“As I was saying,” he said, his voice a little too loud, “it’s all about having a solid traditional career path. Something stable. A good salary. A pension plan. Not these flights of fancy.”
He gave me a pointed look. It was one last desperate attempt to reinforce his narrative before it shattered completely. He was trying to convince them, and maybe himself, that he was right, that I was the failure he needed me to be.
Across the room, the waiter who had turned on the TV earlier reappeared. He picked up the remote, his movements crisp and professional. The Bloomberg network was heading into its top-of-the-hour prime-time slot. The volume went up a notch, filling the silence that had fallen over our table.
I knew the schedule. The innovator spotlight was the lead story.
My heart began to beat a little faster.
The fuse had been lit.
Now all I had to do was wait for the explosion.
It was coming. I could feel it in the charged air of the room. The silence wasn’t empty. It was full of anticipation.
And David Chun was about to light the match.
David Chun looked up from his phone. He took off his glasses, polished them slowly with a napkin, and put them back on. The small, deliberate actions drew every eye in the room.
He looked directly at me, then at my father.
The entire table fell silent.
“Richard,” David said, his voice cutting through the tension like a knife, “your son is being modest.”
My father forced a laugh, a harsh, nervous sound.
“Modest? David, the boy thinks running a delivery app is the next big thing.”
“He’s Flow State Systems,” David interrupted, his voice firm.
He wasn’t talking to my father anymore. He was addressing the room.
“They’re the leading platform for warehouse automation and supply chain optimization. They’re not a startup, Richard. They’re the market leader.”
A collective sharp intake of breath seemed to circle the table.
Jessica’s face had gone pale. I saw her hand tremble as she reached for her water glass.
David continued, his eyes fixed on his phone screen.
“I’m looking at an article in Forbes right now. ‘The Quiet Giant Revolutionizing Logistics.’ It’s about your son’s company.”
He looked up.
“It says Flow State did three hundred forty million dollars in revenue last year. Three hundred forty million.”
The number just hung there in the air. It was an impossible, absurd figure that didn’t compute with the image of the warehouse worker my father had so carefully crafted.
My father stared at David, his mouth slightly agape.
“That’s… that’s a typo. It must be three hundred forty thousand, maybe.”
“I don’t think so,” David said, scrolling further. He let out a low whistle. “And it says here they’ve raised significant venture capital.”
He looked at me, a question in his eyes.
I decided to answer.
It was time.
“Series A was twelve million from Lightseed Venture Partners,” I said, my voice quiet but clear in the silent room. “Series B was forty-five million from Sequoia Capital.”
The names landed like bombs.
Sequoia Capital.
In the world of business and tech, that name was royalty. It was the ultimate stamp of approval. It meant you weren’t just a company.
You were a phenomenon.
It was a name my father, and everyone at this table, knew and revered.
Robert Vance looked as if he’d been struck by lightning.
“Sequoia? You’re backed by Sequoia?”
I just nodded.
Jessica looked from me to her father, her eyes wide with confusion and dawning horror.
“What is he talking about? Dad, this is a joke, right? This is some kind of stupid, elaborate joke.”
But it wasn’t a joke.
