[AManAnd88Keys]

Yeah, please show some respect for Arglebargle. I have their blackfield generator- in fact, 6 of them. One for every speaker, DAC & amp and two for the bedroom. Now I hear much less traffic noise at night! I'm so glad I spent those 10k!

 

[phyrexia]

My audience is also an audience of skeptics. We don't believe in magic cables, audiophile power conditioners, etc., and we're turned off by the voodoo, pretension, and snobbery prevalent in much of high-end audio. Schiit's pragmatic, no-BS, unpretentious attitude aligns well with us.

Yup. And for the record, I found both this thread and Schiit in general via Marco's blog. I now have a Modi and Magni at work and a Gungnir and Mjolnir at home.

So Marco, while you may not be driving NYT level traffic, I can vouch that you aren't doing Jason any disservice. 

I'll second that. I've had a similar "experience". The first time I heard of Schiit was on Marco's blog.

 

[jacal01]

   
Seriously, blue LEDs were cool for about a year, and that year was about 15 years ago. No consumer product should have a blue LED in 2014.

 
'Cept for Krell.  They own those blue lights.  Everyone else were just knockoffs once the blue ones became cheap.

 

[jacal01]

I'm really interested to know from Jason his view on how big is too big. Does he believe there is a hard cap of the size of a company to his set of beliefs of how to run a business? Or eventually everyone turns into big corporate robotic evil empires?

 
 
Dunno.  Is greed bottomless?

 

[45longcolt]

Some time back, I worked for a group of community newspapers which had been owned by the same family for three generations. The third gen son had been sent to business school instead of journalism school. Despite the family background, he had absolutely no clue about how to make the papers readable, exciting and vital to the community. Eventually the business stuttered to a halt, was sold, and that guy went to work for a job printing plant. Where he fit perfectly.
 
There are process guys and product guys. Very few people can be effective at both, or even understand the other's perspective. As important as task-related ability is the willingness to adapt, to sense and support the company vision. No one can run a company if they have to continually ride herd on every employee. But if you have people you know are on the same wavelength, you can start 'em off and be confident that they know where they want to go and how to get there - and that it's the same place you want to go.
 
Sounds like that what's been happening at Schiit. If Jason can find enough of the right people then it shouldn't be impossible to keep growing the company. That is of course a big "if" because there are costs associated with scaling up. Just ask GM, or Apple for that matter. Whatever happens, Jason and Mike must ensure that they have the time to keep coming up with the great products we all enjoy. Or they risk ending up like Pontiac.
 
So endeth the sermon.
 
BTW, I came up with a new name for us followers of the audio-feecal - "Schiitites."
 
Or is that too Biblical?

 

[Jason Stoddard]

I'm really interested to know from Jason his view on how big is too big. Does he believe there is a hard cap of the size of a company to his set of beliefs of how to run a business? Or eventually everyone turns into big corporate robotic evil empires? How would he take the next step to grow and what challenges he foresee and his thoughts to overcome them, what are his thoughts towards overseas/international customers/markets? I'm really grateful Jason had spend his time and effort to details his experience and show us the business/development side of his industry. Fascinating read and discussion.

 
Interesting question. Honest answer: "don't know, don't care."
 
Sounds flippant, yes. But I honestly don't know how big we can get while still remaining human. I suspect, however, it is much bigger than anyone might expect. There are so many areas in audio that we haven't yet ventured into, there are so many new things that we can do, that I don't know how big we will get naturally. I think by the end of 2015, we'll have a much better idea of how big we can get naturally, but we may not be done growing even then.
 
And, I honestly don't care. If we stopped growing now, I'm fine with it. We are already much larger than most anyone suspects—significantly larger than some very well-known, well-established names, in terms of sales. In terms of staff, we are very, very lean—the economic development manager of the city pretty much fell down when he heard how big we are and how few employees we have. This isn't unusual for us, though. Consider that Mike ran Theta at approximately 10x the productivity per employee by the average metrics of the day. 
 
Aside: What this means is that we have significant resources now that we didn't have just a year ago—resources that aren't beholden to customer orders—and those resources are being invested in new products, and can be used for things that have significant start-up cost. This is because we choose to reinvest, rather than party/vacation/buy mansions/boats/Ferraris, etc. Which is my way of saying that some of the products coming out may be in surprising new areas, tackled in surprisingly new ways (still in audio, though, we're not talking A/V or barbecues.)
 
