Jon Hersey - Fly Fisherman | Page 9

Mark Dayton, the odd duck that will soon have a big disruption in his life, owns
three very different companies. By all information available, Mark is a solid
businessman - makes good decisions, manages by instinct and data, and a
clever thinker when needed. He arrives nearly 15 minutes late with corners of
paper sheets sticking out his portfolio. He is rambling yet his message is clear: -
"have to borrow", "wish Carl would mind his own business", "I want to expand
Alston Medical", "FFWG is good deal with bad timing for me", "I need to tell the
others". [Jon needs Mark to be involved to minimize the chances of meeting in
Cincinnati. Paul Tyler's favorite saying pops into Jon's mind - the correct fly
attracts the right kind of fish]. Jon decides to show his financial statement for the
Internet portion to Mark ... hoping Mark will find his share more valuable than
expanding Alston Medical. Mark spends several minutes analyzing Jon's
numbers - he pulls an exposed corner out of the closed portfolio - holds a report
in each hand - hmmm ... hmmm - "what's the error margin, less than 15%?" -
"good margins, reasonable overhead, very good upside, conservative
assumptions, reasonable assumptions, Internet addition makes this a strong
deal. I want to stay involved for now." [Jon is quite impressed with the quick
analysis and the depth of his understanding the entire package. This disruption
might be harder than expected]. Mark taught himself fly fishing after he received
his grandfather's rod, reel, and tying equipment.

Mark's late start and the extra time spent to keep him involved chews-up most of
the summary report preparation time. The main conclusions are: - one of the
owners needs to be the CEO / President to maintain continuity, watch the cash,
and push the vision, - the Internet portion improves success by a factor of 2x, -
priorities are find and purchase distributor, get startup money in bank, determine

fly shop purchase versus annual volume fees, begin fly shop solicitations, and
launch the Internet packages.

[Jon makes a mental note to develop back-up plans for Mark's replacement].

The final meeting starts a few minutes early because everyone is excited about
their new adventure. Jon had thought the group might need more team building,
but as Alissa liked to remind him - "things are not always as they appear to be."
The summary list is reviewed, - some discussion about characteristics,
personality, and experience of CEO / President, - and task assignments for each
member. Jon passes out biz cards if issues or questions arise. The Go / No go
decisions was delayed to evaluate the information from everyone's assignments.
Next meeting set for next Monday 8 AM. The meeting ends and the FFWG
future owners continue discussing and analyzing ideas while Jon picks-up all the
loose papers. ["this was fun!!!"].

Unable to get a seat on the 6:24 PM flight, Jon purchased a ticket on tomorrow's
5:48 AM non-stop flight to Cincinnati.


Cincinnati Scintillating Sinammon

In the third of what has become "two-a-day" reports, Peter agreed to verify that
Mark went to San Francisco. After an unusually lengthy talk with Peter, Jon
hoped for good running weather in Cincinnati.

The half full plane had WiFi service. Jon needing to take every opportunity to
stay on top of his two "jobs", opened the laptop - verified the sound was turned
off - then launched the Scrambler. A message from the forensics guy popped up:

Jon, encrypted files are still being decoded. Their
encoding is unique and might need a code key. The
reference to "zookeeper and exotic goats" appears to
be related to Mr Dayton pulling his pledged $150,000
from an expansion project at Cincinnati zoo. End. Zeta
Forensics.


[One day, I have got to meet this mysterious Forensics Guy.] Jon uncertain about
the security of the plane's WiFi, decides to use the Blotter portion of the
Scrambler program, for the first time:

- need more info on Dayton's past - college, high school, employment,
family
- determine why he has lately withdrawn from community support activities
- Cincinnati plan: - drive by three businesses, Dayton's home, office, and
zoo

- determine if Dayton has a secondary office location - might need to hire
private investigator to avoid accidental meeting
- verify Dayton in San Francisco before entering office, home, or factories
- see if forensics guy can help with collection of phone and email
communication
- talk with Carl on Monday about weekend - hopefully he will ramble-on
again
- review disruption with Daryl on Sunday evening

Jon clicks the "Save" button and a dialog box opens up with text from someone
named Anna.