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It was one thing to see this metropolis in movies or on a television show. Watching the Wizard of Oz and seeing the Emerald City had mesmerized him as a child. Now, instead of the yellow brick road, he was approaching the magic city of his quest on a flight path.

This visit was one of the more exceptional reasons for visiting the world's economic nerve center. In just two days, he would stand with his management team at the pinnacle of the Trillion Dollar Journey. They would be invited to stand on the NASDAQ stock exchange's balcony and ring the bell that started that day's trading on the exchange.

It was merely a ceremonial action, but they only afforded it to companies starting their lives that day as public companies. The arduous journey, the difficult road, to achieve status as a public company ended here with an iconic action. Of course, Professor Sweetman was always quick to point out that the work was only just beginning for that management team on board when their company joined the ranks of those traded on the exchanges.

Yet, even he acknowledged this was a special event. It was like winning the Super Bowl for that minute percentage of companies that overcame the odds, survived their struggle, and thrived to the level that let them sell their shares to the public.

Heath leaned back as the plane began its final approach. He felt like a winner, but he also realized his victory did not mean defeat for all the other teams like the Super Bowl did each year. All sports championships had a Darwinian aspect that meant only one team could win. All others had to accept defeat.

As necessary as this victory was to Heath, his team, and his investors, his company was only one of a hundred that would claim that prize this year. Some years it was more, some less. The fact to be celebrated was that those companies that succeeded created the innovation, opportunities, and wealth that drive the United States.

That was what Sweetman was boasting of when he spoke of the Trillion Dollar Journey, and Heath was slowly coming to understand why the prof was so dedicated to the process. The accountants had told him how many of the company's employees and investors would become millionaires when he grabbed that cord on the bell and the trading started. It was amazing, terrifying, and incomprehensible all at one time.

Not only would that life-changing wealth be created for hundreds, but it also meant there was another company benefiting the nation in multiple ways. Jobs being created, taxes being paid, and lives being improved were all part of that alchemy-like process that worked so well. But it was not some mystical process. It was a real and observable process. It was the Trillion Dollar Journey that collectively ensured the Tsunami Affect continued to flood the economic system for all.

The plane bounced once gently as it contacted the runway, and Heath was back in the anxiety mode. Keep the pace for another 48 hours, he told himself. Change nothing until that bell is rung and those shares are trading.

It was a needed few moments alone that had Heath standing by himself that night on his room's balcony over Times Square. He was soaking up the noise and unique ambiance of this quintessentially American piece of real estate. He found the clamor below him oddly soothing after weeks of frantic activity and travel. He saw Broadway lights reminding him that the Fat Lady would finally sing tomorrow morning for this phase of his journey.

This time tomorrow night, his company's stock symbol would scroll across that board he was watching. The thought gave him a bit of a shiver. At some level of personal disbelief, he could imagine showing up tomorrow to ring the bell and Toto pulling the curtain back on some fake Master of the Universe yelling, "Ignore the man behind the curtain!"

He chuckled at the thought. Then, more soberly, he brought forward the thought lurking in the back of his mind. That symbol on the board only signaled a new phase of the struggle. Quickly, he told himself that was something that he would deal with the next day. Plus, he smiled to himself. Maybe, at long last, I will not be thinking of cash flow every waking moment.

As he sipped his soda, he thought of the call from his parents earlier that evening. He had flown them out for the big day. They were proud and excited and called him before heading out to their play.

One thing Heath most treasured from his boyhood memories was the trip they all made to Cape Canaveral to watch a shuttle launch. His dad had a college buddy who worked at NASA in Houston. They got prime seats in the stands and a VIP tour the day before. While the launch fascinated him, he was most taken by the many people he saw preparing for the launch.

His dad's friend was there to explain a lot of the activity. What he saw changed his view not just of the space program but of life's significant efforts. He thought of that visit earlier in the day as they sat in the prep room at the lead investment banker. The stacks of documents, the harried staff running around, and the entire atmosphere reminded him of the beehive of activity he saw for that launch.

