adouglas
Well-known member
Heard on the radio five minutes ago... 7ender has filed papers for an IPO. They're going public "to pay down debt and open new markets in places like India and China." I wish them all the best and great success. Heck, I might even buy some stock just for grins. The brand is an American icon, after all.
I also fervently hope EBMM never needs to do the same. The fact that this company is family run, privately held and driven by the personal vision of the core team is precisely what I like so much about it. We get amazing, innovative new products because the boss wants to drive the industry forward. A public company is beholden to the shareholders and must produce quarterly profits. The boss isn't really the boss... he has to get approval, or he won't be the boss for long. That has demonstrably stifled innovation in many industries.
I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Dr. Amar Bose, founder and head of Bose Corporation, a few years back. In his address he talked about the history of the company and how they're able to do what they do. He was part of a group of MIT graduates who more or less kicked off the U.S. hi fi industry in the 60s. Companies like Acoustic Research (AR), Harmon Kardon, etc. They populated the "technology ring" around Boston, which was a bit like what Silicon Valley later became -- a hub of innovation and exciting new ideas.
Bose started his company a bit later than the others, so he went around to each of his more experienced colleagues and asked what he should do. They all told him not to go public because he'd lose control. So he didn't... and never regretted the choice. "Had we gone public I would have been pushed out decades ago and we never would have been able to do what we've done. We would have become just like everyone else... and most of those companies are now gone, because they didn't stand out in a competitive field." (That's a paraphrase, but the gist of the statement is there.)
Bose is able to innovate because it can do R&D for years, perfecting a product before it comes to market... and sticking with it rather than chasing flavor-of-the-month trends. Dr. Bose came up with the idea for noise-cancelling headphones in 1979 on an airline flight. Prototype Bose headsets were used on the Voyager round-the-world flight in 1986. The consumer version came out a few years later. That kind of gestation period sounds a bit like the Gamechanger, doesn't it? A profit-driven public company would probably not have been patient enough to allow that kind of project to survive long enough to pay off.
That's what focusing on product and vision instead of profit can do. EBMM knows this.
I also fervently hope EBMM never needs to do the same. The fact that this company is family run, privately held and driven by the personal vision of the core team is precisely what I like so much about it. We get amazing, innovative new products because the boss wants to drive the industry forward. A public company is beholden to the shareholders and must produce quarterly profits. The boss isn't really the boss... he has to get approval, or he won't be the boss for long. That has demonstrably stifled innovation in many industries.
I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Dr. Amar Bose, founder and head of Bose Corporation, a few years back. In his address he talked about the history of the company and how they're able to do what they do. He was part of a group of MIT graduates who more or less kicked off the U.S. hi fi industry in the 60s. Companies like Acoustic Research (AR), Harmon Kardon, etc. They populated the "technology ring" around Boston, which was a bit like what Silicon Valley later became -- a hub of innovation and exciting new ideas.
Bose started his company a bit later than the others, so he went around to each of his more experienced colleagues and asked what he should do. They all told him not to go public because he'd lose control. So he didn't... and never regretted the choice. "Had we gone public I would have been pushed out decades ago and we never would have been able to do what we've done. We would have become just like everyone else... and most of those companies are now gone, because they didn't stand out in a competitive field." (That's a paraphrase, but the gist of the statement is there.)
Bose is able to innovate because it can do R&D for years, perfecting a product before it comes to market... and sticking with it rather than chasing flavor-of-the-month trends. Dr. Bose came up with the idea for noise-cancelling headphones in 1979 on an airline flight. Prototype Bose headsets were used on the Voyager round-the-world flight in 1986. The consumer version came out a few years later. That kind of gestation period sounds a bit like the Gamechanger, doesn't it? A profit-driven public company would probably not have been patient enough to allow that kind of project to survive long enough to pay off.
That's what focusing on product and vision instead of profit can do. EBMM knows this.
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