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US Blues
Headphoneus Supremus
Welcome home, Jason. We behaved pretty well, given the venue.
PS- Please let me know when you need a beta tester for the 2-channel gear.
Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up
- Thread starter Jason Stoddard
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Welcome home, Jason. We behaved pretty well, given the venue.
PS- Please let me know when you need a beta tester for the 2-channel gear.
vhsownsbeta
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Welcome back. The natives have been restless. Throw them a scrap of Manhattan to appease them
aamefford
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I'm getting a headache. Time for a Guinness.
Odd how one or two removes a headache, and 5 or more reinstalls it. Apply with caution!
Time for Schiit to team up with a speaker manufacturer, bring a Ragnarok to THE Show Newport and kick some ***?
johnjen
Headphoneus Supremus
Here are 2 additional links to talks at the 2011 RMAF which some might find insightful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mn5PrnZV-k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYjHKv2_OqQ&ebc=ANyPxKqryHv72645IBgR9AYaGncSeEW6xUdRuQGKjNO-1sieKbgqytcT6LPv8VXJhnP3KOT3SThJhD-hRF92pzpxEEhHXs7Nnw
JJ
45longcolt
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Hello Jason - hope you had a great trip.
Will Schiit be at THEShow Newport this year? Didn't see you last time I checked the exhibitor list.
Seem to remember reading that you were perturbed last time at being stuck in the HeadphoneGhetto Annex Feature Area, so maybe you decided to skip the whole thing this year.
I hoped you'd be in the main hotel debuting your new dedicated speaker power amp(s?) and preamp(s?.) But I suppose not. Or maybe you will, but have asked show organizers to keep it on the downlow? Care to confirm, deny or obfuscate?
Will Schiit be at THEShow Newport this year? Didn't see you last time I checked the exhibitor list.
Seem to remember reading that you were perturbed last time at being stuck in the Headphone
I hoped you'd be in the main hotel debuting your new dedicated speaker power amp(s?) and preamp(s?.) But I suppose not. Or maybe you will, but have asked show organizers to keep it on the downlow? Care to confirm, deny or obfuscate?
madwolfa
Headphoneus Supremus
They definitely need to team up with KEF, as LS50 seems to be a very popular speaker with Rag... (I'm a KEF fan myself).
Otheronek
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Agreed. The new ELAC speakers have sounded very good (not just good for the price, but good period) every time that I've heard them.
Peter Hyatt
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catspaw
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.
Thad-E-Ginathom
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How many times do I have to tell my wife that, when she speaks to me from the kitchen, I can't hear what she says?
But then... It's probably only something unimportant, like the hifi sounding different...
But then... It's probably only something unimportant, like the hifi sounding different...
JohnBal
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How many times do I have to tell my wife that, when she speaks to me from the kitchen, I can't hear what she says?
But then... It's probably only something unimportant, like the hifi sounding different...
My wife does that to me also.
I don't always think it's a bad thing.
Jason Stoddard
Sponsor: Schiit Audio
2016, Chapter 6:
Being Comfortable With What You Are
When I was away on vacation, we met up with an acquaintance who came from a financial background—specifically, he managed a hedge fund. He’d just declared himself retired, and very, very comfortable…at 38.
Among the things we talked about was, of course, Schiit.
His first question was probably typical of a non-audiophile reaction, when confronted with our company.
“High end audio? Well, I just bought a pair of Beats headphones—” Mr. Retired began, but quickly stopped himself when he saw the glance pass between me and Ken—another friend we were traveling with.
“Yeah, I know, I know, they’re crap, that’s what you’re gonna say, that’s what everybody says, and I know they aren’t all that, but I like them, and they’re convenient. I was just mentioning them because, well, if you make stuff like that, you need to be able to tell me why your stuff is better.”
“Actually, we don’t,” I said. “We make headphone amps and DACs, which might be used with your headphones…unless they have internal amps or are Bluetooth or something.”
Aside: shoot me, I’m not familiar with the Beats range, nor am I interested enough to look it up.
Mr. Retired looked irritated and confused at the same time. “Wait, you don’t even know if I can use your products?”
“Nope,” I admitted.
The furrows in Mr. Retired’s brows deepened. “And it seems like you don’t care, is that what I’m hearing?”
“Now you’re getting it,” Ken said, grinning. Ken knows a lot about Schiit—and will be helping us in the future as we expand international distribution.
“Why?” Mr. Retired said.
