Chapter 43 – Prototype Empire
Jake stared across the table at three of the most powerful people he'd ever shared a room with—and none of them had any idea he was twelve.
That's how good the suit was. That's how sharp the numbers were. That's how convincing Jake had become.
On the other side of the long polished table sat Nolan Pierce, two venture capital partners, and a pair of finance lawyers. The air smelled like leather, printer toner, and money.
Jake placed his final document on the table. "So that's the plan. A vertically integrated smartphone built in the U.S. Pre-installed with FaceWorld. Limited run of one million units, scalable by Q3 next year."
One of the VCs blinked. "And you're asking for…"
"Two billion dollars," Jake said casually. "Split between an operating loan, equity stake, and convertible debt."
Silence.
Then Nolan leaned back and grinned. "I've seen crazier bets."
---
Funding Secured
The deal was signed by the end of the week.
FaceWorld Holdings now had access to $2 billion in funding—$1.1 billion earmarked for smartphone production and infrastructure, and the remaining $900 million held in reserve.
Jake already knew what that money was for: YouTube.
Not yet. Not today. But soon.
---
Building Begins
Back at Judith's house, Jake stood in the center of what used to be the spare room. Now, it was a full-blown R&D lab.
3D-printed case prototypes lined the desk. Tiny soldered circuit boards sat beside early displays from Samsung. Jake and Howard Wolowitz had already finalized the board layout for the first FacePhone unit.
FaceOS was coming together—one module at a time.
Howard placed a chip onto the prototype's main board. "You're basically trying to be Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Tony Stark all at once."
Jake didn't look up. "They had decades. I've got months."
---
Warehouses and Assembly Lines
With the funding secured, Jake's team moved fast.
Four warehouses leased across California and Nevada
Contracts signed with local suppliers and factories
A new recruitment wave for line workers, engineers, QA testers
Secure storage for components—lithium batteries, ARM chips, OLED screens—all now rolling in
By mid-November, two small-scale production lines were already being calibrated.
Jake wasn't interested in outsourcing to Asia. He wanted full control, and American manufacturing gave him that edge.
The investors thought it was patriotic. Jake knew it was strategic.
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Haley's Input
One Saturday afternoon, Haley came over with a bag of gummy worms and an instant camera.
She found Jake crouched in the corner of his lab, debugging a FaceOS emulator.
"Is that the phone thing?"
Jake nodded. "First prototype. You want to test the lock screen?"
Haley sat beside him and tapped through the interface. "It's like… cute. But also futuristic."
Jake smiled. "Thanks. That's what I was going for."
Haley pointed to the icon layout. "Move the music app here. It feels more natural near your thumb."
Jake paused. Then dragged it.
Sometimes genius was just listening to someone smart in a different way.
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Early Marketing Ideas
Jake drafted a few internal memos. One of them read:
> "Target users: Teenagers, college students, digital nomads. Tagline: The future fits in your pocket.
Objective: 1M units sold by 2007.
He didn't want retail stores.
He didn't want billboards.
He wanted buzz.
Jake knew if he launched this right—FacePhone could become the new iPod, the new MySpace, and the new AOL rolled into one.
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Discovering YouTube
Late one night, Jake was reviewing FaceWorld user metrics when a notification popped up from a small college blog.
> "Check out this new video site… lets you upload ANYTHING."
Jake clicked.
YouTube. Logo in red.
The page was simple. A few amateur clips. A slow server.
But something about it made his pulse jump.
He clicked a video titled "Me at the zoo."
And just like that, Jake knew.
> They'd built it. They'd actually built it.
---
Jake's Research Spiral
He spent the next two hours dissecting the site:
View counts: Rising steadily
Uploads: Increasing daily
Share function: Already spreading virally on FaceWorld
Infrastructure: Weak, but scalable
Jake ran the numbers.
YouTube was growing faster than Friendster did at its peak.
It wasn't a toy.
It was the next war.
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Contingency Planning
Jake called Nolan the next day.
"Start monitoring a video site called YouTube. Privately."
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to buy it before Google does."
Nolan whistled. "How much?"
"Right now? Six hundred million. But it'll be nine by the time we close."
"And you're okay with that?"
Jake stared at the FacePhone screen.
> "It's not just a site. It's a portal. And I want it on every phone."
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Prototyping Success
By the start of December, the first FacePhone prototype was complete.
Slim body
4-inch capacitive touchscreen
A single home button
Rear camera
Internal storage: 8GB
Pre-installed apps: Calls, Messages, Browser, FaceWorld
The first call made on a FacePhone?
To Haley.
"Hey," she said. "Is this that thing you won't shut up about?"
Jake grinned. "It is."
"Okay, it's hot."
---
FaceWorld + FacePhone = Future
With over 70 million users on FaceWorld, Jake now had:
A platform
A device
A user base
A war chest
The final piece was media.
YouTube would give him video.
And with video, messaging, mobile, and social all under one roof—Jake Harper wouldn't just be a tech founder.
He'd be the new face of the internet.