The First Big Deal

Ethan leaned back in his chair, staring at the email confirmation like it might vanish if he blinked too long. They had done it—they'd landed the deal. But instead of relief, a familiar tension crawled up his spine.

This wasn't the finish line. It was just the start of a much bigger game.

The startup's executives wanted a full proposal—timelines, deliverables, contingency plans, and long-term support. Everything had to be airtight before they'd sign the contract. There was no room for amateur mistakes.

Ethan jumped into their group call.

"Alright, we've cracked the door open—but we need to kick it wide open," he said, his voice sharper than usual. "This proposal needs to scream: 'We know exactly what we're doing, and we're the best choice you'll ever make.'"

Ryan yawned, still waking up after a night of bug hunting. "Cool. No pressure."

"We'll break this into phases," Ethan continued, ignoring him. "Phase one: MVP launch—fast, functional, no fluff. Phase two: feature scaling based on their growth metrics. If we show them we're thinking ahead, we'll lock in their trust."

"I'll dig into their competitors," Priya added, already opening a new spreadsheet. "We can't just meet expectations—we need to show them things they didn't even know they needed."

Marco leaned back, spinning a pen between his fingers. "And I'll make the design slick enough that they'll want to show it off in investor meetings. First impressions aren't just important—they're everything."

Ethan's gaze swept over the team. These weren't just classmates anymore. They were co-founders, fighters in the same trench.

For the next week, the team moved like a well-oiled machine—but Ethan barely slept. He agonized over every line of the proposal, second-guessing word choices and timeline estimates. Ryan kept refining backend architecture slides. Priya's research deck ballooned to thirty pages before she cut it back to ten, and Marco went through five different design mockups until they found "the one."

By the time they hit send, Ethan felt like he'd poured a piece of his soul into the document.

Then came the waiting.

Day one—silence.

Day two—a polite "We're reviewing internally."

Day three—a response.

"We're impressed. Let's move forward."

Ethan slumped back in his chair, a grin stretching across his exhausted face. It was happening. Not a classroom project, not a lucky break—a real, legitimate client.

The group call lit up with cheers—Marco blasting a bad victory song through his speakers, Priya waving her notebook in the air, and Ryan doing some awkward desk dance.

Ethan let them celebrate, but inside, the weight of responsibility settled firmly on his shoulders.

"We're not a student side-hustle anymore," Ethan said softly, cutting through the noise. "We're a company now. And companies deliver."

His team fell quiet, but they all nodded.

This was no longer about just landing a deal. This was about proving they deserved to be here—and Ethan knew they wouldn't get a second chance to make that impression.

It was time to build something that would last.