4
Matt
“In conclusion,” I said, ending my presentation, “that is why we are asking you to contribute to this Series A funding round.”
“No,” Greg Svensson said.
“Seriously?” Eli jumped up and turned to his brothers. “This is a huge investment opportunity.”
“We just gave you tens of millions of dollars six months ago,” Hunter Svensson said. His baby daughter sat in his lap. She chewed on his expensive watch while he laid into Eli.
“You all have been working on this vertical farming initiative for months. You have three greenhouse towers built and millions of dollars’ worth of robotics in there, and all you’ve managed to produce is lettuce and berries.”
“Berries are a high-margin item,” Eli argued. “We have a lot of interest from restaurants who don’t want those mealy berries you get from South America but still want to serve fruit in the winter.”
The baby on Hunter’s lap cooed.
“I know it’s shameful, isn’t it, Anabelle?” Hunter said to the baby.
My heart lurched.
That could have been me. I could have had the family, the wife, if only…
No. Focus. We’re trying to secure funding. None of that matters now.
Except it did.
“It’s unclear whether the town is even going to approve your expansion plan of three more towers,” Hunter continued. “And we’re not giving you any more money until that happens. Not to mention, you need to present a more detailed business plan with how you will immediately turn a profit on the new towers.”
“We told you: Avocados and almonds then profit,” Eli said.
“That’s not a plan,” Greg said with a scowl.
I glared at the Svensson brother seated around the conference table. They were the worst. We needed that money. My business had a high valuation, but to stay that way, I needed to show growth and to do that, I needed more capital investment. The Svenssons were being awful just because they could. But I had a secret weapon.
I smoothed out my features.
“It’s fine if they don’t want to invest,” I told Eli. “I’m sure my sister will.”
Greg immediately bristled.
“You can’t manipulate me into investing in your company just to keep Belle from investing.” He practically spat my sister’s name.
My older brothers had said the two of them had something that had imploded.
“Shocking how quickly these relationships go south,” Hunter said snidely to his brother.
“Get out of my office,” Greg said coldly.
“This is my office,” Hunter countered. “In a building I own.”
Eli and I left his older brothers to argue.
“Is Belle really going to invest?” Eli asked me as we walked out of the historic building into the Christmas chaos of Main Street. It wasn’t even lunchtime, and people were already out, opening their stalls and freshening up the boughs of pine and holly that were hung everywhere. Carolers were in the town square warming up for their marathon sessions of singing the same five songs.
“I hate this holiday,” I said too loudly.
That earned me dirty looks from the townspeople who were lining up for a seat to watchThe Great Christmas Bake-Off.
