Lew Bialek

Bus to Krakow. 47 zł, 06:40. My bag carries two shirts, the good coat, documents, both German textbooks and the certificate from the course. Mom packed it quickly, as soon as Dad went to sleep. She even put some food in. Answered seven job listings, got two replies as the bus neared the destination.

An old dorm for workers in Nowa Huta. 380 a month, four beds in a room. One by the window snores, one works nights so the door goes at four. The third one is called Marek. Talks a lot, especially about a website he is building. I told him I did not care and he kept talking. He also asked me about my eye, but I brushed it off. School starts in three weeks without me. One year off matura.

Picked up a second job: kitchen 06:00–14:00, warehouse 22:00–06:00. 9 zł per hour, cash, nobody asks for any documents at that rate. Good thing that I look slightly older. 1120 saved.

Bought socks. 6 zł. I finally picked up that number. His parent were way more supportive. Mine cover all this up. He wanted to come to me, said that he want to continue things that were between us. I told him not to bother - I am managing, and the whole thing was a mistake that should have never happened.

102 hours. 3340 saved. Target was 6000 by December. Dropped a crate Thursday - my hands just disobeyed me for a minute. Slept most of Sunday, which is nine hours of wage, but the alternative isn't worth it.

Hospital. They say that I collapsed in the warehouse. Something about kidneys and exhaustion. I'm stuck here, for a week at least. The patient form asks for a person to contact.

I turn eighteen today. The woman opposite has flowers and a daughter who comes daily at four. I put Marek's number on the form - it doesn't work, which is weird - usually his hand is almost fused to that phone, still seems good enough. I will hit 6000 in the tin by February. Or March, if the night shift will be gone. Then - finally an apartment with a door.

Dorm. Tin is empty. All savings gone. Instead, I found a page full of excuses from Marek - he needed capital, the startup will return it, he was going to tell me. That's for tomorrow. Ate, took a shower and went to bed.

I gave him two options. Either a stake calculated off 3340 at a valuation I set, or the police, with the tin and the note he was good enough to write down and sign. He took an hour to think. That whole thing is worth nothing, so he handed it over. 95% of stake is mine, he keeps 5% as a founding engineer.

Came to look at what they have there. Four people, one terrible idea, no client, no revenue, no plans after March. Kasia is the only one who can do anything. Told them the website is dead. Two left. Nobody argued, which tells me they knew. With this 95% stake he handed me over a ton of pain in my ass.

Nothing in this city is hiring except the service centers, and they do not want a diploma. They want a language. So, we sell the language. We take the invoices, payrolls and complaints from other companies and work with them. German companies, because that's where the money at. Kasia seems to know a little German herself. Marek asked when we could get back to the website.

Got the offer. It's not big, sixty days and six seats. Payroll is on the 26th, the invoice clears 30th next month. Took a quick loan under my name to cover the gap. The percents are crazy, but it should be fine if everything succeeds. Marek seems to "vibe" with the other IT guy I've signed. Should I be concerned? Wrote back to mother that I had signed a German client. Got no reply yet.

Second client. German again, bigger, ninety days. Nineteen people. Closed the March loan and immediately took another.

Marek wrote something over the weekend that does the reconciliations by itself. Says that he saw how tired the other get of doing them. It is not a product, it is a script with his name in the comments. Told him to make it work for the other team too. Forty-one people.

The whole staff uses the Marek's thing now. He keeps calling it a product. It is not a product, it is how we work.

Hundred and forty people. Nothing else to write.

Mother's birthday was in November. I noticed in February.

Review with Düsseldorf. Their operations director watched Marek's dashboard for most of an hour and asked what it would cost to license. Said I would come back to him. Marek heard and has not stopped since. Six years selling people, and he wants to buy the thing we built so he does not need them.

Eleven licences. Earns more per head than the whole service book and it does not call in sick. Marek's five per cent is worth more than everything I did with my hands. He has not worked it out yet.

Hospital again. Bloodwork. The doctor pulled up 2012 and asked what happened. I told him. He says it has been declining since and asked what I do about the hours. Said I would think about it. He wrote something down.

Ran the numbers on selling. At current multiples I clear the debt, take everything and never work again. Twenty-four. Kasia asked what I was doing. Told her nothing. There is a photograph in the corridor at the clinic. Annapurna, Nepal. Twelve days on foot, no signal.

Signed Munich instead. Two hundred and ten people on that payroll and Marek cannot run this.

Every German client wants everything remote by Monday. Marek and Kasia haven't slept. Neither have I. Nobody is flying anywhere this year, so that is settled.

Software passed services. Thirty-one per cent against nine. Twenty-eight yesterday. Kasia brought a cake into the meeting and they sang. I said thank you.