Mira wants nothing more than to hide away from the world and its cruelties. Overcome with grief for the loss of her father and burying herself deep in school and her internship, her one respite is her admiration for the Hollywood actor, James Dean, an admiration she shared with her father. Although Dean is long dead, Mira wishes that she could meet him and tell the actor just how much he means to her. As she closes her eyes on another day to sleep and escape reality, her wish is about to come true… But when she finally meets the Hollywood hunk, it presents her with the most difficult decision she has ever had to make…

Mira wants nothing more than to hide away from the world and its cruelties. Overcome with grief for the loss of her father and burying herself deep in school and her internship, her one respite is her admiration for the Hollywood actor, James Dean, an admiration she shared with her father. Although Dean is long dead, Mira wishes that she could meet him and tell the actor just how much he means to her. As she closes her eyes on another day to sleep and escape reality, her wish is about to come true… But when she finally meets the Hollywood hunk, it presents her with the most difficult decision she has ever had to make…

Starting the Startup

When Lucy Riddle and her engineering teammates John and Marcus realize their fintech startup can't possibly build its revolutionary AI platform with just $2 million and twelve months, they conceive an audacious plan: acquire a struggling company that already has the technology they need.

"My First Acquisition" follows this trio of Stanford graduates as they navigate their crash course in corporate dealmaking, transforming from naive programmers into savvy negotiators. As they court NeuralFlow's brilliant but demoralized founders, they must outwit aggressive competitors like ByteFlow, earn the respect of sophisticated players like Dr. Wei's Zhongcai Capital, and survive escalating threats from shadowy financial institutions desperate to maintain their monopoly.

But when corporate espionage turns violent—from surveillance to sabotage to attempted murder—Lucy discovers that dealmaking requires more than spreadsheets and strategic thinking. It demands the courage to risk everything on a vision of democratizing financial technology, and the wisdom to know who to trust when powerful enemies want you dead.

Part Silicon Valley insider tale, part technical thriller, part unconventional romance, "My First Acquisition" demystifies the M&A process while telling the story of three friends who must evolve from coders to corporate warriors to save not just their company, but their lives.

Read more

Starting the Startup

When Lucy Riddle and her engineering teammates John and Marcus realize their fintech startup can't possibly build its revolutionary AI platform with just $2 million and twelve months, they conceive an audacious plan: acquire a struggling company that already has the technology they need.

"My First Acquisition" follows this trio of Stanford graduates as they navigate their crash course in corporate dealmaking, transforming from naive programmers into savvy negotiators. As they court NeuralFlow's brilliant but demoralized founders, they must outwit aggressive competitors like ByteFlow, earn the respect of sophisticated players like Dr. Wei's Zhongcai Capital, and survive escalating threats from shadowy financial institutions desperate to maintain their monopoly.

But when corporate espionage turns violent—from surveillance to sabotage to attempted murder—Lucy discovers that dealmaking requires more than spreadsheets and strategic thinking. It demands the courage to risk everything on a vision of democratizing financial technology, and the wisdom to know who to trust when powerful enemies want you dead.

Part Silicon Valley insider tale, part technical thriller, part unconventional romance, "My First Acquisition" demystifies the M&A process while telling the story of three friends who must evolve from coders to corporate warriors to save not just their company, but their lives.

Read more