September 2005, London

  Jawed Karim looked around the marvelous set of the biggest movie franchise ever. It was quite an eerie location, to be ho. Fake trees had beeed everywhere, along with a very realistic-looking forest floor. No one would even suspect that this was not a real forest but a set ihe Leavesden Studios.

  Jawed couldn't believe that his drunken email to the biggest teear in the world would result in him and his friends getting an offer to fly in a private jet and withe shooting of the most anticipated movie of year.

  "Why did you have t us here of all pces?" Chad Hurley, Jawed's friend and business partner, asked. "Troy Armitage gave us carte bo do whatever we want in London, on his dime, and here we are visiting a movie set of all things?"

  "Ask Steve," Jawed poioward their third partner in crime, Steve . "He's the fan. I'm just a casual admirer."

  Steve shrugged. "I didn't force you to e here, Chad. You chose that on your own."

  As if they'd let Steve e aroy all aloeve was many things, including one of the best web designers, but he was not a very shrewd businessmaing a self-made multimillionaire like Troy was not something that could do alohout beien alive. Especially when they had busio attend with said boy.

  Before they could tiheir versation, a woman walked up to them carrying a board that read, 'Quiet o!' Getting the hint, the three friends went silent and watched the se that the cast and crew were busy setting up.

  "A!" A short, round man shouted, and immediately, everyone around them quieted down—except for the three actors in the shot.

  "How much further is it?" the oldest of the three said in frustration as they walked forward through the trees.

  "Not very far," the girl who pys Hermione replied. "Had to be somewhere students won't find it actally." Her voice trembled slightly, showing she utting on a brave face but was scared of the woman behind her. Umbridge's wand was trained on both Harry and Hermione as she escorted them through the forest.

  Troy as Harry grabbed Hermione's hand while walking and squeezed lightly to reassure her. It seemed to work, as Hermioeadied herself almost immediately. A few steps ahead of Umbridge, Troy bent over and whispered, "What are you doing? You know that Aantus are nearby, right?"

  "I'm improvising," Hermione whispered back before the trio reached a clearing.

  "Well," Umbridge asked impatiently, "where is this on?" She started cirg the two teenagers while keeping her wand fixed on them. "There isn't one, is there? You were trying to trick me."

  Troy and Hermione exged nervous looks as the secret was finally out of the bag.

  "You know," Umbridge whispered, "I really hate children. You truly are the most untidy creatures." She tilted her head in exasperation and tinued in her sickly sweet voice, dripping with disdain. "Lord knows I tried to help you—to instill discipline, de, and respect for authority. I have tried my very best to have some order."

  Her voice trembled as she poi herself. "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DOO ME!" Her voice broke immediately as she shouted the words. "I 't take it anymore!"

  Anyone would be in awe of the sudden ge iion from the actress, but then again, she seemed to be an experienced performer.

  "But I must. Sometimes, the ends do justify the means," the woman said as she stepped closer to the two terrified teens with every word. "I will do what must be doo get that order." She pointed her wand at Troy. "Cru..."

  Suddenly, an arrow whizzed past Umbridge's shoulder. She stopped mid-t and turned, only to e face to face with a group of men. Calling them men wouldn't be entirely accurate, given their current e. Each was heavily made up with prosthetics to appear beast-like. Their torsos were shirtless and painted gray, while below the waist, they had the bodies of horses, plete with fs, tails, and fur. Anyone could see ahat the taurs weren't real, but in the world of CGI, such things are usually corrected in post-produ to make then seem 100% genuine.

  "Who are you!?" the lead taur yelled. "What are you doing here on our nd!?"

  The old woman didn't take kindly to being openly defied, so she chose to hide behind Troy of all people before tinuiirade. "You have nht to interfere here, taur. This is a Ministry of Magic matter. I am Madam Umbridge, the senior undersecretary to the minister and the current headmistress of Hogwarts. This nd is not yours it was generously given to you by—"

  "So you're with the Ministry, huh?" he asked dismissively.

  "Yes, and as a half-breed, you have nht to interfere in—"

  "Half-breed!?" the head taur repeated furiously.

  Umbridge seemed to sense her error and tried to make amends. "Creatures of near-human intelligehat was as far as she got before another arrow was fired in her dire. This time, she was ready and used her wand to jure an invisible shield.