But notice I keep talking about "natural" growth. Because I firmly believe there is natural growth, based on market demand, and unnatural growth, based on boards demanding 5% sales growth per year until the end of time. Natural growth is when people discover your products, decide they are good, buy them, and put them into their lives. Unnatural growth is when you hire shouting celebrities to flog the masses on Facebook about your next 35% off promotion or your latest contest, just to move some sugar water or tacos to try to meet that 5% growth target. Many, many, many companies have been in unnatural growth states for years, or even decades. Many have spent, literally, tens of billions of dollars flogging unnatural growth. 
 
We're into natural growth. We'll see how big we can get, naturally. Maybe it's the size we are now. Maybe it's much larger. But in any case, it will be based on the same principles: keeping the products high-performance, simple, understandable, and (where relevant) modular and upgradable, maintaining the lowest overall price for everyone by never engaging in sales or group buys or other promotions, ensuring fast and human response to customer inquiries, and so on. 

 

[jacal01]

   
BTW, I came up with a new name for us followers of the audio-feecal - "Schiitites."

 
This one's too obvious.  Schiit thread.  Head-Fi forum...

 

[kkcc]

   
Interesting question. Honest answer: "don't know, don't care."
 
...
 
We're into natural growth. We'll see how big we can get, naturally. Maybe it's the size we are now. Maybe it's much larger. But in any case, it will be based on the same principles: keeping the products high-performance, simple, understandable, and (where relevant) modular and upgradable, maintaining the lowest overall price for everyone by never engaging in sales or group buys or other promotions, ensuring fast and human response to customer inquiries, and so on. 

 
Thanks Jason!  I don't find it flippant at all.  "Natural growth" has to be the most grounded, yet sustainable path an organisation can take.  I wish you and team will continue to hold onto your methods and visions as I find it refreshing to see relatively sustainable success at Schiit without all the pitch books/funding rounds/exit strategies that made me almost forget what a real business ran by really talented and passionate people should look like.  
 
Now, just take my money and send me the Ragnarok and Yggdrasil!
 
Vince from Hong Kong

 

[forkliftHIFI]

   
 
 
We're into natural growth. We'll see how big we can get, naturally. Maybe it's the size we are now. Maybe it's much larger."   

 
If Schiit ever gets big enough that it needs a full time RC/RR driver I'm your man!  

  
 
 
Joking aside I am patiently awaiting Mikes Yggdrasil part 2 story.  And the device itself.  Debating getting a Modin to hold me over.  Either way keep up the good work,,        

 

[judmarc]

  But notice I keep talking about "natural" growth. Because I firmly believe there is natural growth, based on market demand, and unnatural growth, based on boards demanding 5% sales growth per year until the end of time. Natural growth is when people discover your products, decide they are good, buy them, and put them into their lives. Unnatural growth is when you hire shouting celebrities to flog the masses on Facebook about your next 35% off promotion or your latest contest, just to move some sugar water or tacos to try to meet that 5% growth target. Many, many, many companies have been in unnatural growth states for years, or even decades. Many have spent, literally, tens of billions of dollars flogging unnatural growth.

 
Yvon Choinard of Patagonia (clothing company, not the geographic location, though the former is named after the latter) has said some similar things, comparing corporate plans for continual growth forever to what happens to your body when there's unchecked cell growth.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Interesting question. Honest answer: "don't know, don't care."

Sounds flippant, yes. But I honestly don't know how big we can get while still remaining human. I suspect, however, it is much bigger than anyone might expect. There are so many areas in audio that we haven't yet ventured into, there are so many new things that we can do, that I don't know how big we will get naturally. I think by the end of 2015, we'll have a much better idea of how big we can get naturally, but we may not be done growing even then.

And, I honestly don't care. If we stopped growing now, I'm fine with it. We are already much larger than most anyone suspects—significantly larger than some very well-known, well-established names, in terms of sales. In terms of staff, we are very, very lean—the economic development manager of the city pretty much fell down when he heard how big we are and how few employees we have. This isn't unusual for us, though. Consider that Mike ran Theta at approximately 10x the productivity per employee by the average metrics of the day. 

