[Harp-L] Re: Harrison Harmonica's shutting down

[Robert Coble <robertpcoble@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jonathan Metts asked (perhaps rhetorically) :



<SNIP>

"If it's not his fault, then whose? Brad is ultimately responsible for his
own company. 

The buck stops there."

</SNIP>



In response to what I had previously written:



<SNIP>

"If you've given the company 2-3 years to produce a harmonica for you,
maybe it's 

not unreasonable to wait and see how the NEW COMPANY handles
things. If your

money
disappears down THAT rabbit hole, that may not be Brad's fault."

</SNIP>



You are correct: Brad is ultimately responsible for HIS own company, AS LONG AS
HE 

OWNS IT. However, after the company has been sold, that responsibility is no
longer 

Brad's; it belongs to the new company.



"THAT rabbit hole" was intended to refer backward to the "NEW COMPANY."



(Yes, Jonathan, I changed the capitalization from the original to emphasize the
point.)



As in: Brad will NOT be in control and will therefore NOT be responsible if 

the new company does not honor any stipulations (if any) that orders

will be fulfilled and that customers will not lose their money. We do not know

what terms and conditions were stipulated. The reality is that the new company

may or may not honor ANY commitments made to Brad. Consequently, it will

NOT be his fault. He may not like it, but there is precious little that he will
be

able to do about it unless it was made in iron-clad written legal terms.



Literally and figuratively, the buck will no longer stop with Brad AFTER the 

company is sold.



I'm sorry for everyone involved. For Brad because his dream to build an

American harmonica factory MAY be realized, but without him leading it.

For his employees because they also bought into his dream. For all of the

patient, advance customers who forked over their money in anticipation of

getting close to a customized harmonica as a stock item at a reasonable

price.



I'm not excusing any lack of planning, capitalization, etc. which went into

this venture. I know from bitter experience that technical people who start

businesses without the requisite BUSINESS planning and experience are very 

likely to go broke. All of the technical innovations in the world are not

sufficient to overcome a lack of business knowledge and experience in setting

up and running a company, or to overcome insufficient capitalization. Getting

a business up and running as a "going concern" is extremely
difficult. It's the

reason a lot of businesses fail within the first three years. There is also a
great

difference between running a business out of your garage and setting up a

factory, with space for employees, manufacturing, etc. It does NOT scale up

linearly. There are many reasons for the nonlinearity, but that's of no
interest

to the harmonica community in general. Refer back to Smokey Joe's synopsis

if you want some clues...



Technical savvy often wrecks on the shoals of insufficient business acumen.



Hope that clarifies what was intended.



Obligatory harmonica content: So, who has the next best thing to a B-Radical

harmonica on the market right now as a stock item?



Crazy (but not enough to start up a harmonica company) Bob