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Chapter 5
“Just be natural,” Alisa said, adjusting her iPhone on the tripod. “Pretend we aren’t recording this interview.”
Nate watched as Derek and Melissa fidgeted on the white couch. They looked nervous, but they also couldn’t stop touching each other. If they weren’t holding hands, Derek had an arm around her shoulders or was brushing her hair back from her forehead. Melissa had one hand on his knee and leaned her shoulder into his. They were definitely into each other. Big time. They had been in the first round of betas, talked for the four-week period, met, and now had been dating for six weeks.
Grinning, Nate nodded for Alisa to start. They had rented another room in the coworking space just for the afternoon so they could record an interview. Alisa had been pushing the idea of marketing the app through storytelling for months.
“Your brand needs a story,” she always said. “It’s not enough to have a tagline or features anymore. You have to hook people in through something they recognize and feel. Story has been around since before people were drawing on cave walls. Your brand is as strong as its story.”
Nate always felt like this was all a bit new age-y. A little too fluffy. He liked concrete things: coding, data, programming. Story was an elusive idea. But seeing Derek and Melissa in front of him, he understood now.
Alisa was a genius.
Zane stood in the other corner of the room, beaming with pride. Clearly, he agreed. He had been the one to suggest bringing Alisa on to do their marketing and graphics. Nate thought it was just because he wanted to date her, which may have been true, but she was a brilliant hire. She was bringing something to the table that Nate, Zane, and Todd would never have been able to even consider, much less accomplish.
“Let’s start with your first conversations,” Alisa said. “Was it weird talking without seeing each other first?”
Nate took in the way that Derek and Melissa looked at each other before either of them answered, smiling shyly.
“I was terrified,” Melissa said, giggling.
Derek smiled. “I wasn’t. Not for a minute. I don’t know why, but there was just something about the way she talked to me…”
“Talked how?”
“Well, the way she wrote I guess. We didn’t even talk on the phone. When we met I was seeing her face and hearing her voice for the first time. She was more beautiful than what I pictured in my head.”
Melissa blushed, tucking her short blond hair behind one ear. “What were you picturing?”
“Definitely not someone so out of my league,” Derek said.
“Shut up. You are so in my league,” Melissa said. And as if they forgot that they were doing an interview and in a room with several other people, they leaned in and kissed. More than once.
Alisa brought them back, asking question after question that seemed to draw out their story in just the right way. Nate realized that she asked in a way that would allow them to edit her words out later and just have Derek and Melissa telling their own love story in their words. Complete with PDA, which was awkward standing in the room, but would make the video perfect.
After the filming was done, Alisa walked Derek and Melissa out. They had enough to create a great promotional video, but she also really wanted the two of them to come to Tech Start and actually be a part of the presentation. Nate doubted that would work better than the video, which had the benefit of control. He hated leaving anything to chance or being spontaneous. Especially for their presentation. This conference would be their big break. Investors and bigger businesses came to Tech Start looking for the next big thing to buy. Best case scenario: they would have a bidding war over their app and sell the whole thing for a few million.
That was Nate’s dream, anyway. It didn’t happen often, but it could happen. And he felt even more secure in the way First Sight worked after seeing Derek and Melissa. Other people wouldn’t be able to miss it either.
Nate leaned toward Zane. “You know I really hate saying this ever, but you were so right about hiring Alisa.”
“You can’t say that kind of stuff out loud,” Todd said. “His head is going to blow through the roof of the building. It’s already too big for our office.”
“Hey,” Zane said. “If the shoe fits, don’t fight it. I mean, I believe I’m awesome because I am awesome. That’s just me being a realist. I don’t know why you think I’m so into myself.”
“Because you are totally into yourself,” Alisa said, walking back into the room and starting to break down the tripod and the lights she had set up.
“Myself is pretty amazing though, you have to admit,” Zane grinned at her, flexing a bicep.
She rolled her eyes, but a smile played on her lips. “You’re like a giant kid. No self-awareness. No self-control.”
“Also: adorable,” Zane said.
“You’re not that adorable,” she said.
His eyes lit up. “So, you think I am adorable?”
“I told you,” Todd said. “Give him one compliment and his head explodes. It’s no use trying to have a conversation with him, Alisa.”