Aside: What this means is that we have significant resources now that we didn't have just a year ago—resources that aren't beholden to customer orders—and those resources are being invested in new products, and can be used for things that have significant start-up cost. This is because we choose to reinvest, rather than party/vacation/buy mansions/boats/Ferraris, etc. Which is my way of saying that some of the products coming out may be in surprising new areas, tackled in surprisingly new ways (still in audio, though, we're not talking A/V or barbecues.)

Jason, sorry to read that you are not expanding the line to include barbecues. Was envisioning standing around my "Hot Schiit Turbo Grill and Backyard Music Server" with Friends. Placed strategically around this special Schiit Server, would/could have been the "Schiit Rocks", wireless, backyard, surround sound system, 8 speaker rocks, supported by a pair of " Deep Schiit Rocking Rock Subs". All bundled together as the "Holy Schiit Backyard Sound System". Even have a conversational tag line, Friend: "Hey are those the new Schiit Rocks?", Response: "Yea, this Schiit rocks!!!!"

Oh well, guess I will be sticking to a low rez charcoal grill

 

[morethansense]

  still in audio, though, we're not talking A/V or barbecues.

 
I call lies! I hold firmly to the belief that you went class-A on Asgard because it's derived from a prototype electric grill you have somewhere in your top secret R&D lab. Nothing to do with this 'audio fidelity' rubbish on this forum, whatsoever.
 

Oh well, guess I will be sticking to a low rez charcoal grill

 
Place bread, lettuce, sauce, bacon, cheese and bread (in that order) on Bifrost. Turn on Asgard. Stack Asgard on Bifrost. Perfect one-sided sandwich press.

 

[sludgeogre]

 
Unnatural growth is when you hire shouting celebrities to flog the masses on Facebook about your next 35% off promotion or your latest contest, just to move some sugar water or tacos to try to meet that 5% growth target. Many, many, many companies have been in unnatural growth states for years, or even decades. Many have spent, literally, tens of billions of dollars flogging unnatural growth. 

Totally true. I've seen production goals come down from corporate that are completely unrealistic every single month. Many companies operate by how much they WANT to make, not how much they actually make or sell. It also doesn't even matter how well equipped the company is to do the work. They just look at a spreadsheet and decide how much money looks good, then tell everyone that is what we're going to do. It turns into a horrible battle for people's jobs instead of a team effort to improve the company.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

   
Yvon Choinard of Patagonia (clothing company, not the geographic location, though the former is named after the latter) has said some similar things, comparing corporate plans for continual growth forever to what happens to your body when there's unchecked cell growth.

 
This is a great analogy. Continuous, unnatural growth = business cancer. This is why we have 143 variations of one brand of chips, 83 variations on one brand of sodas, 58 variations of one brand of toothpaste. This is why we have robot shills (and paid shills) flogging the next device-of-the-moment. This is why we have crazy celeb/entertainment tie-ins to launch/relaunch/revive/rebrand the same thing we've been buying for years. This is why we have endless sales and promotions and points and loyalty rewards and stacked rewards and double bonus points and and and and and...all the crazy things that have infected marketing that annoy and infuriate people.
 
Is it any wonder that, in a recent study, when consumers were faced with the choice of buying an Apple laptop or a PC laptop of equivalent price, 9 out of 10 went the Mac route, with the majority citing the key decision point being "choosing a Mac is easy, they have a small one and a bigger one, but digging through the hundreds of PC options is wayyy too much work." (Please take off your Apple hater hat for this one--this is about simplicity versus complexity, not a comparison of OS/pricing ideologies.)

 

[Armaegis]

Aside: What this means is that we have significant resources now that we didn't have just a year ago—resources that aren't beholden to customer orders—and those resources are being invested in new products, and can be used for things that have significant start-up cost. This is because we choose to reinvest, rather than party/vacation/buy mansions/boats/Ferraris, etc. Which is my way of saying that some of the products coming out may be in surprising new areas, tackled in surprisingly new ways (still in audio, though, we're not talking A/V or barbecues.)

 
It's ok Jason, you can be honest with us... you're building Skynet in there aren't you?
 
 
 
 
 
 
I mean geez, you guys have already announced the end of the world, and Mike's solved the dac equation, it's only a matter of time before you skip the analog part entirely and start going organic...