Support and read on patreon 30+ chapters :
patreon.com/StylishSlayer
----------------------------------
Whether it was the fury of Magnavox's management, Nolan Bushnell's irritation, or Don Valentine's rage — Ethan Jones could picture it all perfectly.
After all, he had released the news for the express purpose of provoking them.
If he couldn't even imagine his enemies' outrage — their faces turning red, their tempers flaring, their feet stomping in frustration — then what was the point of putting the news out in the first place?
Ethan wasn't the kind of man to waste public resources for nothing.
If he was going to stir the pot, he was going to enjoy the show.
And after that thought—
"Heh heh"
Ethan let out a long breath, suddenly feeling refreshed. Having had his fun, he turned back to business. The company was now officially established, so the next step was to build the basic framework.
But even across two lifetimes, Ethan had never actually managed a company.
So, drawing on the example of Atari, he temporarily set up four departments: Administration, Finance, Production, and Sales.
The first to be built, naturally, was Administration.
Administrative recruitment was neither particularly difficult nor particularly easy. While most of the work didn't demand deep professional knowledge, the wide variety of tasks involved often made the job feel overwhelmingly complicated.
Ethan decided he needed people with solid communication skills and good patience.
If this were a normal hiring process, just setting up the administration department would have eaten up a lot of time.
After all, in the pre-Internet era, recruiting people was a headache. You had to post ads in newspapers and magazines, or work with local HR service companies. And since communication wasn't instantaneous, everything dragged on painfully slowly — enough to make anyone from the modern era pull their hair out.
The efficiency was just too low. Fortunately, Ethan's company was located in the Stanford Industrial Park.
With the support of the Stanford Entrepreneurship Office, he simply told the teachers what kind of talent he needed — and soon, he had a short list of candidates.
After a brief round of selections, the teachers notified the applicants to come in for interviews.
At nine o'clock the next morning, seven job seekers appeared in the lobby of Kismet Company.
Ethan interviewed them one by one and finally selected two.
The first was Damio Dean, a freshly graduated undergraduate from Stanford's School of Engineering — a tall, skinny young man.
What made Ethan choose him was simple: during the interview, Damio passionately professed his love for Snake Game.
Ethan was impressed by both the enthusiasm in his words and the sincerity in his tone.
But what sealed the deal was when Damio said, without a hint of embarrassment:
"Oh, Ethan! I must have spent at least five hundred dollars on Snake Game!
I've played it over two thousand times!
I still haven't cleared it, but I'll keep going — because I know I can!"
Ethan grinned. A fan like that was exactly what he wanted in Administration — or perhaps more accurately, Security.
If anyone in the company ever complained about the game, Damio could probably deal with the troublemaker without Ethan having to say a word.
The second hire was Julis Noble, an undergraduate from Stanford's School of Humanities — a blonde girl.
What caught Ethan's eye was her major: Philosophy. Her major piqued Ethan's curiosity, so he asked why she had chosen philosophy.
The girl answered: "Because my parents and my entire family are devout Protestants. Since I was a child, they've taught me to bathe in the Holy Light faithfully.
But at the same time, I went to school — and my teachers told us we live in a free country, that everyone has free will.
Accepting both ideas at once left me confused. If we are free, if everyone truly has free will, then why do my parents insist on guiding my beliefs?
And if we are not truly free — if parents, teachers, and friends can pour their ideas into us at will — then why do schools tell us that people are free?
I don't understand this… but I want to."
"So," she said simply, "when it came time to apply for college, I chose philosophy.
Because I want to know — are our thoughts pure?
Do we really have free will?"
Ethan was stunned into silence. Then, in his mind, he gave her a thumbs-up.
Realizing in 1970s America that 'freedom' might not really be freedom? That's impressive.
And this ability to notice contradictions, to question things — exactly the kind of person he wanted for Administration.
So thoughtful! Decision made, Ethan pulled out the contracts and signed with both of his chosen hires.
