Mike Lazaridis, portrayed by Jay Baruchel, & Douglas Fregin, portrayed by Matt Johnson, two Canadian (ex-)engineering students with big dreams, enter the office of Jim Balsillie, portrayed by (bald) Glenn Howerton, a businessman who’s been out of luck in his current company. Unfortunately, it becomes clear that Mike isn’t the best salesman; however, he has brains, ideas, and the skills to act on them. Douglas, or Doug for short, is more of his moral support for Mike, friends since childhood, never leaving Mike’s side and knowing what he’s worth; wherever Mike goes, Doug follows. They come with the idea of a small handheld phone that can also send emails through dedicated servers of Research in Motion themselves, coining it “the PocketLink.” Balsillie wasn’t impressed by the idea and since he had other worries on his mind, disregarded it and sent the two boys home. With their heads down, the two head back to Waterloo, Canada, to tell the sad news to their 10-15 employees.
When Balsillie shortly after was done and dusted, he looked in his office upon an opportunity. Mike & Doug left their presentation slides there in their disappointing return to their office. It gave Jim the idea of a “last dance” with RIM, contacting Mike (and by extension, Doug) about an offer to be CEO of their company for a small cash spike. They decide to meet up in a public space. Doug quickly persuaded Mike to turn down the offer for fear of Mike losing his rightful place on top of the company AND because they have a contract with US Robotics for 16 million dollars. Jim assured them that that contract won’t stand, knowing well enough they don’t have the experience and tenacity of a shark like him, telling them that companies like US Robotics are “pirates.” Mike, as usual, quickly caved under the reason and logic of Doug, leaving both parties to return home empty-handed.
Before long, Mike realizes that Jim was right, and after a short call, it becomes clear that US Robotics is a no-go. Doug thinks they should plow through, but Mike has Jim’s business card in hand because when there are pirates lurking, you need a shark to eat them. They sign on Jim as co-CEO, leading the company together with Mike, and by doing so, getting a handsome cheque from him. He soon realizes the problems in the company, like employees spending more time using the dial-up internet to play video games with each other than actually focusing on innovating and production, causing him to take charge and intimidate the employees and, by extension, Mike. Luckily, Jim has some connections that he can use to set them up with the right people, one of those being Bell Atlantic (Verizon), who are obviously interested in any new phone projects.
He basically orders Mike to make a prototype of the PocketLink overnight (and to try to think of a better name), which was almost an impossible feat, but with both Doug and the rest of the team behind them, they got a working prototype done in time for the Bell Atlantic meeting in New York. Just before going into the meeting room, Mike noticed he forgot his prototype in the taxi they came with, leaving Jim to start the pitch on his own. While doing his sales pitch in front of the meeting room filled with the board of directors, they laughed at the idea, claiming they’ve tried it before, and that it was impossible to do. Jim decided that all was lost until being stopped at the door by Mike, prototype in hand, fiercely defending their idea. Needless to say, the board loved it, but what’s it called?
