Dean was never one of those guys who settle for little. Since he was a teenager and spent hours locked in his room in front of the computer, he was already clear that mediocrity was not his thing. While his friends dreamed of being footballers or rock stars, Dean was already imagining his own empire. He was not arrogant, but he was not very humble either. Especially because he liked to think that if there was a quick path to success, he would find it. And in part, that was what led him to found his software company. Of course, he did not have an easy start; since he started in this world of software he had to go through a thousand jobs and difficulties. Only in the first months when he started to build the company he stayed awake until three in the morning.
At that time, he was fixing code that kept failing, because he didn't have any employees yet to do this work for him. Not to mention that he had a very large workload on his own. He had to finish the work on time and get new clients and jobs to continue growing the company. Even so, everything seemed to be getting worse, because it was too much for him. But things began to improve little by little. His application, a tool that optimized productivity, began to gain a lot of ground in the market. It was easy to use and above all very minimalist. It allowed people to organize their day according to their work schedule. On that side, everything was going well because every day he had more users. But there was still a small problem.
He still didn't make money with the application because he launched it for free to attract attention and then, over time, put it at a reasonable price. In fact, the first satisfied clients and the good reviews gave him the feeling that he was on the right track. Everything changed when he met Marcus and Julia. They were representatives of another technology company. It was a company that could offer him investment for all his projects in exchange for placing advertising in his applications. That way, both parties won. They also offered him a free marketing campaign that would put his software in the hands of millions of users. They know that for him it seemed like a dream come true, and they already know that Dean has that ambition to achieve his goal of being a great entrepreneur. So he accepted without hesitation.
This business relationship was initially very good for both companies. The revenues of both companies grew. Interviews in technology magazines began to arrive, and Dean was already beginning to enjoy the idea of being a "young promise" of those who say they are millionaires at a young age in the business world. But as they say, not everything that glitters is gold. While reviewing the user data, Dean noticed something strange. Some reports indicated that the application was collecting more information than necessary. It was as if every mouse click was being recorded, in addition to other sensitive data. At first he thought it was a technical error, but he went to confront Marcus who was his partner in this from the beginning.
He gave him an answer that paralyzed him. He told him that his application had been partially modified by them so that more advertising would enter the users. And the information they were collecting was to know what preferences the users had and thus know what advertising to send them. He also told him that this is how business works. Dean did not know what to answer at that moment. Even that night he couldn't sleep. He knew that what they were doing was wrong and even illegal.
But he didn't have the courage to confront them because his application or rather his reputation was at stake, because it was his application that was being used for this. So he left everything as it was for the moment, but the situation became more complicated. Every day they received privacy reports and even the media began to find out. They were accused of using invasive software. Of course the face of the company denied everything and there was not enough evidence, so these accusations were pointless. His partners made fun of people because they knew they would never find out what was really going on.
Dean was still blinded by his ambition at the time because he didn't want to just give up on business with them. But something happened that made him take off that mask and see reality. A client, from a small company that used his software to manage its inventory, wrote to him directly. They told him that they had noticed that their data was being used to send unwanted advertising. And they closed with a devastating message, We thought we could trust you. That was when Dean opened his eyes and finally realized the magnitude of what was happening. For that reason he called Marcus and Julia to tell them that he wanted to close that gap, but they ignored him. They only told him that if he wanted to continue working with them, they had to keep receiving that data.
In addition to giving him that cynical answer, they told him if he hadn't seen the fine print of the contract he had signed when they merged. It said that the parent company will do whatever it considers necessary to increase sales and the developers cannot object. He saw at that moment that they had used him to fall into their trap. That's why he did what he considered right. He decided to expose his partners' corrupt practices, even though he knew that this could mean the end of his company. He published a statement with the evidence.
As you might expect, the consequences came quickly. News headlines called him brave, others naive and corrupt. His former partners, if you can call them that, sued him for breach of contract, and some of his biggest clients stopped trusting him. But for the first time in months, Dean could sleep easy. And that was the most important thing. The consequences for telling the truth came in this order: first, his company was shut down by the government. His app was left without users when it was discovered that they were stealing data, and the companies that were his partners blacklisted him. He practically had to start from scratch because he was broke. But fortunately he did not face charges for his actions, because he told the truth. Nothing compared to the full weight of the law that fell on his partners.
Over time, he started again. It was not easy, but he managed to rebuild his business, this time with a more ethical approach. In addition, the negative news about him began to become positive. Now he was being portrayed as the man who gave up everything for the truth and that's how the system paid him back. Things like this began to give him motivation back. But one thing is certain: He didn't reach the same level of success as before. He did discover something more important, though: the peace of mind of knowing that he had done the right thing. Sometimes, when he looks back at old emails or remembers sleepless nights, he wonders if he could have done something different. But then he thinks about that client who wrote to him, about the people who trusted him, and he knows that his decision was the right one. Because yes, the true price of ambition is not in the money you lose, it's in the person you decide to be.
Credits: The images used are free to use and royalty free. They were taken from pixabay.