  "Stop this nonsense!" she shouted, emboldened by the remihat she still held a wand. "I must have order. Incarcerous!" she cast at the lead taur, who was immediately bound in tight ropes from head to toe. He fell to the ground, writhing violently.

  Apparently, that was the wrong thing to do. The other taurs took it as a decration of war by the Ministry ckey. They charged at her, deftly dodging her remaining spells. Meanwhile, Harry and Hermione dropped to the forest floor, shielding themselves as the taurs captured Umbridge.

  "Potter!" she yelled. "Please! Tell them I mean no harm."

  "I'm sorry, Professor," Harry, ever the sassy one, shot back as the older woman was whisked away. "But I must not tell lies."

  The vile woma shouting curses and insults but to no avail.

  Harry picked up Umbridge's fallen wand from the ground and poi at the still-writhiaur. "Finite Intatem!"

  Immediately, the ropes fell away, and the taur rose to his feet. He gave the teens a sidering look before shaking his head and galloping off in the same dire as his brethren, who had taken Umbridge.

  "Cut!" the director yelled for what felt like the umpteenth time. "Perfect, guys! That was exactly what I needed." He turo the older actress, who was being helped to her feet by a few crew members. "Imelda, I couldn't praise you enough. No offeo Troy and Emma, but she just blew you two out of the water."

  Troy chuckled good-naturedly. "aken. She is the best."

  The older actress, now identified as Imelda Staunton, ined her head slightly. "Thank you, Rian, Troy. I just hope people won't kill me when this movie is released."

  Emma, the st of the trio of major actors, chimed in. "That's only because you're so good at pying such a despicable character. I don't think I could ever do what you just did."

  Imelda ined her head again in thanks to Emma.

  "All right, everyohe director yelled, addressing the entire crew. "Let's for the day."

  As soon as the words "" echoed across the set, the quiet atmosphere disappeared, repced by a flurry of activity. The actors began leaving for their ging rooms, while the crew started pag up equipment.

  "That was fun," Chad noted idly to Jawed. "Surprisingly, much better than I was expeg it to be."

  Jawed nodded in agreement. "True. I didn't realize how much goes on behind the ses of a big movie like this. It was a lot of fun to see it."

  Meanwhile, their third partner and a certified Potterhead, Steve , stood quietly.

  Jawed poked him lightly in the side. "You okay, Steve?"

  "They cut out Grawp," he said in realization. "I was so pumped to see him in the movie. But now I 't."

  Chad turoward Jawed and mouthed, 'Who's Grawp?'

  Jawed could only shrug. He'd seen the first four movies but wasn't enough of a fan to read the books. He khe books were far more detailed, so it made sehat the filmmakers had to cut some things to fit everything into one movie.

  Before they could tiheir versation, a man in his te twenties and a teenager walked up to them. The younger man, dressed in simple clothes, round golden gsses, and sp a fake scar on his forehead, needed no introdu. Jawed reized the older man as Tobias, Troy's assistant—the same one who had arrahe private jet that flew them to London.

  "Troy," Tobias turo his employer, "these are Steve , Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, the three founders of YouTube." Theuroward the trio. "Gentlemen, you already know Troy."

  "Of course." Chad stepped forward to shake Troy's hand. "I've seen all your movies, starting with [Sex Education] and leading up to your test one, [Brick]. I have to say, you're one of the best actors in the world, hands down."

  "Thank you," Troy said, beaming at the praise.

  Inwardly, Jawed was rolling his eyes at his friend's behavior. Chad had always been the over-preparer. Ever siobias replied to their email about meeting Troy, Chad had scoured Troy's filmography and dug up everything ever said about him online or in the o get to know the young actor better.

  "Be ho with me," Troy tinued with an easy grin. "Did you watch my entire filmography just for this meeting?"

  "No!" Chad lied effortlessly. "I was in undergrad when I watched [The Sixth Sehe rest over the years."

  "Sure," Troy said, his tone making it clear he wasn't fully vinced.

  "Why did you cut out Grawp from the movie?" Steve asked, steering the topic back to [Harry Potter]. "I wao see him so badly in the film."

