in to your apps and you’ll see the benefit.’ If they don’t, then no deal. If they do, then they have to pay for the connection to your app.”
