Atlas Black: Managing to Succeed

Atlas Black and his best friend and sidekick David Chan are introduced. Atlas is behind on his rent, and realizes that he needs to take dramatic steps to improve his career prospects. He begins to realize that much of his knowledge of business is based on memorizing terms and buzzwords that he has trouble applying to actual business situations. The mysterious ‘Black’ appears and suggests that starting his own business is a risky proposition, but an acceptable trade-off given Atlas’s other prospects.

Atlas attempts to gain funding by completing his tax returns. Much to his surprise, his ex-girlfriend Maria is working at the accounting firm he visits. Atlas explains that he is now taking school more seriously and even applying the idea of a balanced scorecard to his personal life, but Maria is unconvinced. The chapter ends in an embarrassing appearance at a local house party when his friend Tess requesting him as a delivery driver for Pilgrim Pizza, his current job as well.

Atlas learns that the mechanics of starting his own business are not as difficult or important as the need to develop a specific strategy. With the help of David, he concludes that a restaurant makes sense of a potential entrepreneurial venture in most college towns – but he also needs a unique hook if this idea it to truly move forward.

After a revelation with the mysterious ‘Black’ while playing disk golf, Atlas develops the idea of the No Cover Café. This restaurant would provide free live music with modestly priced food to attract the audience associated with most college towns. Atlas interviews a classmate for a potential internship, and she is livid to discover the position will be unpaid, providing another opportunity for embarrassment for Atlas.

Atlas realizes the need to become more organized if the No Cover Café is to become a reality, and visits his college’s career fair to contemplate potential employees and other local firms that they could supply their restaurant, such as Cat Lady Coffee – a local coffee shop that Atlas and David frequent.