The weekly salary: $200. Annual salary: $9,600.
Though this was nearly double the median income of just over $5,000, it was still considered an average wage for the industry.
Once the contracts were signed, Ethan handed them their first task list.
It included — but was not limited to — ordering a door for the company, buying daily necessities and office supplies, registering employees for Social Security, and other errands. Speaking of Social Security, Ethan felt a twinge of pain.
The contribution rate looked small — 6.2% paid by the company and 4.2% by the employee — but the base was calculated directly from employee wages, with no minimum threshold.
Which meant… they would have to pay the full amount. Why!It's all money!
Shaking off the thought, Ethan handed over all the day-to-day tasks to his new administrative clerk and turned his focus to the financial department.
At first, Ethan had wanted to recruit a finance employee directly from Stanford, thinking it would be convenient.
But when he mentioned the idea to Evelyn, she immediately told him Thomas had already taken care of it:
"Thomas found us an accountant. He's the son of the accountant who's been handling our agricultural trading company's books for almost thirty years.
He's in his thirties himself, has been in the industry for eight years, and previously worked for a production-oriented electronics company in Mountain View.
Thomas says he can be trusted."
There hadn't been a single problem. Even when the IRS conducted random inspections in the past, they had passed without a hitch.
Now that Thomas had found a candidate, Ethan didn't hesitate.
He dialed the number and invited the man to meet. The candidate turned out to be a slightly heavyset middle-aged man named Allen Massey, sporting a neat, straight beard like many Americans.
When Ethan asked what he planned to do after taking over the company's finances, Allen answered sincerely:
"Boss, even though we're a game company, we're essentially an industrial manufacturing enterprise — because we'll be involved in producing arcade machines.
So, my first step would be to establish a production ledger, following the standards of an industrial manufacturer. That will allow proper cost accounting.
For now, I can handle everything on my own. But I believe we'll eventually need more staff — because I have faith in your games."
The conversation went smoothly, and Ethan liked Allen's attitude.
So he took out the contract and signed him on. Since Allen had been earning $320 a week at his previous job, Ethan gave him a raise — up to $400 a week.
That brought his annual salary to $19,200.
It sounded expensive, but…Finance positions were only going to get more expensive in the future.
And this was the United States — the person in charge of finance was the one who faced the IRS.
With Administration and Finance taken care of, Ethan hit pause on further recruitment.
Production and Sales could wait. Production was simple. From his time observing Atari, Ethan had already noticed that Nolan Bushnell hired hippies to assemble arcade machines and circuit boards.
If society's self-proclaimed "beat generation" could handle those jobs, Ethan figured he had nothing to worry about.
Sales was even simpler. He himself was the best salesman. When the inventor of Snake Game released a new game, just his name alone would attract buyers in droves.
As the saying went: If you want to make money, you must first make a name for yourself.
Once you were famous, customers would come knocking at your door.
As for delivery?
If possible, Ethan preferred customers to pick up the goods themselves.
The "Apple effect" would save him a fortune in logistics.
"So, the only thing missing now… is the product?"
Having confirmed that the company had been successfully established, Ethan went to the top floor and entered the office reserved for the Chairman, CEO, and President — all of which were him.
As soon as he sat in the boss's chair, he couldn't help but close his eyes and enjoy the comfort.
After a moment of indulgence, he pulled out a sheet of paper and got ready to design a new game.
But after writing a few lines, his pen stopped.
Because suddenly, he realized…
He had too many options.— contributing just a little bit more to global warming — and stared at the paper.
Three projects were written there:
Tetris (Northern Cube)Space InvadersPac-Man
Note: ① Atari actually hired a large number of hippies to make electronic arcade machines and circuit motherboards. Jobs also explained this because the hippie movement was declining at that time and many hippies needed a job. But they don't have any good technology, so their prices in the market are relatively cheap. Well, how should I put it? This is actually cost control by capitalists.