If the foyer of Henry's law firm, with its rich colors, dark woods, and leather furniture, gave it a feel of wealth and luxury, then the lobby for Summit Partners, dominated by glass and metal, gave it an air of corporate professionalism. And, unlike Henry's law firm's small, intimate foyer, the Summit Partners' lobby was almost cavernous in comparison. The entire wall containing the ground level entrance was almost entirely composed of tinted windows, giving those waiting within a clear view of the world outside while also providing privacy from those outside. Along the left and right walls were small islands of leather armchairs, with each island separated by planter boxes containing broad-leafed plants, and graced with a tasteful painting on the wall. About two-thirds of the way back from the entrance was a U-shaped desk manned by three attractive young women, and behind them to either side was a bank of elevators.
As Jack and Henry crossed the lobby towards the U-shaped desk, a man stood up from a chair along the wall and called out, "Henry!"
Henry turned and walked towards the approaching man, and Jack followed. The man was taller and slightly slimmer than Henry, but still exuded a sense of vigorous athleticism. Not something Jack had expected from a corporate lawyer drone.
"Dan, how are you?" Henry asked as he shook hands with the man. "Enjoying the life of dry corporate law?"
"Good, good. And you? How's that boring little law firm treating you?" Dan asked in a mild, teasing tone.
"Probably not quite as boring as you might expect." Henry replied. Then he turned to Jack. "Dan, this is Jack, the potential client I mentioned. Jack, this is Dan, my former classmate, and a hell of a good corporate lawyer. He's already a senior associate and I expect he'll make partner long before I do."
Dan and Jack shook hands, then Dan said, "Well, let's head up to my office and then maybe you can tell me what Summit Partners can do for you."
First, Dan had them both sign-in at the desk, then proceeded to the ninth floor of the building. The decor was similar to the lobby, all clean lines, glass, metal, soft white walls, and gray patterned, short pile carpet.
Dan's office had a window with a view of the building across the street, a large glass-topped desk, walls lined with bookcases, and the obligatory two chairs in front of his desk. He also had a couch against the wall opposite his desk, bracketed by two armchairs, with a coffee table between.
Instead of directing them to sit in the chairs in front of his desk, Dan sat in one of the armchairs and waved a hand at the sofa. "Have a seat. Tell me what brings you here."
Jack and Henry remained standing, and Henry said, "I realize this may seem abrupt, but my client will only feel comfortable speaking with you about his matter after you have signed an engagement letter."
"Hmm," Dan said pensively, "All right. I don't see a problem with that. It's not the first time a prospective client has made such a request."
He stood and walked behind his desk, opened a filing cabinet, and pulled out a sheaf of stapled pages. He sat at his desk, signed and dated the last page, then pushed the pages towards Jack. Jack sat in one of the chairs in front of Dan's desk and read through the pages before also signing and dating the last page.
After signing the engagement letter, Jack looked up at Dan to see an expectant look on his face. Jack didn't waste any time and said, "I won the lottery. The Redball lottery. The jackpot is one point five billion credits."
Dan whistled in appreciation. "I can see why you might want to seek our help." Then he looked at Henry. "I'm surprised you chose to refer him to us."
Henry replied, "I didn't. It was his idea," tilting his head at Jack. "He pointedly asked if my firm had ever handled that much money and I had to honestly answer that no, we had not. He asked for recommendations, and you are at the top of that list."
"Well, Summit Partners can certainly help you, Jack. Do you have an idea of how you want to proceed?"
"Yes," replied Jack, then explained the plan he had come up with for anonymously collecting his winnings and what he planned to do with it in the short term.
"That's a solid plan," said Dan. "And registering your LLC in New Sonora, instead of New Dalsland, is a good idea. New Dalsland has been the go-to state for corporations for a long time, but New Sonora's more privacy friendly laws are starting to draw interest."
Dan paused, then asked, "If you don't mind me asking, have you thought about how you will manage your funds?"
"I have some vague ideas, but I'm fairly certain I'll need to hire a wealth manager or something. I still intend to go to college, so I'll need someone to help keep an eye on things and make sure I'm earning at least as much as I would have if I chose the annuity instead."
"Understood." Dan turned to Henry. "Do you remember Nat, from econ two oh five?"
