Before the recession of 2008, a college degree from a US university granted you a position and a career. However, success seemed elusive when Anna Wiener, like other humanities majors, tried to get into New York publishing circles amid the economic crisis. Post-recession America had its glamor and vibe in publishing, which Anna truly enjoyed. Back then, people talked about urban homesteading while wearing suspenders and drinking homemade gin. They took analog pictures and listened to vinyl record players.

Publishing was an industry that was a total fit for this nostalgic, cozy vibe. It stood against the corporate overtake of the literature world by an online superstore. Publishing started out selling books and evolved to selling everything it could get a hold of. Professionals in publishing stood firm in their beliefs and could not let companies led by executives who didn’t care for literature prevail in the industry. Still, it was not a valid career path at that point.

Everyone in the publishing assistant class, including Anna, had a second source of income working as copywriters or baristas. Nonetheless, they could afford to work in this sphere, for they had a safety net, and Anna was no exception. What is interesting is that they were replaceable. There was always someone just out of college, willing to work for less money and ready to rock the industry with their drive. Usually, those people had an even bigger safety net.

In the meantime, people of Anna's age in Silicon Valley were starting their businesses, making tons of money, and, most importantly, in Anna's opinion, doing the work that mattered. And her concerns were right, as she was smoking weed, living a lifestyle she could not afford, and dramatizing her situation.

Anna wanted to have a career, be valued, make money, and find peace. One day, while eating a salad and having a terrible hangover, she found out about a startup that raised millions of dollars to make a massive step in book publishing. She was in, even though she did not know that 3 million dollars was just a pocket change for Silicon Valley.