Trouble And Money #47

Woburn, Massachusetts - B-9 Space Components

Tom Defaulter understands actions and their consequences. From age two to three, his parents noticed that he was destined to be an engineer.

 When Tom was three years old he got a Fisher Price Radio that had googly eyes and an internal music box that played when you wound up the knob.

 Most kids at that age were amazed by that trusty gift, which had a long generational heritage.

 Most kids will wind and and rewind the knob until their fingers have the knurl of the knob indented into their fingers.

 Young Tom was a little different.

 Within ten minutes of receiving it on Christmas Day, Tom took it outside to the patio of the Defalter home in sunny San Diego, took a rock, and pounded the play radio until all the parts that made the music were exposed.

 The boy's drive to uncover how something worked never stopped from that day.

 At age 17, he had to choose between Stanford the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or Princeton. He decided on MIT because he liked the idea of flying back and forth each year for holidays better than going to Stanford and he found Princeton a little too clubby instead of techie.

 There is no doubt that Tom made the right choice for Tom.

 The East Coast seemed to have an edge on advanced robotics and the machines needed to manufacture them. They had Professor Marvin Minsky, a founding father of Artificial Intelligence and its future applications.

 M.I.T. also had a healthy fraternity life, which appealed to Tom's bad boy side.

 He did not waste too much time when he graduated before starting a company that made the tiniest robotic components.

In the early days, Tom would sit at his kitchen table and learn the complexities of getting government grants.

ARPA work led to DARPA work, and Tom Defalter was then well known in the Pentagon and more than a handful of great bars in D.C.

Tom got the most complex things done and in the book, and his company, B-9 Space Components, made a ton.

His over 700 employees were happy, motivated, and well paid.

Now Tom Defalter needed help to find his son in Ukraine.

In the world of "favors," you are either owed favors or you owe someone a favor. The Defalters or the company gave to both parties for years and never took anything back.

He called the congressman who represented the district his company was in, and he got a call back within 10 minutes.

That's some serious bang for the buck, he thought as he said, "Hello, Representative. "

Over the years, I have donated thousands of dollars to your election campaigns and never needed a favor. I need one now." It's a non-business favor, and Ellen and I would appreciate back channel silence.

The member of Congress ( I won't name him) kept his "O Fuck" to himself before Tom started explaining the problem because now he would have to cancel an afternoon of cocktails at Off The Record.

(If you called your Representative today, would they call you back? - Conrad Grange)

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