As the New Year's holiday wrapped up, the city immediately roared back to life. Unlike other companies that give their employees a few days to shake off the holiday fog, Nick's entire operation shifted into high gear the second the doors opened.
The launch date for their new product was set for mid-March, leaving them with a razor-thin window for preparation. The urgency was driven by intelligence that several tech giants were planning to unveil their own AI voice assistants during their routine spring keynotes in April.
It was a clear shot across the bow. The buzz Nick had generated previously had tipped off the industry, and the big players weren't about to let a newcomer steal the spotlight. While Nick was confident in his tech, he knew that if they didn't beat the giants to market, their impact would be buried. In this industry, superior technology doesn't always win; history is littered with brilliant products that were crushed by inferior, well-marketed imitations.
They had the innovation, but they lacked brand recognition, established supply chains, and retail channels. These were the hurdles they had to clear—and fast. By the second day back, Tyler had already packed his bags for a multi-city tour of manufacturers, leaving Nick to balance lab work with corporate logistics.
"Mr. Harryson, here's the data on the contractors Tyler's been vetting over the last few days," Giovani said, sliding a folder across the desk.
"Are these the same ones we looked at before the break?" Nick asked, flipping through the pages.
Giovani shook his head. "We pivoted. The Tier-1 manufacturers were gouging us on pricing, so Tyler went after some mid-sized firms. He and the team inspected the facilities personally. They're smaller, but their quality control is tight. Plus, they're hungry—they're offering much better terms to get our business."
"What about security?" Nick asked, looking up from the report. "I don't want our schematics leaked or some knock-off hitting the market three weeks after we launch because a factory foreman sold our templates."
Price was secondary to Nick; he was obsessed with build quality and intellectual property protection.
"They're solid," Giovani assured him. "They've agreed to a strict 'black box' production protocol and signed ironclad NDAs. If there's even a hint of a leak, they're liable for damages that would essentially bankrupt them."
Nick studied the report for another moment. "To be safe, let's split the production between two different firms. We can eat the extra cost, but we can't risk the technical specs being stolen. How are we looking on the legal front?"
"Henri Ricard's team has already filed over two hundred domestic and international patents for the new unit. Another hundred are in the pipeline. We should have the primary registrations cleared before the first units ship," Giovani replied.
Henri was a talent Tyler had poached specifically to build an in-house IP powerhouse. Early on, they'd been sloppy with the swarm-control patents, and a few scavengers had preemptively registered related tech. Nick and Tyler had learned their lesson. They'd built a team of analysts and lawyers whose sole job was to blanket their innovations in legal protection.
In an era where tech companies patent everything from specific shades of blue to rounded corners, you have to play defense. They weren't just patenting the core tech; they were filing for similar functions, mirror-image structures, and potential workarounds.
When a patent is worth millions, people will try to break it. If they can't buy the tech, they'll try to bypass it or find a loophole in the filing. It's ruthless, but it's business.
"The engineering samples are in internal testing now," Nick said, leaning back. "Tell Tyler to lock in the assembly line yesterday. And on your end, we need the pre-order infrastructure ready the second I walk off that stage. I want our own web store tested and redundant so we don't crash if the traffic spikes."
Giovani nodded. "The dev team is already stress-testing the site. We'll be running our own sales alongside the major e-commerce platforms to ensure we aren't at the mercy of a third party."
"And the app integrations?" Nick asked, his brow furrowing. "I don't want any compatibility issues on launch day. Fixing that after the fact is a PR nightmare."
Giovani hesitated. "Progress is slower there. A few of the major developers are playing hardball, probably waiting to see if we're legit. But we've put more lobbyists on it. It won't stall the launch."
"Get those deals signed now," Nick countered. "Once we reveal the product, those app developers will see how much they need us—and they'll start extorting us for a bigger cut. We need them locked in while they still think they're doing us a favor."
Without a robust ecosystem of supported apps, their "intelligent" assistant would just be a fancy paperweight. They didn't have their own platform yet, and in the tech world, the ecosystem is everything. It was the classic startup's dilemma: you have to build the world while you're still trying to prove you belong in it.