To take the metaphor further, he had watched as the lead bankers conferred with Professor Sweetman during some intense discussions. When he came to Heath afterward, he explained how they were in the final push to price the offering, and the prospects were looking very good.

There was a lot of demand for the company's stock. The roadshow had been an enormous success, and the market had been stable for the past few weeks. All of that meant they were probably going to price the deal at the high end of their projections. It still boggled Heath's mind that the discussions on that one point in these last hours could mean the difference in millions of dollars of capital that came to the company from the offering.

It also meant a big difference in the value of what each of the company's shareholders' holdings would be worth when the trading started. Many of them were selling a few of their shares on the first day, but more than 95 percent would stay in their hands. That would mean their shares could become even more valuable and keeping strong demand was a part of that process.

Again, he accepted that reality that Sweetman always stressed. This funding was when the work truly started. After the trading began, everything changed. They would live in a world of profit and earnings ratios, and that gauge of success would be increasingly important to all of them. Yet, Heath again let himself relax: that was the day after tomorrow, and I'm going to savor this while I can.

The dinner the night of the offering was almost anti-climactic. Everyone had operated on adrenalin for days leading up to and during the event. Heath knew from their comments that a few of his team had not even slept the night before. For some of them, they had never been to New York, and for others, the pricing of the IPO made it impossible for them to sleep well.

Reality had now sunk in, and the newly created wealth was a fait accompli, no longer a goal they were fighting to grasp and attain. Like mountain climbers who reached the crest, they were still savoring their accomplishments. They also realized they had a long descent and then would be right back to work.

The new motivation was to keep the value in those shares and see it increase, so realizing what was ahead was also sinking in. The issue was very successful, and the price went up more than 50 percent before the end of the first day's trading. They had all been coached to understand this would probably level out at a lower price.

Part of the sobering reality is that Heath and Andrea had done an excellent job of teaching all the key players what the price meant relative to the company's earnings. They had their trophy, but unlike the Super Bowl ring, they could lose the value of their accomplishment in the coming months and years. They had joined the ranks of a bigger league and would play by new, merciless rules. It was now all about profits.

Paige walked up and looked stunning. Heath was pleased she had come and brought her parents. She was now a wealthy woman, and he knew that, above all, she was excited that her parents and siblings were now well off. She would continue to be a significant contributor on the board, which would help make up for how much Heath missed her in the day-to-day operations.

Before he could greet her and her family, the professor came up and put his arm around her shoulders. He had met her parents but went out of his way to introduce himself and brag about Paige's role in getting the company to this point. Heath watched him work with both pride and some envy. He wondered, "Will I ever get close to that level of class?"

Paige accepted the compliments graciously, but then she surprised them all. "Professor Sweetman, I have a bone to pick with you."

He looked appropriately curious as he looked to Heath and disposed of his drink on the table behind them. Clasping his hands in front, he reverted to the professorial stance and responded, "Oh, Ms. Palance, and what would that 'bone' be?"

Paige's dad was looking at her with a smile in his eyes. His wife was convinced that his daughter's success was the best medicine he could have taken in the past year of improvement. He put his arm around his wife as their daughter stood there, taking this Master of the Universe to task. Heath just stood, as curious as anyone about what his co-founder was about to say.

Allowing the moment to develop for as long as she felt appropriate, Paige moved over and took Heath's arm in her two hands. "What I want to know, professor, is what role you played in getting Heath that job at VenCap. He's a trusting enough individual that he thinks this all just came together because it was the right deal at the right time."

She looked from the prof to Heath and said, "I, however, am convinced you have been playing the puppet master ever since we submitted that project in your class. You came to the same conclusion I did, and well before you, I might add," at this, she gave a slight bow to Sweetman, "that this young man is exceptional."

Sweetman smiled returned the bow, and said, "Well, Ms. Palance, your Phil. Waterman has told me you are an excellent judge of character, and I think you may be right."

"Oh, professor, I know I am right, and I know you found the man you felt most comfortable encouraging to start on that Trillion Dollar Journey."

She smiled, looked up at Heath with a gleaming smile, and said, "And all of us are very glad you did."

