| General Fiction posted November 1, 2023 | Chapters: |
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A meeting with a venture capitalist
A chapter in the book Saving Mr. Calvin
Saving Mr. Calvin - Chapter 48
by Jim Wile
| Background A story about the origin and the future of the game of golf |
See Author Notes for the list of characters and unfamiliar terms.
Recap of the past few chapters: During the Zoom meeting, Kevin explains the circumstances surrounding the time travel and reviews each one. By giving further details about the trip to Altoona, he is able to convince Kenny and E.J. of their veracity. Abby is still skeptical. The Californians then describe the simulator to the Pennsylvanians and learn why Abby’s suit was never produced. Paul volunteers to help Abby find a substitute for dysprosium, and they all exchange emails.
The guys continue brainstorming after their Zoom meeting. Kevin explains why they should strive for extreme realism—mainly to set this simulator apart from all others. They also discuss how it will address the two biggest deterrents to golf, namely slow play and the difficulty of learning the game. Kevin will formalize their key points into an official business plan.
The guys design the key components of the simulator, and by this time are convinced that it’s all systems go. They also receive good news from Pennsylvania when Abby reports that she has found a substitute for dysprosium called neodymium, which is mined in the US, as well as a company to manufacture the servo-motors used in the swing suit with it. Her team now plans to begin building the swing suits again. Kevin begins researching venture capitalists to invest in their new startup, AC Golf, named after Art Calvin, the inspiration for the project.
Chapter 48
I decided the best prospect for securing funds for our new startup, AC Golf, would be a venture capital company. Venture capitalists commonly provide financing to startup companies, which have high growth potential, are fueled by innovation, and will likely carve out a new industry niche. Many tech companies, like Hewlett-Packard, Apple, and Microsoft, were financed by venture capital. A traditional bank loan, if we could even get one, would require debt repayments, and we didn’t stand to generate any revenue while we developed our prototype to pay off that debt; hence, banks were a poor option. True, the venture capitalist would own a portion of the equity in our company, but so what? I think we have the potential to make millions with this enterprise. Another big advantage of going with a venture capitalist is that they can provide technical and managerial expertise.
Over the next month, we made our pitch to several different companies in the area, but so far, we haven’t had any luck. None of them seemed to have much interest in golf to be able to judge its appeal to people, and so far, none of them had particularly struck me as people I desired to work with either. We just had to keep looking for the right company.
After researching a few more in the area, which extended as far as LA, I found one right here in Santa Barbara called Payton Capital. I made an appointment with Ronald Payton himself, the president of the company, at 9:00 AM tomorrow. He said he was intrigued by my initial description of our product over the phone and that he was a golfer himself, which was an encouraging sign.
Paul, Ernie, and I all went to the meeting. We arrived at 9:00 and were shown to a conference room, where Mr. Payton greeted us. He was an older gentleman with a firm handshake and a bushy mustache over a ready smile. His thinning hair was solid gray, almost white.
“Gentlemen, help yourselves to some coffee. I keep a pot brewing all day. My daughter will be attending as soon as she finishes up with another client she has. She should only be a few minutes. I’ll be retiring shortly, and she’ll be taking over my client list as well as the presidency of this company. She’s currently a vice president, and I wanted her to hear your presentation. She’s not a golfer herself, but I think she may still be interested in your idea.”
That was fine, although I was a little disappointed by the fact that she didn’t golf, for I wasn’t sure she could generate the same enthusiasm for the project as a golfer might. We spent the next five minutes drinking coffee and small talking about nothing in particular. Then the door opened, and in walked his daughter.
“Gentlemen, I’d like to introduce you to my daughter, Allie Payton. Allie, this is Kevin Parsons, Paul Putnam, and Ernest Dombrowski. They are the fellows who’ve invented the next-generation golf simulator.”
I nearly dropped my coffee cup when I looked up at Allie Payton. She was slim and had long, red hair, green eyes, and a sprinkling of freckles over her slightly upturned nose. She was practically the spitting image of Arie, Aggie, and Abby as they would have looked in their late 20s, which she appeared to be. This could not be just a coincidence; there had to be some significance to this.
“I’m pleased to meet you, gentlemen,” she said in a pleasant voice as she shook all of our hands. “As my father probably told you, I will be managing this account, should we decide we are a good fit for each other. I must admit, I’m not a golfer, but I’ve been to Topgolf once or twice and found it to be a lot of fun, although I wasn’t very good at it. I understand you are a new startup. Can you tell me briefly about the simulator you hope to build and what makes it different from the simulators currently available?”
I had gained enough composure after the initial shock of seeing her that I was able to say, “It’s very nice to meet you too, Miss Payton. There are a number of different simulators available today, but none promise the realism and flexibility that ours will. Most simulators will give you feedback on your golf swing by providing a variety of statistics about the shots you take. They will also allow you to play different courses by projecting the image of each hole on a 2-dimensional flat or nearly flat screen, but the experience of playing golf in this way is nothing like playing real golf on a golf course and, except for some good graphics, is totally artificial. In contrast, our simulator will have the ability to create a realistic golfing experience inside a 360-degree simulation, as if you were playing a round of golf outdoors on an actual golf course.
