Chasing Stars in Hollywood

Simon and Aria came down to the dining room, where the ladies had already set the table with dinner.

The maids had all received culinary training, and the table was filled with an array of dishes that were visually and aromatically pleasing. The seven ladies, each with their unique charm, added to the visual delight of the dinner.

Greeting everyone, Simon casually took a seat in the middle on one side of the long dining table.

The seven ladies, appearing courteous and polite, showed their true intentions through their seating arrangements.

This was the main dining room of the villa, and the long dining table could seat ten people on both sides.

After Simon sat down, Jennifer Brill, the youngest and smallest of the women, shamelessly took the seat to his right. Lady A, appearing considerate, helped Simon with his food but subtly took the seat to his left.

The remaining five ladies, seeing this, chose to sit across from Simon.

Yasmin Garry secured the seat directly opposite Simon, while Lady C and Nadia sat on either side of her. Aria and Lady D, who were a bit slower, had to sit at the far ends.

Once the slightly awkward seating scramble ended, the atmosphere in the dining room became lively again.

Simon smiled and listened as the ladies introduced which dishes they had made. After adding several servings to his plate, he asked the elf across from him, "How was your trip to Japan?"

Yasmin, hearing Simon's question, replied, "Nadia and I went to see the cherry blossoms. They are beautiful this time of year, like paradise. We took a lot of photos. Simon, I'll show you after dinner."

Simon nodded, remembering that it was cherry blossom season in Japan. Noticing the hopeful expression on Aria's face across from him, he smiled and said, "If you have time, you can go to Japan to see the cherry blossoms too. They'll last until mid-April."

Little Jenny turned her hopeful face towards Simon and asked, "Simon, can you come with us?"

Simon could only shake his head. "No time."

Lady C regrettably added, "I don't have time either, boss. Speaking of photos, D has been scouting for a project, a photo-sharing website that would be a good fit for my company. What do you think?"

Simon looked at Deborah, the last of the ABCD group still serving as a maid, and smiled, "Tell me more."

Several of the ladies wanted to remind everyone that it was dinner time, but since Simon had spoken, they could only pretend to be curious.

Deborah hadn't expected Claire to bring this up at the dinner table. Seeing Simon looking at her, she quickly gathered her thoughts and said, "Facebook already has an album feature, but that's just an accessory. I did some research and found that many users prefer to share photos rather than interact through text on Facebook. So, I think there's a market for a pure photo-sharing website."

Simon patiently listened to Deborah's explanation and asked, "What's the business model? How do you plan to monetize the site?"

Lady D replied, "Through ads, of course. I believe image ads are more effective than text links. Embedding image ads on a photo-sharing site will be very convenient."

Simon asked, "Do you think the current digital camera user base is large enough to support a pure photo-sharing website?"

Deborah blinked and said, "C's company shipped 1.69 million iCams in the first quarter alone. For the whole year, it's expected to reach 8 to 10 million. The overall digital camera market had a minimum shipment of 15 million units in 1994. Including the accumulation from previous years, there will be over 20 million potential users by the end of this year, which is quite substantial. Plus, not only digital camera owners will visit the site."

Simon knew the data Deborah mentioned, but he instinctively compared it to later websites with user bases of 1 to 2 billion.

Starting this project now, it would take until at least the end of the year to launch and develop it. By then, the global digital camera user base reaching 20 million would indeed be considerable.

It was worth noting that the current global user base for Facebook, owned by Igreat Company, was only about 53 million. Even if it could quickly surpass 100 million or more in the next two years, it would still fall far short of the 2 billion users Simon remembered from his time.

However, even the current user size of Facebook was already envied by many internet companies.

If Lady D's idea could succeed, fully activating the existing potential user base and adding users who only browse photos without posting, the site's scale would be significant.

This thought made Simon think of Instagram, one of the most successful websites of the mobile internet era, with over a billion users and excellent commercial operations. It was considered one of Facebook's most successful acquisitions.

Remembering Instagram, Simon couldn't help but worry that Deborah's idea might be too ahead of its time, similar to how America Online's predecessor had plans for online gaming and music subscriptions in the early '80s, which was too advanced for that era.

Despite this concern, Simon didn't plan to reject it.

Deborah's idea was sound, and the business model of earning through image ads was also correct. Moreover, the investment for this idea was much lower than for money-burning e-commerce ventures.

After a brief consideration, Simon said, "Let's call this site Instagram."

Deborah was initially delighted but then puzzled, "What does Instagram mean?"

Simon explained, "Instant Telegram."

Instant Telegram.

With Simon's explanation, the ladies understood. It was another innovative term, roughly meaning sharing photos with friends as instantly as a telegram. Silicon Valley internet companies now favored original terms, not to be eccentric, but because by the 1990s, most imaginable English words had been registered as various company names.

Like Apple, which had to deal with another company, Apple Records, for years over the name. Yahoo's proper trademark was actually "Yahoo!", with an exclamation mark because the plain "Yahoo" was already registered.

When Claire founded Tinkerbell, she also went through considerable trouble for that trademark.

Since it was a name personally chosen by Simon, Deborah had no intention of opposing it. She nodded but couldn't help confirming, "Boss, does this mean you agree?"

Simon nodded and added, "But if it fails, it's not my problem."

Deborah smiled and said, "It won't. I plan to work with C to promote it together."

Simon wasn't too worried.

Janet had chosen the ABCD group because they were exceptional women. Over the years, staying with the Westeros family, their connections and knowledge far surpassed those of rookie entrepreneurs just out of school.

Of course, having a foundation is one thing, but how far one can go depends on execution.

