Nick really didn't want to negotiate with William Gerstenmaier because he was an absolute nightmare to deal with. He understood his opponents' psychology on a cellular level and knew exactly which pressure points to hit depending on who was sitting across from him.
Being able to climb to the high rank of Senior Vice President at a tech titan like Amazon while only in his forties was proof enough of his cutthroat methods and formidable capabilities. Compared to him, a greenhorn like him who had only recently graduated from college was someone he could handle with total ease. He had taken some serious bruises in their previous rounds of negotiations, which was why he had always been deeply wary of this man.
Although William had laid out a grand, sweeping vision, all Nick heard between the lines was a pie in the sky—a very, very big corporate pie.
Amazon also had its own smart home voice infrastructure, but historically, it didn't differ much from the other generic smart speakers on the market. They simply couldn't compete with the other tech giants when it came to aggressive marketing, promotion, and raw innovation. Therefore, when they saw Nick's H1 assistant emerge, become an overnight sensation, and completely capture the market, it gave them a sudden glimmer of hope.
Right after Nick's initial keynote press conference, William had reached out to lock down a meeting, but Nick had shut him down cleanly. The Amazon camp hadn't given up, though; they immediately dispatched a dedicated team of corporate development reps to Tampa to keep knocking on Militech's door.
It was just that the results had deeply disappointed those reps. Nick and his core team had absolutely no intention of negotiating with them, refusing to even grant them a formal sit-down. During that stretch, Nick's garage operation was entirely buried under fulfillment orders, and they genuinely didn't have a single spare minute to deal with corporate vultures.
When he made the trip to Miami this time, he figured Amazon would take the opportunity to corner him for a face-to-face chat. He had originally assumed Jeff would show up personally to smooth things over, but he hadn't expected it to be William Gerstenmaier running point again.
To be completely honest, he felt a sting of disappointment; it felt like his status in the valley still wasn't high enough to warrant the big boss's time. If Jeff had appeared in person, Nick might have relented out of a momentary impulse or mutual respect. Unfortunately, it was William sitting across from him, and he couldn't muster an ounce of desire to play ball.
"You know as well as I do that Amazon is a global leader in cloud infrastructure and smart-city data architecture," William continued, his voice dripping with calculated enthusiasm. "By partnering with us, we can jointly build the foundational tech for the next generation of urban living. We're talking about integrating your AI into everything involving transportation, automated retail, and daily consumer habits. It's a multi-billion-dollar ecosystem. If you get in on the ground floor, your upside will be limitless!"
Nick looked at him, let out a dry smile, and shook his head. "That sounds like your smart city, William, not mine. I still believe it's better to rule in hell than serve in heaven. Sorry, but we don't have any common ground on this."
"I have never met a young man this stubborn; you really are completely impervious to reason," William said, a flash of genuine anger breaching his professional veneer as he refused to let it go. "Is hoarding this software architecture really that important to you? Sometimes, holding onto an asset too tightly just makes it easier to lose when the market shifts."
"I know exactly what my tech is worth," Nick replied, his voice deadly calm as he stared him down. "As long as I keep the encryption keys close, it stays mine. Nobody can just wrench it out of my hands."
William narrowed his eyes. "Are you really that confident?"
"Why don't you try me and find out? It's not like I'm blind to the little corporate espionage tricks your peers have been pulling lately. Even if those tech giants manage to poach a few disgruntled junior devs from my hardware line, it doesn't mean they're going to dig any valuable source code out of them. In fact, I heard two of those corporate scouts even followed me down to Miami," Nick shot back nonchalantly.
Hearing his words, William paused for a split second, his eyes widening slightly before he smoothed his expression back into a slick smile. "Is that so? Then I might just have to pay them a visit later and see what kind of proprietary skills they managed to pick up under your roof."
Nick let out a sharp chuckle, then leaned back and stretched his arms. "If that's the extent of your pitch, let's wrap this up for today. I need to get back to my room, grab a bite to eat, pack my bags, and get ready to head back to Tampa."
"You've only been in Miami for a couple of days, what's the rush?" William said, instantly pivoting back to a warm, hospitable tone. "South Beach has plenty to offer; you should at least take the team out and enjoy the nightlife before you fly out."
"No need." Nick started to push his chair back to stand up, but William quickly leaned across the table.
"Nicholas, come on. What's the rush, Mr. Harryson? We aren't finished talking yet. Sit, please, let's just talk for a few more minutes!"
Seeing his get uncharacteristically anxious, a smug smile spread across Nick's face as he settled back into his leather seat. "If there's something else on your mind, just lay your cards on the table; there's no need to draw out the suspense. But let me be entirely clear: if this is another pivot back to the H1 core license, don't waste your breath. It's an absolute non-starter."
Seeing how unyielding his stance was, William's smile stiffened slightly, but he maintained his poise. "Fine, I'll be direct. We've caught wind that you're in talks with the agricultural conglomerates and the Department of Agriculture to jointly develop autonomous mega-farms out west."
"How the hell do you know about that?" Nick glanced at Calloway sitting beside him, his face tightening with surprise.
He had every right to be shocked. The initial brief for that autonomous farming pilot had barely been broached by both sides, and the circle of people cleared for that data was incredibly small. He couldn't understand how the information had breached their security perimeter already; his mind immediately raced to the possibility of an internal mole.
As if reading the sudden paranoia written across Nick's face, William offered a reassuring smile. "Relax, Nicholas, the leak didn't come from your camp. The truth is, the agricultural boards have been trying to deploy automated farming solutions for years.
Before they ever knocked on your door, they ran pilot programs with several of our enterprise logistics clients, but the yields were terrible. We aren't surprised at all that they ended up hunting down your Swarm-Array tech. Furthermore, Amazon has always held massive supply-chain contracts with these farming regions, especially when it comes to whole-food distribution networks. So, it's really not shocking that we're in the loop on your upcoming projects."
Hearing his explanation, Nick finally let out a quiet breath, his shoulders relaxing slightly. "Alright. So how does Amazon expect to fit into a farming project?"
William's confident, apex-predator smile returned in full force. "It's incredibly elegant, really. The three of us join forces and leverage our respective monopolies—a powerhouse alliance. Your strength is the autonomous system architecture, the agricultural boards control the land and cultivation infrastructure, and our strength is the massive digital storefront and logistics network.
We build a completely closed-loop industrial chain from R&D and construction straight through to harvest and final consumer delivery. This completely eliminates your wholesale distribution headache while guaranteeing your licensing margins. What do you think? Is that a sincere enough proposal for you?"
"That is a beautifully self-serving calculation," Nick sneered, leaning forward. "We pour all the capital into the engineering and production, and then we just hand over the keys to your fulfillment network for distribution? That's the equivalent of putting our own necks in a noose and handing you the rope."
William's patience finally wore thin, his voice rising in frustration. "Can you stop assuming malicious intent for five minutes? This is a textbook synergistic partnership. There is literally no downside for any of the three parties involved."
"We aren't stepping into the agricultural sector to make a quick buck, William," Nick said, locking eyes with him.
A slow, knowing smirk curled the corners of William's mouth. "Neither are we, Nicholas."
"Tch." Nick rolled his eyes dramatically, letting out a heavy sigh. "Look, I won't block you guys from joining the syndicate; having another massive corporate treasury backing the infrastructure cost isn't a bad thing. But you're going to have to pitch this directly to the agricultural boards yourself. They're the ones who have to sign off on adding another seat to the table."
"You don't need to worry about that side of the house," William said, a brilliant, triumphant smile spreading across his face as he leaned back, completely back in his her element. "Trust me, they'll be absolutely begging to sign the paperwork."