Everyone on Jared’s list is excited to invest in PP:TNG, until they discover that Gavin’s no longer involved. Without him, the doors slam shut on Richard. One door manages to stay open out of pity. It’s at Fiduciated, an insurance company whose blonde compliance officer, Liz Tinsdale, is willing to hear Richard’s pitch only because he traveled to the office. Erlich thanks her by relentlessly flirting with her. She remains rather unimpressed; Richard remains unequivocally terrified.

Liz wants her CTO to listen in, and when he shows up, longtime viewers get a blast from the past. It’s Dan Melcher! Melcher has a sordid history with Erlich: Back in “Proof of Concept,” we learned that Erlich slept with Melcher’s wife. Melcher was one of the judges at TechCrunch Disrupt, and his fairness toward the original Pied Piper was contingent on whether he remembered Erlich’s indiscretion. Erlich learned that Melcher remarried, so the heat was off until the new Mrs. Melcher took a sexual fancy to Erlich. The twice-cuckolded Dan Melcher responded by beating the shit out of Erlich onstage during Erlich’s Steve Jobs–ian introduction of Original Pied Piper.

Of course, Dan Melcher is in no mood to hear Erlich’s pitch. “You fucked my wife!” he says angrily. “I fucked your wives, plural!” corrects Erlich. Richard’s attempt to broker peace is not well received. “I don’t know what you’re selling,” Dan says, “but it’ll never happen here.” Dan goes on to explain that he was tech-company poison after Oracle fired him over Erlich’s ass beating. He rebuilt his career at Fiducated and wants no more trouble. As Dan is ranting, Liz pops in to ask him if he’s done some domestic chore at home. “You two are married?” Richard asks. “Engaged,” Liz says. Erlich gets a smutty look in his eye. Playing on Dan’s fear that he’ll screw Liz, Erlich blackmails Dan into vetting PP:TNG.