Chapter 3: Invest In YouTube

A day quickly passed, and the 23rd of April 2005 had already started. Noah started selling all his junk items at the pawn shop, and the total came out to 28,500 US dollars.

Noah was quite surprised, as it turns out most of the items were all branded. Even the silly green hat sold for 185 dollars.

Noah wrapped the cash in a plastic bag and put it in his blue backpack.

One might wonder why he had a backpack. Obviously, he couldn't just make items appear out of thin air at the shop. So he emptied all the items into the bag and carried them with him.

The shopkeeper was very happy to do business with Noah. After all, just from his clothes, one could say he was from a wealthy family.

So there were no doubts about the items that were sold. The shopkeeper did ask Noah once why he was selling them.

Noah replied, "Well, mom said there are too many old items lying around the house, so go sell them."

This comment and the car essentially vouched for Noah and let the pawnshop owner do business with open arms.

After Noah returned home, the first thing he did was to check YouTube on his computer. To see if one of the creators had uploaded the famous Me at Zoo video.

Being in California, Noah's plan was to first approach the creator with a comment stating that he was interested in investing in this website and would like to meet up.

Although it would look sketchy as f. It was the only way to get in contact. Then after getting their email, he would fix a location and meet there with his family lawyer present.

After all, he is 13 years old, and there is no way they would take him seriously otherwise. In regards to money, he looked at his bank checkbook and smiled.

It reminded him of memory from 5 years ago. Back then, Noah used to love playing with cars. He was very passionate about them and had just learned that one day he would get a car of his own.

At that time, Noah wanted his father to buy him a car right away for later, but his father denied him. Thinking back to it, Noah's idea was quite stupid. After all, he would have to be at least till when he was 16 years old to get a driving license.

His obsession with a car gave his dad an idea to teach Noah the value of money. He told Noah that he would provide Noah 5,000 dollars each month and that Noah would have to save money for the car.

Noah had decided not to touch a penny in that account. After all, what was he going to spend it on? Food? There that at home.

That money slowly started to snowball and had become a pretty hefty amount. It was at 331,500 dollars if you were to add the funds on hand. Noah's assets were equivalent to 360,000 dollars.

Noah also had full access to the money; all it required was his signature. He had already asked his mother today regarding this. She said it was his pocket money and he could spend it all however he liked it.

Although it was not a lot of money, Noah felt that if he had a talk with his father regarding opening a start-up company. He didn't think his father, who had a net worth of over billions of dollars, wouldn't mind lending him a few million to spare.

As Noah refreshed the site for the last time before heading out. The video he had been waiting for had come out. Noah quickly commented on the video that he was interested in the site and gave him an email ID.

The creators surprisingly replied right away with one of their personal emails, and after a few back and forth, Noah managed to set a meeting at 5pm at a Starbucks nearby.

Noah then told his mother that he wanted to join a start-up, and she was very supportive and made sure Noah took Adam, their family lawyer, to the meeting.

5 pm on 23rd of April 2005

Noah was sitting in a light blue suit with his lawyer Adam at the agreed Starbucks. Although the place was pretty empty except for them, a couple sat near the entrance.

The founder, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim entered the Starbucks and were left confused by seeing a man and a 13-year-old child. The child called them out and got up to shake hands with them.

After taking a seat, Chad Hurley asked, "So you are Noah Hunt who contacted me?".

Noah - "Yes, that was me."

Chad Hurley - "Interesting. It is hard to imagine how you thought of all those things we three had not thought so ahead, and I liked your business plan.

Jawed Karim - "That is also why we are still here talking to a kid."

Noah Hunt - "A rich and creative kid, may I add."

Chad Hurley - "Okay, so let's hear your offer."

Adam - "My client would like to have a 51% stake, and in return, he currently offers you 300,000 and promises to invest over 2 million dollars in the coming year provided that we see growth".

Jawed Karim - "51% stake? Damn kid, you have quite the guts. I will give you that much".

Adam - "We are open to negotiation."

Chad Hurley - "Okay, how about a 30% stake with a promise of an initial investment of 3 million dollars in the coming year".

Noah Hunt - "Nope, how about 45% stake with the 3 million dollar promise provided you implement my ideas and the site hits at least 10 million views per day?."

Chad Hurley - " You have to also guarantee a further investment if we do reach that goal."

Noah Hunt - "That fine with me."

Jawed Karim -" Okay, so we will give you a 42% stake, but you have to make sure that the ideas you talked about do help the site grow to at least 6 million views per day. Otherwise, you have to pay a penalty of 1 million dollars".

Chad Hurley - "Yup, that's fine with me."

Noah Hunt - "Alright, deal."

Adam - "Okay, here is the document draft."

Jawed Karim - "Woah, you already predicted the entire negotiation."

Noah smiled and responded, "Well, you can think of it as having a business partner with a good market sense."

Following the signing of the contract, they then discussed how Noah would come up with features and email them the necessary web layout he wanted. The moment Noah and Adam exited the Starbucks, Jawed called the third founder Steve Chen.

Jawed - "Ya, we just finished the deal, and just like we had enquired, it turns out it was indeed a 13-year-old boy who wanted to invest in the start-up".

Steve Chen - "You mean we just became partners with the son of Aiden Hunt, the third richest man in the world who stands on the same level as Warren Buffet when it comes to investing."

Jawed - "Yes, we definitely struck gold here, and his son's business plan is just amazing."

Unknown to them Noah had no idea how rich his dad was or how he was a man with a net worth of over 32 billion dollars. Just 14.5 billion shot from being the richest man in the world.