“I can probably count the number of Beats owners who have bought our products on all fingers and toes,” I told him. “So as soon as you said, ‘Beats,’ I figured, ‘Well, that’s it,’” I told him.
“So if I said the name of some brand—some brand your stuff works for—“
“Like Sennheiser,” Rina added.
Mr. Retired nodded. “Like those guys. Sennheiser. Then you’d care?”
I shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. Sennheiser makes a ton of headphones. If you’re talking about one of their entry-level models, you probably don’t need our products.”
A sigh from Mr. Retired. “Okay, so what if it was a good Sennheiser? Then you’d start the sales pitch?”
“Nope.”
Mr. Retired shook his head. “But, okay, so…” he stared at his drink for a while. “If I had these good Sennheisers, then you could tell me why someone would want to buy your products.”
“Yes,” I admitted.
“But he probably wouldn’t,” Ken added.
Mr. Retired sat way back in his chair and studied the three of us with an expression of deep unease, as if we were some kind of interesting mold he’d found on his Ferrari’s leather seats.
Finally he shook his head and blew out a long breath. “How do you ever expect to get as big as Beats with an attitude like that? I mean, sure, your salespeople have to make the numbers, but if the top management doesn’t care—“
“We don’t have salespeople,” I said.
“Well—“ Mr. Retired blinked a few times, opened and closed his mouth, and sputtered: “Wait. What? No salespeople? How do you move your stuff?”
I grinned. “Most people buy direct online. We also have some international distribution.”
“But you have to sell them, right?” Mr. Retired asked.
“Actually, most people sell themselves. Of course, we have Nick to answer questions, but he’s prohibited from doing a hard sell, and our policy is never to comment on competitive products.”
Mr. Retired’s eyes goggled, and he raised his hands alongside his head, as if to cup his exploding brain.
“Are you kidding me?” he asked, addressing the room. “You don’t try to sell, uh, anyone at all, and you don’t care about selling to Beats owners, the biggest headphone market out there? What’s wrong with you?”
I grinned. “Nothing at all. We’re self-funded, have zero bank debt, no receivables, are profitable, and continue to be production-limited in terms of growth.”
Another series of blinks, as Mr. Retired processed what I’d just said. “Production-limited? What does that mean? That you could make more if you had more money? Then why don’t you just get more money? You could grow faster—“
“It’s not that simple,” I told him. “Many of our higher-end products are constrained by parts availability or lead time. Or simply by our ability to build them at the quality level we want. Our business has been evolving quite a bit over the last five and a half years, and we’re still learning.”
“Learning? Bring in experts! Hire the best in the business! Take those bank loans! You could really blow your company up!”
In more ways than one, I thought. “Nope. I’m not interested in what I can make next quarter, I’m interested in building a company that lasts, a company that’s fun to be a part of, and a company that some fans simply love.”
“But…you could be so much more!” Mr. Retired exclaimed.
And that’s where I had to shake my head sadly and say nothing. Because to me, his vision would be so much less.
Knowing What You Are
Now, let’s take a step back. I’m not surprised Schiit is confusing, scary, and incomprehensible to someone who’s come from the dog-eat-dog world of the financial markets. His hedge fund would be just as confusing, scary, and incomprehensible to me. He thinks I’m crazy because I’m not in it simply to get as big as we can and get acquired, and I think he’s crazy because I can’t imagine working for nothing more than the money, nor staring at a long, long stretch of ennui in retirement.
I intend to do fun things until I drop—it’s just that some of them may look like work. I understand if a lot of people don’t get it.
But, it all comes back to knowing what you are.
Schiit is a natural outgrowth of my personality, and of Mike’s personality. Both of us like doing cool audio gear—especially affordable stuff. Neither of us likes doing sales or making deals. Or debt. Or finance. We’re lucky because enough of you like our products, which allows us to do more cool, affordable stuff (which is our idea of fun) without getting into the sales and finance side of the business.
If you let us continue to do this forever, I pretty much expect you’ll see us doing the same thing as long as we can. We may get bigger, we may get into different markets, but you can expect the same basic principles in everything we do: compelling value, great fun, and unique irreverence.
That’s what we are. And we’re comfortable with it.
What Are You?
“Okay, that’s all well and good, but what can we learn from this?” some of you are asking.
(And yeah, I know, some of you are also asking, “Hey, what about them new products, boy, this has been a quiet year so far, what’s up with that?”)
