“I will cut to the chase,” he said after I had explained my vision. “I am prepared to offer you $2 million for the entire concept right now. You can finish your degree without any financial worries, and I will take it from here.”
It was a tempting offer. $2 million would have solved all my financial problems instantly. I could have paid off my student loans, secured comfortable housing, and never had to worry about working multiple jobs again.
But something held me back.
“Thank you, but I am not looking to sell,” I heard myself say. “I believe in what I am building, and I want to see it through.”
Michael looked surprised but not displeased.
“Most students would jump at that offer.”
“I am not most students,” I replied.
The next day, Michael called again with a different proposal. He wanted to invest $500,000 for a 15% stake in Secure Pay. This time, I accepted.
With his investment, I could officially incorporate the company, hire a small team, and accelerate development.
The following months were the most challenging and exhilarating of my life. I was still a full-time student, but now I was also a CEO.
I hired two brilliant computer science students as part-time developers and a graduate student with marketing experience to help build our brand.
We worked out of a cramped room in the innovation center, often coding until the early hours of the morning.
There were moments when it all seemed impossible. Three months after we started, we discovered a critical flaw in our security protocol that required rewriting almost half of our code.
I did not sleep for four days straight as we worked to fix it. Then one of our developers quit unexpectedly, leaving us short-handed just before an important deadline.