  Troy looked at the Taiwanese man and replied, "I didn't. As much as it may seem like it, I don't write the spy myself. But to answer your question—have you seen the size of the fifth book? If we included everything, the film would be five hours long."

  Steve frowned slightly but nodded after a moment. "True."

  Jawed decided to intervene before the versation derailed further. "Thank you so much for letting us visit the set, Troy. It was amazing."

  "Gd you think so," Troy said with a nod. "I'd love to tihis chat, but I'm a little tired." He turo Tobias. "Offer these gentlemen a grand tour of the other sets as well if they're ied, and the's meet for a formal discussion tomorrow m at my home over breakfast. Sounds good?"

  "That would be perfect," Chad said on behalf of the group.

  "See you tomorrow, then." With that, Troy turned and walked off toward his dressing room.

  (Break)

  The Day, Kloves Residence, London

  "How much would you sell your pany to me for?" I asked bluntly, leaving the three yourepreneurs stunned.

  "I'm sorry?" Jawed asked, unsure he'd heard correctly.

  "I'm serious," I said. "I love your website as potential. So I'm asking again: how much money would you like to transfer ownership to me? I'm n to kick you out of the pany—the three of you tinue w on it if you want. You'll o sign non-pete agreements, but that's standard. So, tell me your price."

  Chad, the most outgoing of the three, spoke up. "We don't want to sell our pany just yet. We've barely scratched the surface of what we do with it. Whatever you offer, I'm sure we could get a better deal from serious iors."

  "How about a 50 million payout," I tered, leaving Chad wide-eyed, "for you three to divide however you like? In addition, I'll take only a 70% stake in YouTube. I'll also i another 50 million into the pany so we hire top-tier developers and scale up with more servers to host videos. And, of course, I'll promote it like crazy—just like I did with Crocs." I poi my feet, which were a pair of the fy slippers.

  Crocs had been the best business decision of my young life—a decision that anyone would sider brilliant given the limited knowledge we had of the pany's prospects. As predicted, in just the first half of 2005, their revenue had already surpassed half a billion dolrs, ing me 20% of its capital as per my agreement with them. If we were to go public right now, I'd likely be hundreds of millions richer—possibly even half a billion.

  But I khat going publiow would be a mistake. The stock market was votile, and the uping 2008 financial crisis would only make it worse. It was smarter to wait until after the dust settled, letting the market stabilize before taking that step.

  YouTube, oher hand, was a pletely different kind of pany. Unlike Crocs, which dealt in able products, YouTube was a digital service ptform that would take years—likely a decade or more—to bee profitable. As an individual, I couldn't keep funding it indefinitely without seeing aurns, so I knew selling it would eventually be iable. But not yet. The ptform ime to grow, and I was in a position to give it that.

  "This is a oime offer," I said, breaking the silen the room. "I'm extending it because I have a gut feeling about your pany. If you walk away from the deal now, the ime we revisit this, there will be valuers, wyers, and a host of middlemen involved—people I'm sure we'd all rather avoid."

  The three friends exged silent looks, their expressions shifting as they deliberated. After a few moments, Chad broke the quiet.

  "I'm sorry, Troy," he said with a shake of his head. "While your offer is more than generous, we ot—"

  "Wait," Jawed interrupted, cutting Chad off mid-sentence. He turo me, his face thoughtful. "We'll ime to think this through. we give you an answer in two days?"

  I raised an eyebrow, studying him for a moment before nodding. "Sure. Just remember—don't think of this as giving away 70% of your pany. I'll make sure that the 30% you collectively own will be worth far more than 100% of the pany's current value in just a few years."

  With that, the versation ehe trio left the room, leaving only me, Dad, and Tobias behind. My two partners had, as usual, opted to remain silent on my business decisions until now.

  "Are you sure that was a wise move?" Tobias asked after a pause.

  "Yes," I replied fidently. "Do you still feel the o question my decisions?" I gnced down pointedly at my feet, where my trusty pair of Crocs rested.

  "It only takes one misstep to lose everything," Dad reminded me, his tone serious. "I 't deny that all your decisions so far have been phenomenal, but we 't ighe fact that 100 million is a lot of money."

  "It'll be fine," I reassured him with a faint smile. "You worry too much."

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