Aside: You know what, let me answer that second question right here. Yeah, I know. This is a messy way to do it. But it rewards those who read the whole thing. So, here goes, in convenient numbered format:
I think that’s about all I can say. At least without getting into a product-announcement-before-the-product-is-ready-complete-with-renderings-and-prices. Which, as you know, we don’t do. Anymore.
Okay. So now that that’s over, let’s talk about what you can learn from being comfortable with who you are, from a business perspective. No, I haven’t forgotten that some of you would like to start—or are starting—your own companies right now.
I personally think you can learn lots of things, but the primary point is: you don’t have to conform to succeed.
Go back and read that again. Then read it a third time. Then sit back, have a glass of your favorite beverage, and really think about that. In an era where everyone wants to distill the recipe for a zero-hour workweek into a slim novel, and seemingly every business wants the secret to being everything to everyone (while making the founders billionaires when the sellout inevitably occurs), you don’t have to play those games.
Not if you don’t want to, anyway.
Sure, if a pressure-cooker atmosphere, cutthroat environment, making money from nothing more than other money, and the chance for big gains trips your trigger, go ahead and venture into the financial world. Have fun, and I hope you achieve your goals.
But if you’re looking for a business where you can have some fun, where your employees actually like coming to work, and where you can see yourself “playing” at forever, you can do that as well. Simply by being comfortable with what you are.
By being comfortable with what you are:
“Yeah, kum-by-yah and all that, but are there any examples of this other than Schiit?” someone is probably asking.
Yes. But they’re thin on the ground. Everyone who starts a company instantly gets “advice” from people like Mr. Retired, and most people who starts a company think that appealing to the broadest possible audience is the best plan, and the majority of people who start a company don’t want to give up on a sale, so the cards are stacked against companies like Schiit.
I do have great respect for Taction, which is a company with some unique tactile transducer technology that is ramping up to create their first headphone, the Taction Kannon.
“Ah, that’s basshead stuff,” somebody here grumbles. “Not real audiophile gear.”
Yes, and bassheads have often been marginalized by audiophiles. To some audiophiles, bassheads are only about how hard a headphone can hit. They’re not discerning of the finer points of treble response. They (gasp) might not even listen to serious, acoustic music!
Which, to me, is a perfect, perfect market.
You know what? Bassheads have fun. They embrace what they like. And they are a market that has been underserved in terms of quality. Original Beats had a lot of bass, but they didn’t have a tactile transducer like Taction.
And what is Taction doing with this? Their show graphics prominently feature a shot of Earth from space—being shattered into a million flaming pieces by giant headphones. The headline? “Not everyone can handle a Kannon.”
This, my friends, is knowing what you are.
And, it’s also tapping into a marginalized and underserved market. You know, like the marginalized and underserved audiophile market…as seen from the perspective of a Beats buyer.
Want long-term success? Go ahead. Embrace what you are.
And have fun with it.
Being Comfortable With What You Are
When I was away on vacation, we met up with an acquaintance who came from a financial background—specifically, he managed a hedge fund. He’d just declared himself retired, and very, very comfortable…at 38.
Among the things we talked about was, of course, Schiit.
His first question was probably typical of a non-audiophile reaction, when confronted with our company.
“High end audio? Well, I just bought a pair of Beats headphones—” Mr. Retired began, but quickly stopped himself when he saw the glance pass between me and Ken—another friend we were traveling with.
“Yeah, I know, I know, they’re crap, that’s what you’re gonna say, that’s what everybody says, and I know they aren’t all that, but I like them, and they’re convenient. I was just mentioning them because, well, if you make stuff like that, you need to be able to tell me why your stuff is better.”
“Actually, we don’t,” I said. “We make headphone amps and DACs, which might be used with your headphones…unless they have internal amps or are Bluetooth or something.”
Aside: shoot me, I’m not familiar with the Beats range, nor am I interested enough to look it up.
Mr. Retired looked irritated and confused at the same time. “Wait, you don’t even know if I can use your products?”
“Nope,” I admitted.
The furrows in Mr. Retired’s brows deepened. “And it seems like you don’t care, is that what I’m hearing?”
“Now you’re getting it,” Ken said, grinning. Ken knows a lot about Schiit—and will be helping us in the future as we expand international distribution.
“Why?” Mr. Retired said.
“I can probably count the number of Beats owners who have bought our products on all fingers and toes,” I told him. “So as soon as you said, ‘Beats,’ I figured, ‘Well, that’s it,’” I told him.
