The Price of Being Seen

Venture scout. Twenty-six. Stanford. Voice like expensive sneakers. He represented Alderpoint Ventures, a mid-tier fund with top-tier hunger. "Loved your AI infrastructure thread," Colin said. "You're seeing the private market pretty clearly for someone outside it." "Outside has a better view of the building." Colin laughed too hard. "What do you think of HelixGrid?" There was the test. Line three from the digest: He is testing whether you know private-market gossip. Ethan knew HelixGrid had rejected an acquisition approach. He knew that from tomorrow. Saying it would make him look connected in the wrong way. "Great team," Ethan said. "Hard market. Everyone wants to own the GPU layer until they see the capex.