“You will be able to walk the holes or ride a cart. But if a quicker round of golf is your goal, you will be able to skip walking or riding and simply advance to the next shot automatically. You won’t hear the shots hitting the screen or dropping down to the floor, and you will be able to hit out of actual sand should your ball land in a bunker. You’ll also be able to putt any length putt into a real hole. The floor will be able to move up and down to simulate actual terrain, and you will hit from different length artificial grass depending on whether you are in the fairway or rough. And all this in natural conditions with variable wind and temperature, accompanied by natural sounds and odors. In short, no other simulator can do anything close to what this one will be able to do.
“And there is one other major feature that will make this the ultimate learning experience too, if your goal is also to learn golf or to improve your golf game. You will be able to wear a suit that will teach you the correct golf swing by guiding your body through the motions of the golf swing. You’ll be able to practice with it or even wear it during a round of golf. This suit was invented by a woman named Abby Payne and is currently being produced by her husband’s golf equipment company in Pennsylvania. We have been working closely with them.”
Throughout this summary, Allie Payton appeared to listen attentively with genuine interest. She smiled and nodded her head at a number of points. “Is that all?” she said with a chuckle, and we all laughed. “Gentlemen, I must say that is an impressive-sounding simulator. What exactly do you need from us?”
“What we will need from you is $500,000 over the next two years for funding the construction of the prototype simulator. Once this is done and proves to be a viable product, we will then need further funding to mass produce them for the first facility and then for franchises.”
It was tough to read the expression on Allie and her father’s faces when I said this. I honestly couldn’t tell what they thought.
Allie said, “It looks like you’ve brought a business plan with you, which my father and I would like to look over. Could you tell me what the AC in AC Golf stands for?”
I handed her a copy of the plan. “It stands for Art Calvin. He was an older gentleman, a golf course architect the three of us played golf with about six weeks ago, and it was his influence that started us down this path of creating the ultimate simulator.”
“I’m sure there’s quite a story there,” she said.
“You have no idea.”
She gave me an amused look. “Would you be seeking funding only or management expertise as well? I understand that you are all engineers, but do you have business experience that would prove helpful to starting a new company? Have any of you started or been involved with the management of any other companies?”
“Not really, no. I work for a medium-size company, while Paul and Ernie are both independent contractors, but as far as business management, we have very little experience, so I guess the answer is ‘yes’ about whether or not we’d like you to provide management expertise.”
“That’s fine. We can do that. And you understand that, as venture capitalists, we would provide you with the funds you will need by buying a portion of the equity in your company? There won’t be a loan to repay, as there would be if you borrowed money from a bank.”
“I think we understand that much about it, yes, but not a lot more.”
“Alright then. Do you have any questions for us at this point?”
I said, “When might we expect an answer about whether we’ll work together?”
Mr. Payton said, “Allie and I will read your business plan, and we should be able to get back to you in a week or so. How does that sound?”
“That sounds fine, Mr. Payton. We look forward to hearing from you. My contact information is in the report. We hope we’ll get the chance to work together, and thank you very much for meeting with us.”
We stood up then, shook hands all around, and said our goodbyes.
As soon as we got outside, I said to Paul, “Was she not the spitting image of a slightly older Aggie Lang?”
“That’s uncanny. What can this mean? This can’t be a coincidence.”
Ernie said, “She sure reminded me of a younger Abby Payne too. And did you catch the name similarity? Allie Payton—Abby Payne—Aggie Pate once she married Kirk, and Arie Papin. I don’t know what it means, but this is no coincidence!”
“I don’t know either,” I said, “but I think it bodes well. Hard to tell, though. I couldn’t read their faces when I put that number out there. Sounds like we’ll find out soon enough. Even if it doesn’t pan out, there are plenty of other venture capitalists out there, including a whole bunch down in LA. Alright, I’ll call you guys when I hear from them. Have we all got things we’re working on now? I think we should keep going.”
Ernie nodded, and Paul said, “No worries. Plenty to work on. Talk to ya soon,” and we all went our separate ways.
CHARACTERS
Kevin Parsons: The narrator of the story. He is a 28-year-old mechanical engineer living in Santa Barbara, CA.
Paul Putnam: A good friend of Kevin who is an electrical engineer.
Ernie Dombrowski: Another good friend of Kevin who is a computer genius.
Art Calvin: An old, retired golf course architect whom the boys meet one day while golfing.
Kenny Payne: Abby's husband. He's the co-owner of a golf equipment company and former mechanical engineer. He helped fabricate the swing suit with his partner, Eddie Phillips. He is now 67 years old.
E.J. Budrowski: Abby and Kenny's friend, a retired computer science professor who helped in the programming of the swing suit. He is now 84 years old.
Abby Payne: She is an expert mathematician and engineer and inventor of the swing suit. She is now 66 years old.
Allie Payton: She is a venture capitalist and vice president of the investment company her father owns.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. Kevin Parsons: The narrator of the story. He is a 28-year-old mechanical engineer living in Santa Barbara, CA.
Paul Putnam: A good friend of Kevin who is an electrical engineer.
Ernie Dombrowski: Another good friend of Kevin who is a computer genius.
Art Calvin: An old, retired golf course architect whom the boys meet one day while golfing.
Kenny Payne: Abby's husband. He's the co-owner of a golf equipment company and former mechanical engineer. He helped fabricate the swing suit with his partner, Eddie Phillips. He is now 67 years old.
E.J. Budrowski: Abby and Kenny's friend, a retired computer science professor who helped in the programming of the swing suit. He is now 84 years old.
Abby Payne: She is an expert mathematician and engineer and inventor of the swing suit. She is now 66 years old.
Allie Payton: She is a venture capitalist and vice president of the investment company her father owns.
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