Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

Thinking about the deal proposed by Miss Pallavi, Rajeev couldn't concentrate the rest of the day in painting. Instead, he was lost in thought, imagining how he would run the company, how he would train the artists, and how he would maintain his will.

The thoughts he had were so out of the ordinary that he ended up surprising himself; he never knew he had such desires. When he first came to Suryanagari, all he wanted to have was a stable life, but after he achieved his goal of having a stable life, he felt empty and wanted to do something interesting. But when he invented the Moving Picture Machine and spent his day painting in the room, he felt his life was already very fulfilling.

As time went on, he wanted more and more, and now he is fantasising about making his company a million Varaha company, a threshold only a few hundred locally established companies in the frontier have crossed.

The next day, Rajeev walked to his office. He says it is an office, but in reality, it was nothing but a small house that was refurbished into an office after his business got bigger. After all, there had to be some place to handle the business affairs, not to mention Purushottam still needed a space to build the moving picture machines. So a house was purchased, Purushottam used the hall as the workshop and the kitchen as the art studio. The shelves acted as natural drying racks, and everything worked out perfectly.

As soon as he set foot into the office, he could hear Purushotham nagging at the boys he had just hired.

He did not go to greet Purushottam; instead, he slipped into his art studio and waited until the kids left for their work.

Entering the hall, everything was in shambles. The parts were strewn all over the place, and streaks of grease and oil were found all over the walls. Most importantly, Purushottam, who was supposed to be the manager of the whole company, was sitting in the corner, resting his back on the wall with visible dark circles under his eyes.

Looking at him like this, Rajeev felt a little guilty. It was actually because of him that Purushottam had become like this. If the workload on him was heavy, then the workload of Purushottam, who had to not only manage the company but also train the employees while building the damn machine, was like a boulder strapped on his back.

"Ahem!"

Rajeev leant forward and cleared his throat, waking up Purushottam, whose sleep cycles had been utterly destroyed.

Looking at who it was, Purushottam let out a deep and turbulent breath and melted into the chair, not even willing to stand up and greet or even ask why he was called; instead, he simply stared at Rajeev like a dead fish.

Rajeev was immediately embarrassed, but thinking about the offer Miss Pallavi gave, he finally brought it up, "I had an interesting offer come my way. I need to hear your opinion."

"Oh!" Purushottam's expression finally changed. "What is it?"

Rajeev relayed everything that happened yesterday and waited for Purushottam to speak.

To his surprise, Purushottam did not take too long to think and immediately nodded.

"Finding someone to help you is definitely a must, training our own artists will take a long time since we do not have any art schools in our frontier, so picking up these readily trained people is indeed the best choice, but don't you think we will lose a lot of our stake if we do the exchange according to her suggestion?"

"We will. Even if her company goes bankrupt, the contract she has with the artists and the distribution channels that have been built over a long time that spread throughout the frontier are still very valuable for anyone who is looking to enter the Surya Nagari market."

"And that's exactly why I'm in a dilemma."

Purushottam was silent for a while until his eyes suddenly brightened, "Brother, is the distribution channel really necessary? Think about it, to buy our machine, people come from all over the frontier. In such a situation, why do we even need a distribution channel?"

Naveen shook his head and let out a sigh of disappointment at the suggestion.

"If it is only sales, it is indeed possible, but did you forget that we will have to change the frame set and service the machine every month? How can this be done without a distribution channel?"

Purushotham clicked his tongue and realised that he was thinking too simply. He once again understood how bad he was at management.

If only there were more liquid cash in the account, this would not have been a big problem. However, just when he was thinking about money, he got another idea.

"Brother, why do we not bring in Mr. Gopalan into the company as well? He did propose to invest in the company, didn't he?"

"Why don't we let him invest now? If you can get a letter of intent from this Miss Pallavi, we can show this to the bank, increase our valuation, take a bigger loan, and ask for more money from Mr. Gopalan, and purchase the assets and transfer the shares at the same time."

"Also, brother, this way some money will also be left out. If you can," he hesitated, but still, making up his mind, he pleaded, "Can you allow me to employ a few helpers?"

"I really can't do everything by myself." He had a look of someone bullied in his tone.

Rajeev stood silently, but his mind was continuously thinking about the suggestion.