The world never lacks business ideas. Even now, similar pure photo-sharing sites might exist online. The key is who can stand out.

Thinking of this, Simon indicated the elf and the spirit sitting across from him and said to Deborah, "To run this site, the most important relationships you need to build are with Yasmin and her friends. If the entire Victoria's Secret army can join Instagram, the site will have millions of users in no time."

The power of celebrity influence is immense.

Currently, the Victoria's Secret army not only has high popularity but also is the most attractive group of supermodels.

Yasmin and Nadia had been listening to Simon and Deborah's conversation. When Simon mentioned this, Yasmin's eyes flashed, she glanced at Deborah, then at Simon, and suddenly said, "Simon, can I invest some money in this site too?"

Nadia Olman, realizing the conversation, instinctively said, "I want to try too."

Lady C joined in, "I also want to invest, boss."

Little Jenny rubbed against Simon and said, "Me too, me too."

Simon tapped her forehead, "You don't join the fun."

"Hee hee."

Simon retracted his hand and resumed cutting the black pepper steak on his plate, saying, "You all can discuss it. As long as D agrees, it's fine. The initial investment for Instagram might only need tens of thousands of dollars. The Flowerpot Fund will not participate this time."

In fact, all the ladies present knew that Instagram's rapid development ultimately depended on Simon's support. Without the resources of Igreat's portal, Instagram would struggle to gain fame.

Deborah, the most perceptive among the ABCD group, thought for a moment and said to the other ladies, "Each person invests $200,000 for a 5% share. I'll take 70%."

The elf and the spirit were clearly unaware of market conditions and were a bit confused. Claire, however, couldn't help but retort, "Isn't that too greedy?"

With six ladies each investing $200,000, that would be $1.2 million, enough to hire a team to complete the initial website design and start operations. The one making the high demand would only need to put up 30% of the shares, and in the unlikely event of failure, wouldn't lose a penny.

For many Silicon Valley startups, the first round of angel investment is often only $10,000 to $20,000.

Deborah was unfazed and insisted, "It's already cheap. I still need to hire people. In Silicon Valley now, it's hard to get top engineers without offering some equity. I might have to give out another 10%."

Aria, who had been relatively quiet since the dinner started, suddenly spoke, "D, maybe I can help find some excellent software engineers, from India. They probably won't need equity, but getting visas might be a bit tricky."

Yasmin, who subconsciously harbored some hostility towards Aria, almost blurted

 out, "Do Indians know how to use computers?" But she restrained herself, seeing Simon across from her.

Everyone was puzzled by Aria's offer, not knowing about her recent discussions with Simon.

Seeing their expressions, Simon smiled and vouched for Aria, "Aria can indeed manage that. They're affordable and capable."

Although the overall level of India's software industry was low, there were always top talents everywhere. This was evident from the proportion of Indian executives in Silicon Valley. At this stage, these people would be satisfied with the opportunity to work in the US without demanding much initially. With the Westeros network's resources, getting a few work visas would be easy.

With Simon's endorsement, Deborah had no objections.

The ladies continued negotiating, and despite Deborah's insistence, each could only secure 5% shares.

The $200,000 wasn't a significant amount for the ladies, even for little Jenny, who received a $100,000 annual allowance from Simon and earned money helping Claire. At worst, she could easily borrow the amount.

Thinking of this, Simon looked at Jenny beside him and said, "Aren't you graduating early this year? Help D first."

Jennifer Brill had entered Stanford University's computer science department in 1991. The girl had completed most of her courses in two years and would graduate this year after defending her thesis next month.

The little girl, who had been enthusiastically joining the conversation, suddenly looked pitifully at Simon, like a cat about to be abandoned, "Simon, I want to work by your side."

She had worked so hard to get to him sooner.

Simon smiled, stroking her head, "You know the situation lately. You can't just take A's job, and you're still so young. Help D for two years first, then come to me."

"Two years, you said."

"I promise."

"Pinky swear."

"Uh, don't be childish, or I'll add another year."

"..."

And so, almost in jest, a new internet project was decided.

The seven ladies, despite some expectations, couldn't fathom how far this dinner-time investment would go.

Dinner ended around eight o'clock.

Aria, Lady A, and Lady D cleaned up the dishes and went to the living room next to the villa. They saw little Jenny curled up in Simon's arms on the sofa. The petite girl, though already 20, looked like a 12 or 13-year-old with her height of 155 cm, even legitimately pretending to be a child in front of Simon. This was why everyone privately called her "little fairy."

The living room TV was on, but no one was paying attention.

When the three women entered, Yasmin and Nadia were trying on kimonos brought back from Japan. The pink kimonos adorned with cherry blossom patterns were beautiful, and the two women, as top models, made perfect mannequins, but the effect wasn't quite right.

Claire tried with Allison, achieving a slightly better effect.

Finally, they realized what was missing.

Dragging little Jenny off Simon, they carefully dressed her in the kimono. Though Yasmin and Nadia had chosen the wrong size, it wasn't a problem for the skilled models. After some folding and tightening, it fit perfectly.

After adjusting her hairstyle and makeup, little Jenny became a delicate, doll-like figure in the kimono.

Clearly, kimonos were better suited for petite women.

Deborah enthusiastically used an iCam to take many photos of little Jenny, planning to post them on her website. The seven ladies then took turns taking photos, eventually roping Simon in as the photographer.

Playing around like this, the atmosphere in the villa grew more intimate as the night went on.

Around ten o'clock, Simon sent the scheming ladies off to rest, taking Yasmin and Nadia upstairs to the bedroom.

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