Richard chooses Peter Gregory. Gavin Belson declares war. Hooli will clone Pied Piper (project “Nucleus”) using a team of 50 engineers and sue Richard into oblivion.
Enter Ron LaFlamme, Hooli’s terrifyingly smooth attorney. He informs Richard that because he developed the algorithm on a Hooli laptop (even partially), Hooli owns it. Richard is crushed. But a loophole emerges: The algorithm wasn’t written for Hooli; it was written during a “non-compete” period. The legal battle begins, freezing Pied Piper’s funding. index of silicon valley season 1
Alec Berg Writer: Dan O'Keefe
Tricia Brock Writer: Alicéa Watson Spandler & Carrie Kemper Richard chooses Peter Gregory
Peter Gregory advises Richard to enter TechCrunch Disrupt, a startup competition. Winning provides validation and leverage against Hooli. The problem: Pied Piper has no front end, no UI, no business model. It’s just a compression tool. Enter Ron LaFlamme, Hooli’s terrifyingly smooth attorney
Now, everyone wants in. But Richard has a problem: He’s been secretly giving 10% of his equity to Big Head (his best friend) for moral support. And Erlich has been promising pieces of the company to everyone who so much as brings him a latte.