He made a comment about the foundation's new grant recipients that was designed to be funny at the recipients' expense and landed with most of the table how people laugh because the speaker expects it.
Diana refilled her wine again.
Ryan watched this quietly. He ate the course in front of him and kept his expression interested and said nothing that invited Richard's attention.
That lasted about four minutes.
"The mid-market play is interesting in theory," Richard was saying, to no one in particular and therefore to everyone, "but the challenge is that mid-market companies don't have the IT budget to justify enterprise tooling. You end up in a gap — too complex for SMB pricing, too small for enterprise deal cycles." He reached for his own glass. "It's a crowded graveyard."
The table was listening with polite engagement - people who didn't know enough about the subject to agree or disagree and weren't going to commit either way.
