SPOILER CENTRALTHE WHOLE STORY.

EPISODE

1. Minimum Viable Product

Attending an elaborate launch party, Richard and his computer programmer friends - Big Head, Dinesh and Gilfoyle - dream of making it big. Instead, they're living in the communal Hacker Hostel owned by former programmer Erlich, who gets to claim ten percent of anything they invent there. When it becomes clear that Richard has developed a powerful compression algorithm for his website, Pied Piper, he finds himself courted by Gavin Belson, his egomaniacal corporate boss, who offers a $10 million buyout by his firm, Hooli. But Richard holds back when well-known investor Peter Gregory makes a counteroffer.

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Plot summary and ending

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Complete story — includes the ending

Richard Hendricks is a low-level programmer with futuristic internet giant Hooli. He is often taunted by his more successful work colleagues, and his ideas are dismissed by egotistical entrepreneur Erlich Bachman, who owns the tech development incubator where Richard lives with fellow programmers Nelson "Big Head" Bighetti, Bertram Gilfoyle and Dinesh Chugtai. However when Hooli stumbles upon the music copyright service that Richard is working on, entitled Pied Piper, they discover that hidden within the useless application is the best file compression algorithm in the world, and news spreads quickly. Eventually Richard is caught between a $10 million buyout by Hooli CEO Gavin Belson, and a $200,000 investment from eccentric billionaire Peter Gregory; he must decide whether to give up his program to the highest bidder, or to take the investment and create a business out of it himself. After having a panic attack and vomiting, Richard runs into Peter's assistant Monica, who tells him that she believes in him and his idea. Richard decides to take the investment, and run the business himself.

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