Re: [Harp-L] Harrison , why the anger?

[David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Why the anger? 
Because the anger is justified. 
Everybody at HH understood that.
The whole time since the demise, I've done my best to explain what happened - as much as I can say without breaking my word by saying things I promised not to say - and a lot of people have been understanding about what happened. That is all anyone can expect from somebody who lost their deposit, an understanding that we tried our absolute damnedest. It is OK to be angry. Just be angry about things that are true.  
There are some folks who have condemned HH, or who were involved with HH and have since distanced themselves from that involvement. Both would have been easy and even advantageous for me. But I have, and will do neither. Neither one would be the right thing for me to do. 
When I got up for work this morning and saw the comment about Brad getting rich on deposits and running off, it shot through me and I was a little more fiery and less reserved than usual. I've been very vehement to dispell that B.S., but I don't think I've ever said "don't be mad." While I was there, I never said to anybody they had no right to be angry because of missed deadlines and mind you, I was the face of the company that took the heat and I had very little control over what actually got produced. 
It's OK to be mad about it. There is nothing wrong with being mad about it. Brad doesn't expect people to not be mad about what happened. That's OK. By that, I mean the kind of anger where you are pissed off and raising hell about missed deadlines, not the kind of crazy anger where you are sending in death threats, which did happen. 
That normal anger of frustrated, but reasonable people we understood and accepted.  Even when we were simply way behind, but the company was still strong, he told me often that he understood customer anger and that it was perfectly justified and if he didn't expect harmonicas to be such a hard thing to make, they certainly wouldn't have either. He said that often. 
I've heard it argued that the deposits were an investment in a start-up company as the pre-order sale was billed as a way to raise money, like a stock sale. Nobody at Harrison Harmonicas ever felt that way or thought that way and I think that if I were to make that argument, it would be a great disservice to those who lost their deposits. They just wanted to buy a harmonica. We all got caught up in the magic of it. 
Good things were happening at HH when I was there. When I got there, first thing I did was go through all the orders and production records to create my own data, so I could get a handle on what was going on and make projections. It was, frankly, embarassed by the numbers when I got there. When I left, I was damn proud of what had been done in the meantime. None of that improvement was due to me, I wasn't a blue-collar worker in that company. Actually producing harmonicas wasn't my job, I handled a great number of things, none of which involved making harmonicas. 

I don't speak for Harrison Harmonicas. Harrison Harmonicas does not employ me, nor does it even exist anymore, but I felt a part of that family. You could not say to Brad the words "well, it's your company," he'd quickly correct you that it was "our company" then he'd go into some speech about he was just some schmuck that had the idea and put up money to start it and he would downplay his role in it all and it was all about what we were doing. You could never say to Brad "your company," not even once, without getting corrected. Meanwhile, I was the guy trying to keep Brad's spirits up. We were all under an extreme amount of stress, but with Brad, he had more riding on it, obviously than any of us, plus he felt responsible for us. I must have said to him a thousand times "we are making history." There were all these crazy things happening. I remember once, I think it was October 2010, when we had trouble with the plater.  We rejected everything they
 sent us, because it sucked. We lost a month of production because of that. We were behind anyway, but that hurt. We weren't behind just because of vendor issues, there were a million things going on. 
Simple fact, there was pretty much no profit in B-radicals at $180. It cost too much to make. The price was set - in the preorder days - before those true costs were realized. That would have been fine, if the thing hadn't sold like hotcakes. By the time these things became apparent, the backlog was there. 
   In my haste this morning, I threw out a figure of salary. That was for one year when I wasn't there and I probably shouldn't have said that. The rest of the time, I do know what salary Brad drew. It was exactly the same as mine. When I was there, I was one of the three managers. There was me, then there was the CFO and Brad, the CEO. We all drew the exact same salary. Brad did not make a dime more than I did. It was enough to live on, but I could have made more money as a first-year schoolteacher. That's what ALL of us in management made.   
I've said often he was the best boss I ever had and I mean that. When we spoke, we spoke as equals. He actually listened to what I had to say and most of the time, he would work in my suggestions into what he was doing. It was never anything that would change the B-radical, it was other stuff. 
  
  I wrote all the Web site text, but I do have a legacy there with the B-radical itself.  There was a time, and I think it was right after that plating issue mentioned above, that we switched to a new reed. We started with "FTP 9.0" FTP stands for flex-point technology, and then we went to the second generation reed, which we called FTP 10.1 or something. I can't remember.. but I screwed up and ordered "FTP 9.0" coverplates from the engraver. At that time, production was limited to the number of coverplates we could get made. We had to use them. Coverplates were like gold to us, we had such issues getting them.  So, there are a few dozen B-radicals out there with the second-generation reed that have the first-generation "FTP 9.0" coverplates on them. It was a screw up, yes, but I damn glad I made it. It was an accident, but even when I learned I'd screwed that up, I realized the implications of it - I am part of harmonica history. Long after I'm gone,
 there will be harmonicas out there that have some cool little quirk that I was entirely responsible for. I think that is incredibly cool. We kept incredible records on each harmonica, who did what at every step of the process. That was an efficiency-maximizing thing. It also means we noted the serial numbers of the ones I screwed up.  

I'm rambling and I should stop. 
So many people who lost deposits have been understanding. So understanding that I marvel at it. I absolutely marvel in awe of those people, but for the ones who are outraged about it - that's OK.   
My point is, the comments "Brad stole my money and is probably in Aruba or something living off my deposit" really do bother me, because it is not true. People expressing justifiable anger do not bother me. Nor have they ever bothered Brad. We always understood that anger as justified. 
Brad doesn't expect people not to be angry about it. He doesn't want anybody to feel sorry for him. Just know we worked hard. Just know that fact. Same goes for me. I don't ask anyone to quell their anger, just be angry over things that actually happened. You don't have to be happy about how it ended. None of us were. Be angry. Its OK. Just know we absolutely tried our damnedest. That's all anybody, at least the ones in HH management, would expect.  

And to clear one thing up from the news story. That $50,000 was NOT government assistance. It was prize money for four business contests that Brad won. One of them, ironically, was "Best Business Plan." 

But we absolutely made one HELL of a harmonica. 

David Payne

From: chris o'sullivan <proharper@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2012 9:23 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] Harrison , why the anger?
 




Anyone who followed Brad project from the start knew it was stated this was a new venture .. a  good product plan and looking take a shot. I only remember " I will do my best to.." I will try". Engineering is a tough cost projection and the permits that are required, cost add up. It is a shame so many rather than support a fellow harper who LOST not just money but credibility too so many. I can not believe that folks like Dave Payne and Mike Peloquin would knowing join him if he was not honest of his intentions. I also feel to expect no issue from a BRAND NEW COMPANY WHO STATED I AM PRESELLING DUE TO CASH LIMITS IS CREATING A PROBLEM FOR YOURSELF. Move on. my two cents, Chris OSullivan