Mark was running a company in Sacramento called Ad Works, and had offered to help me get set up on the East Coast using the same business model. He provided businesses like major supermarkets with free cash-register tape, which was printed on the back with ads; Mark earned his money by finding companies that would pay to have their ads on the back of the tape. I needed a steady income, and the idea of having my cousin Mark help me get started in my own business sounded very attractive, even though it wasn’t computer-related.