Henry nodded, "Yes. That girl was obsessed with beating the market. Didn't she go to work for some hedge fund?"
"She did," replied Dan. "We dated briefly during our senior year, but still keep in touch. Just last week, we had lunch together, and she complained about how she was out-performing all the big boys on the team, but Bradly still refuses to give her more funds to work with. I think she would jump at the chance to help you. She has all the certifications needed to act as a personal wealth manager. And I suspect that she would be willing to work for peanuts if you allocated her even a fraction of your total wealth to manage."
Jack looked at Henry. "What do you think? Is she someone we can trust?"
"That's the best part," Dan interjected. "You don't have to. You can create a separate entity, allocate some funds to it, and have Henry act as an intermediary. All Natalie would know is that she's being asked to work for an investment firm start-up. She wouldn't even question why Henry was acting as a proxy for the new firm's founder. And, since Henry is already inside your trust circle, your risk exposure is minimal. You can start her off with something like fifty million credits and see how she performs. It's five times the amount she's managing now, so she'd probably jump at the chance."
Henry looked at Jack, "It's not a bad idea, and I trust Dan's judgement."
Jack thought about it for a moment. He had been wondering what he was going to do with all that money while he was attending college. And the idea of creating a separate company to manage some of the funds meant he wasn't risking his anonymity.
"Okay. I like your suggestion, Dan. Let's go with that."
"Great," said Dan. "Now, can I assume you did not bring the lottery ticket with you but have instead stored it somewhere secure?"
"Yes, safe deposit box," replied Jack warily.
"Good. Excellent," said Dan. "I imagine you were terrified the entire way to the bank, worried that something would happen."
Jack nodded. He had been. He still was. He knew it was highly unlikely, but he still worried the bank would burn down and, while the vault itself would be fine, he feared the heat would damage the ticket.
"Given your valid concerns, I recommend you take out an insurance policy to manage the risk."
"Huh?" asked both Jack and Henry at the same time.
"You will need to hand the ticket to me at some point so that I can have an associate go and claim your winnings. You can take out an insurance policy that covers loss or damage to the ticket during transfer, or malfeasance on our part once we take possession."
"Seriously?" asked Jack.
"Yep. Though I must warn you, it won't be cheap."
"How much would it cost?" Jack asked.
"Not being the insurance company, I cannot give you an exact number, but I suspect it will cost you on the order of tens of millions of credits. My fees will be a drop in the bucket in comparison."
"Wouldn't I need to pay for that before my winnings are collected?"
"Yes, Summit Partners would pay for the policy, then include the cost when we bill you. We would also need to charge you a fee for the privilege, but it would be on the order of one percent of the insurance policy costs."
"So, this insurance policy would pay me the full amount of the jackpot if you lost the ticket on the way to collect my winnings?" asked Jack.
"Probably not the full amount," replied Dan. "But enough to take the sting out of the loss. Besides, Summit Partners will be highly motivated to ensure things go smoothly, because losing one point five billion credits of a client's money would be a reputational death sentence. The insurance policy is as much for your peace of mind as it is actual risk mitigation."
Jack looked at Henry questioningly.
"I think it's a good idea," said Henry. "The cost is a small fraction of your jackpot and seems like a small price to pay for added peace of mind."
Jack liked the idea. The fact the Dan suggested it allayed Jack's remaining fears that Dan, or someone else at Summit Partners, might try to pull something hinky.
"Okay, let's do that."
"Great," said Dan. "I'll draw up the initial paperwork and send it to you and Henry for review. Once you've signed that, we can get to work."
"You don't need to consult with a partner first?" Jack asked.
"No, not for something this simple," replied Dan. "Now, if you plan to do some complicated off-shore banking, then I might need to consult one of the partners, but not for this."
Like Henry's law firm, Summit Partners had several investigative agencies they used so they could also handle setting up the trust fund for the cashier that sold Jack his lottery ticket. Once they had answered all Dan's questions, he escorted them back down to the foyer.
Not wanting to waste Energy Points, Jack ended the simulation. His physical self, waiting in the parking garage, exited his car and headed for Summit Partners lobby. Now that he'd verified that Dan and Summit Partners were on the up and up, he felt confident that the real meeting would go smoothly and he was one step closer to being an almost billionaire.