If you ever want to see the Circle of Life play out in real time, head over to the DMV. You’ve got 16-year-old kids getting their first driver’s licenses. So excited, so nervous. With their parents, so proud and terrified. And then you have old folks likely getting their last driver’s licenses. Not excited, not nervous. And without anyone with them because all their friends and family are dead.

My business plan is going to be some of the greatest sci-fi/fantasy shit you’ll ever read.

Two days later, Lehman Brothers Holdings collapsed, causing a massive wave of panic throughout the financial world. The Great Recession had begun. That day, with no companies to call on, Lou’s entire team was glued to streaming videos and news stories about the collapse. Lou played online Tetris.