Rudy and Sandra were sitting at the break room table in the warehouse after all the IPO's commotion. Like all the team, they had sat, mesmerized, as the monitors that were set up showed Heath and the other officers standing on the platform at NASDAQ. When they rang the bell, the whooping and celebration were something the two of them had only seen for football games and rare events. This time, they were at the center of the celebration, and they were sharing in the spoils of victory.

Everyone had partaken of the food and sodas set up for the big event, and now the warehouse was empty except for them and Mary. They had volunteered to clean up the confetti and other party remnants so work could resume at full pace first thing tomorrow.

Now, however, they were trying to get their heads around what had just happened. Mary was sitting with them with several folders and a paper pad on which she had shown them a series of calculations. Most of what they had heard was not new to them. One word she used was not just new; it stunned them. Mary had explained all of it earlier. There had also been several company meetings over the months that explained their stock options. There was even one last month with a financial planner explaining to the team what it would mean for the company to go public.

Those meetings were exciting, but words like vesting, capital gains, valuations, and lockups were beyond their grasp. They had not worried about it, though, because they trusted Mary, and she was excited. She explained to them about the Trillion Dollar Journey and had even had them watch some movies about companies going public. They were good movies, Sandra told Mary, and Rudy thought it was a delightful story, but they could not relate them to their situation.

Besides, it was all just paper, and they heard both Heath and Paige caution them many times about how the IPO was the plan, but there could be no promises it would happen. They had the options they got upon joining the company, and some more they received while working the past months.

Last month they sat in on a "Friends and Family" meeting after the financial planner left. They were told they could buy more stock at a special price before the IPO. It looked now like that would happen soon, and everyone was excited.

Mary sat with them at that meeting, too. She walked through the papers and explained that the company would loan them up to two years' worth of their salary to buy the stock before it was public. They hated that much debt. The two had gotten into trouble with credit cards long ago. However, once they went through a "Crown Ministry" program and got over the problem, they promised themselves they would never get in debt again. Rudy's medical bills changed that, but they were even chipping away at that big number.

Mary convinced them, though, and they signed up for the entire program. Now, Mary was trying to tell them what that meant. She used that incomprehensible word: "Millionaires." Neither one of them could accept what she was saying. They were looking at the pad of paper, and Sandra dabbed at the corner of her eye.

"Mary," she said, "We are just working in the warehouse. We didn't start this company or invest in it. We love this job, and we think we know now what going public means. We'll get bigger and have more people working here. But how can that paper and those options be worth as much money as you are saying? Who will buy that paper? How in the world can you say we are millionaires?"

There had been no other time in her life that Mary felt so proud and so excited. "Aunt Sandra, that is just the point. You have invested in this company. You have worked hard, and you took out that loan to buy some stock they offered you, and now you and Uncle Rudy get to share in the rewards. That's what that Trillion Dollar Journey story is all about. It is how our country works. You are like the people who worked at Ford and IBM and Walmart that made so much money from the stock of those companies."

Rudy had his arm around Sandra as they both grappled with this incredible moment. "But Mary, like Mother here asked, who will buy that paper? We have to turn it into money we can spend. We can't do anything with that paper."

Beth laughed. "That's what we just got so excited about, Uncle Rudy. Not only did we go public today, but our stock, your stock, went up by almost fifty percent. You were millionaires the moment that bell rang, and now you are worth even more. Once that bell rang, there were millions of people and mutual funds and investment groups who were saying they want to buy that paper from you."

Rudy looked at Sandra, and she gazed at him with a smile that grew into a big grin. He said, "Well, Mother, it looks like our niece knew what she was talking about. Maybe we have finally hit the lottery."

Sandra held Rudy's hand as she turned back to Mary. "Honey, you just set us up with that meeting they are talking about with that financial planner. Your Uncle Rudy and I want to get all that financial stuff taken care of, so we know all the kids are set up for school and such. We need little else except," she looked back to Rudy', "I think we might just get us one of those cruises to Hawaii we have always dreamed about."