'This can really work, bringing those two people can really make up for the shortcomings of the company. I can still be in charge of painting and story, Purushotam can be in charge of manufacturing the Moving Picture Machines, while Mr. Gopalan could be both a strategic investor responsible for marketing and public relations, and Miss Pallavi can take on the management of the company as the director.'

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense, not to mention he suddenly realised that bringing in Mr. Gopalan could also be used to counterbalance Miss Pallavi if conflicts arise in the future.

Purushottam didn't know the thoughts in Rajeev's mind, so he was getting worried, "Brother, things really can't go on like this; we definitely need some people to help. Also, brother..." He suddenly stopped his sentence in hesitation and then whispered in a low voice, "I just got an idea on how to make the moving picture machine better."

Rajeev suddenly came back to his senses. Although he decided to follow the suggestion of Purushottam in his heart, he still wanted to hear what this new idea he talked about was.

"What is it?"

The voice of Purushottam got even smaller, "Brother, you know that there are music boxes produced in the mainland, right?"

"I do, what about it?"

"You see, brother, those music boxes are spring-loaded. You first charge up the spring and release it for it to turn automatically and create melodies when metal hits another metal tuned with a certain frequency."

"So I thought, instead of doing this, can this music box somehow be integrated into the moving picture machine, so that when the handle of the moving picture machine is turned, it not only flips the frames but also acts as a trigger for melodies to play. Just imagine, brother, how it will be to play the moving picture with music."

Rajeev's eyes brightened. This was really an amazing idea. He looked at Purushottam for a long time, realising what kind of talent he had picked up, 'It's really a waste letting this guy work as the manager.' He was considering letting Purushottam continue as the manager until Miss Pallavi got the hang of things and knew that she was now one of the partners and not the owner, but doing that would be delaying this genius.

"Alright, I agree."

"But let me warn you, if we bring in these two people, then our shares will be diluted in proportion."

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Purushottam was stunned. He hesitantly asked, "How much will it be diluted?"

Rajeev did some calculations in his mind, thinking about how much he was willing to let go of, and answered, "My shares will be diluted by 75% of the shares that will be given, so it will reach anywhere from 50% to 60%, and your shares will be diluted by 25% from the total shares that will be given out, so yours will be sitting at anywhere from 15% to 20%."

Purushottam had a pained expression on his face, but thinking about his current situation, he had no choice but to nod his head, "Alright, let's do it."

After the decision was made, Rajeev did not waste any time and immediately got to work. Although the liquid funds in his company had not grown much because of its limited business reach, the skyrocketing demand for his product had caused the valuation of his patent to surge. This, combined with the letter of intent from Miss Pallavi, gave him the leverage he needed to secure a massive loan of 1,000,000 Varaha from the bank.

Adding that amount to the 100,000 Varaha investment provided by Mr. Gopalan in exchange for a 10% stake in the company, Rajeev now had the capital to make a bold move.

He purchased the entire distribution network of the Heritage Media Trust, which spanned the entire frontier, and bought out their team of trained artists, for 800,000 Varaha and an additional 15% stake in his company.

This strategic expansion laid the foundation for the rapid growth that Rajeev had only dreamed of.

In the end, after all the negotiations, Rajeev was able to retain 56.25% of the ownership, Purushotham, as the second-largest shareholder, kept 18.75%, Miss Pallavi was personally able to control 15%, and Mr. Gopalan was able to keep 10%.

The management of the company was completely reorganised. Miss Pallavi became the director of the company, Rajeev held the post of Chief Creativity Director, Purushotham held the post of Chief Engineer, and finally, Mr. Gopalan held the post of Public Relations Director.

With the money that was left, a new shed on the outskirts of the city was bought for a cheap price. A few basic machines were purchased, and, most importantly, a few boys from the nearby technical college were hired to help Purushotham build the machines and start a small research project to develop his new idea.

Meanwhile, the house that had been used as a makeshift garage was turned into an office. Mr. Gopalan began reaching out to people he knew across the frontier and started bringing in orders. Not only that, but somehow, Rajeev noticed that Gopalan even managed to get advance payments before the products were shipped.

At that moment, Rajeev realised how wise his decision had been.

And so, the most glorious entertainment company of the 17th and 18th centuries began to take shape, built by the unity and effort of the legendary big four.