Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 17220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 86(@200wpm)___ 69(@250wpm)___ 57(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 86(@200wpm)___ 69(@250wpm)___ 57(@300wpm)
January 14, 2026
Codeify Slack channel
Jude T: Did you happen to catch the username of that woman who zoom bombed the presentation earlier?
Adam P: I only saw the initials VC
I’m going to be honest. That was brutal, but brilliant.
I went through the Zoom recording and wrote down what she said.
Oh please share
“Is this a serious marketing group? What am I looking at? Slide one was a mission statement that says absolutely nothing. ‘Empowering synergies through innovation’? That’s four buzzwords in a trench coat pretending to be a thought. And what was that on slide two? A stock photo of people high-fiving in a WeWork? No data, no strategy, just vibes and Helvetica. Slide three: a pie chart with no labels. What is that even measuring? Your rapidly declining odds of making a profit?
This whole deck is fluff stapled to hope. Where’s the competitive analysis? Where’s the budget breakdown? You’re pitching a million-dollar campaign with less substance than an influencer’s skin care routine. Whoever made this either hates marketing or has never sold a damn thing in their life.”
All of that just off the cuff.
I need to find out who she is.
Jude Tilde, CEO, out for revenge?
Jude Tilde, CEO, out for a lifeline. Now that I’ve taken over, we need people who aren’t afraid to speak up. We have the opportunity to reinvent ourselves.
The Mystery Woman would have a field day with that phrasing.
You’re not wrong.
January 19, 2026
iMessage
Veronica C.
You are not going to believe what I’m about to tell you
Clara C.
Hold that thought. Piper just had a diaper blowout, and Daniella is having a tantrum.
I’ll type while you deal with that
So, you remember that random zoom meeting I entered last week?
Yes, you do, I know you do, so I’ll keep typing
Well, I had another interview today, a good one, I think?
At least I hope it was good on their end, too, because I still have not received my check from PitchSlapped
Anyway, when I got off the call, I checked my email to find
I shit you not
An email from the dude at the random meeting with the terrible slides
Ok I’m back I’m back, catching up
Wait wait
You mean you got an email from the guy who was presenting the terrible slides?
I don’t know if he was the one presenting, but it’s his company
And Clara
What
He asked if I would help them with their marketing strategy
Are
You
Kidding
Me
????
Right?
I’m still laughing
Like, Clara I was so mean!
I don’t know what came over me, but I think I was just triggered by a zoom room full of bros
What did you say??
What do you think I said??
Chapter Two
Jude
No thanks!
Istare at my computer, unable to believe the two-word response to the email I sent earlier today. By scanning through the recording, I’d tracked down our Zoom bomber; she turned out to be Veronica Cochran, an MBA with a focus on marketing from Northwestern, whose most recent position was at the successful and edgy ad firm PitchSlapped. Thrilled, I’d carefully crafted an email asking her to help us with our marketing strategy. I explained that her honesty and wit were impressive and sounded like just what our company needed, and we would love to have her on board as a consultant.
And in return, she gave me “no thanks!”
Standing, I walk around to the other side of my desk and then back again, sitting down, hitting Reply, letting my fingers hover over the keyboard. But my brain blanks. What on earth can I say to that?
I close out the email window and open her LinkedIn page again instead, staring at the minimalist logo in place of a profile photo: her initials VC in digitally created embossed cream on a matte navy-blue background. It’s classy and sharp and modern. If the information on her page is current, she’s also job hunting. Why would she say no to the opportunity to freelance and earn some money? I know José’s presentation needed work, but was it that bad?
Blowing out a breath, I get up again and this time walk onto my balcony, needing a slap from the cold air outside. I’m only on the second floor, but I’m facing the Riverwalk in downtown Chicago and the view is always breathtaking.
An upstairs neighbor takes loud calls all day long, but right now he is blissfully silent, and I close my eyes, trying to calm that vibrating stress that has lived inside me ever since I stepped from the chief technology officer role to CEO six months ago, taking over the company from my brother, the founder. There are so many aspects to this job that I feel like I’m learning on the fly, and the understanding that we can’t get by simply by having the best programmers in the industry makes me feel queasy.
I listen to water, and birds, and people down below. I take ten deep breaths and realize my sister, Hailey, is right: It helps to just breathe sometimes.