[Disclaimer: Everything depicted in this story is fictional and solely the product of the artist/author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or people is purely coincidental.]
Background:
From his shadow's point of view, this story contains the poignant events from Raymond Kohl's life that made him what he is today, a self-made tech multi-billionaire.
Somewhat of a recluse now, Mr. Kohl's early public persona was that of a stoic, ruthless, robot-like businessman.
This story reveals the private, very much human side of Raymond H. Kohl.
"La Silhouette Se Souvient: First Kill"*
Every three years, Raymond comes back to this place. He calls it his personal "Ground Zero".
Over a decade and a half ago, it was the site where a brilliant new startup was attracting the best and the brightest tech minds from all over the world to "revolutionize" Fintech.
Raymond applied and was immediately rejected.
Apparently, he didn't have the college degree, political pedigree, employment track record or the power and money connections to even warrant an interview.
But what he did have was a strong belief in himself and his ideas.
"What the Hell?" he thought, "What do I have to lose if I go forward on my own? My parents already think I'm a fool for dropping out of college and most of my friends treat me like a smart but harmless, resident nerd."
Three years later, after many more rejections, Raymond's ideas were finally adopted by the competitor of the aforementioned "first rejecting startup".
Armed with Raymond's algorithms and intuitive UI designs, the competing company produced several "one of a kind, game changing technologies" that had use cases in multiple industries.
The startup that rejected Raymond went bankrupt.
Raymond bought the land where the remnants of the defunct startup still stands today.
It is Raymond's "First Corporate Kill".
And one never forgets their "First Kill", no?
[Submitted for your entertainment.]
May you and yours be well and loving life today.
In Lak'ech,
JaiChai
*"La Silhouette Se Souvient: First Kill" NFT is from the Opensea NFT Collection "La Silhouette Se Souvient" (The Silhouette Remembers) - 10 NFTs: