Chapter 11 · Betrayal on Our Fifth Year

Chapter 11

CloudBuild's first big client was a man who owned a prime office building in Harbor City.It was thirty-two stories tall, with a total area of 20 acres, and the property management was handled by a local real estate giant, Prime Realty.Prime Realty's boss was John Carter, a man in his sixties who'd been in real estate for most of his life. He was old-school, skeptical about new technology.Kevin had tried to pitch him three times, but got turned down every time."Mr. Chandler, I just can't get through to this client," Kevin said, sounding defeated.He rarely showed this kind of frustration."I can explain the tech side perfectly, but John Carter just shuts me down. All he cares about is, 'How much money is this thing actually going to save me?'" Kevin said."He's right," I said. "You can talk algorithms and models all day, but he doesn't care about that. You need to talk money.""But that's not my thing..." Kevin said."Leave that to me," I said.I invited John out for dinner.I picked his favorite spot—the private restaurant he always went to.When John showed up and saw me, he looked surprised."Luke? Weren't you with Sunrise?" he started."Not anymore. I'm running my own show now," I replied.He sat down and gave me a once-over."Yeah, I heard. It was all over the news," he said."That's all in the past," I replied.I raised my glass and clinked it with his."Mr. Carter, I wanted to talk to you today about Prime Tower," I said."That AI system of yours..." he waved me off. "Kevin's pitched it to me a few times, but I'm just not interested. This building's been running smoothly for over a decade. No reason to fix what isn't broken.""Mr. Carter, let me run the numbers for you," I said.I pulled out my tablet and pulled up a report."Your building's annual electricity bills, HVAC maintenance, and lighting costs come to about 3 million dollars, right?" I asked.John raised an eyebrow."Pretty much," he said."If I told you that with our system, your costs could drop to 1.6 million dollars—saving you 1.1 million a year. In three years, that's over 3 million dollars in your pocket. Interested?" I asked.He set his glass down."Are you sure about that?" he asked."We can make it official. If the energy savings don't hit 40% in the first year, you get a full refund, and we'll throw in 300 thousand dollars as compensation," I said.John stared at me for five seconds."You're that confident?" he asked."I don't talk big when it comes to tech. I've seen Kevin's team. They know their stuff," I said.I paused."Mr. Carter, I get it. You're a veteran, steady as they come. But things are changing fast. Energy costs keep rising, and the rules for green buildings are getting stricter. Getting in early beats scrambling later," I said.John thought it over for a moment, then picked up his fork and took a bite."Let me see the contract," he said.After leaving the restaurant, I texted Kevin. Luke: Prime Realty's deal looks promising. Prep the technical blueprint; we'll host an on-site demo next week.Kevin replied instantly: I'm impressed, Mr. Chandler.

Chapter 11