Things look promising

"What's important," she said when they'd found a bench to sit on in a deserted gallery, "is that you create a niche you can dominate. It's all about barriers to entry."

"That's the thing, isn't it?" he said. "I'm a guy with a camera. What I can do, a million guys can do."

She nodded and slid a little closer to him. "Think about Walt Disney. He was a guy with a pencil drawing little pictures of mice. What about that couldn't a zillion other people do?"

"I don't know. I mean, Disney has always hired the big legal guns and--"

"That's bullshit, kid. Sure lawyers have their place but do you think Zuckerberg beat MySpace by lawsuits? He promoted Facebook as the place where cool rich Harvard kids hung out. Of course everyone wanted to hang with the cool rich Harvard kids so the whole thing mushroomed."

He nodded. "So what you're saying is that the brand is the barrier to entry."

She grinned at him. "You're not so dumb for a kid. Say, kid, I guess I might as well call you by your name. So, what the hell is it?"

"Uh, Matthew." If she didn't recognize him, he was happy to keep her in the dark as long as possible.

"Okay, Matthew, it's all about brand. So, let's hear what you've got going."

Telling her his brand was 'high school hotties' was unlikely to go over well. So, he played for time.

"I guess that's part of my problem," he lied. "I'm sort of all over the place. Can you share anything you've seen that helped nail down a brand concept? Tell you what, why don't I get a couple more glasses of wine while you think about it. I want to share what I'm thinking but... well, I'm afraid it's too weak."

She put a hand on his knee and squeezed. "That's the nice thing about being young. You can still be molded into something special."

"I'll be right back with the wine," he promised. "Don't leave please. I'm really interested in what you have to say." Maybe he should have tipped the waiter a lot more to make sure he'd be there all the time. Or maybe not. He didn't think Mrs. Fellers was the kind of woman who appreciated an audience... at least an audience of more than one.