“So if I said the name of some brand—some brand your stuff works for—“
“Like Sennheiser,” Rina added.
Mr. Retired nodded. “Like those guys. Sennheiser. Then you’d care?”
I shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. Sennheiser makes a ton of headphones. If you’re talking about one of their entry-level models, you probably don’t need our products.”
A sigh from Mr. Retired. “Okay, so what if it was a good Sennheiser? Then you’d start the sales pitch?”
“Nope.”
Mr. Retired shook his head. “But, okay, so…” he stared at his drink for a while. “If I had these good Sennheisers, then you could tell me why someone would want to buy your products.”
“Yes,” I admitted.
“But he probably wouldn’t,” Ken added.
Mr. Retired sat way back in his chair and studied the three of us with an expression of deep unease, as if we were some kind of interesting mold he’d found on his Ferrari’s leather seats.
Finally he shook his head and blew out a long breath. “How do you ever expect to get as big as Beats with an attitude like that? I mean, sure, your salespeople have to make the numbers, but if the top management doesn’t care—“
“We don’t have salespeople,” I said.
“Well—“ Mr. Retired blinked a few times, opened and closed his mouth, and sputtered: “Wait. What? No salespeople? How do you move your stuff?”
I grinned. “Most people buy direct online. We also have some international distribution.”
“But you have to sell them, right?” Mr. Retired asked.
“Actually, most people sell themselves. Of course, we have Nick to answer questions, but he’s prohibited from doing a hard sell, and our policy is never to comment on competitive products.”
Mr. Retired’s eyes goggled, and he raised his hands alongside his head, as if to cup his exploding brain.
“Are you kidding me?” he asked, addressing the room. “You don’t try to sell, uh, anyone at all, and you don’t care about selling to Beats owners, the biggest headphone market out there? What’s wrong with you?”
I grinned. “Nothing at all. We’re self-funded, have zero bank debt, no receivables, are profitable, and continue to be production-limited in terms of growth.”
Another series of blinks, as Mr. Retired processed what I’d just said. “Production-limited? What does that mean? That you could make more if you had more money? Then why don’t you just get more money? You could grow faster—“
“It’s not that simple,” I told him. “Many of our higher-end products are constrained by parts availability or lead time. Or simply by our ability to build them at the quality level we want. Our business has been evolving quite a bit over the last five and a half years, and we’re still learning.”
“Learning? Bring in experts! Hire the best in the business! Take those bank loans! You could really blow your company up!”
In more ways than one, I thought. “Nope. I’m not interested in what I can make next quarter, I’m interested in building a company that lasts, a company that’s fun to be a part of, and a company that some fans simply love.”
“But…you could be so much more!” Mr. Retired exclaimed.
And that’s where I had to shake my head sadly and say nothing. Because to me, his vision would be so much less.
Knowing What You Are
Now, let’s take a step back. I’m not surprised Schiit is confusing, scary, and incomprehensible to someone who’s come from the dog-eat-dog world of the financial markets. His hedge fund would be just as confusing, scary, and incomprehensible to me. He thinks I’m crazy because I’m not in it simply to get as big as we can and get acquired, and I think he’s crazy because I can’t imagine working for nothing more than the money, nor staring at a long, long stretch of ennui in retirement.
I intend to do fun things until I drop—it’s just that some of them may look like work. I understand if a lot of people don’t get it.
But, it all comes back to knowing what you are.
Schiit is a natural outgrowth of my personality, and of Mike’s personality. Both of us like doing cool audio gear—especially affordable stuff. Neither of us likes doing sales or making deals. Or debt. Or finance. We’re lucky because enough of you like our products, which allows us to do more cool, affordable stuff (which is our idea of fun) without getting into the sales and finance side of the business.
If you let us continue to do this forever, I pretty much expect you’ll see us doing the same thing as long as we can. We may get bigger, we may get into different markets, but you can expect the same basic principles in everything we do: compelling value, great fun, and unique irreverence.
That’s what we are. And we’re comfortable with it.
What Are You?
“Okay, that’s all well and good, but what can we learn from this?” some of you are asking.
(And yeah, I know, some of you are also asking, “Hey, what about them new products, boy, this has been a quiet year so far, what’s up with that?”)
Aside: You know what, let me answer that second question right here. Yeah, I know. This is a messy way to do it. But it rewards those who read the whole thing. So, here goes, in convenient numbered format:
- Yes, this has been a quiet year in terms of product intros. Largely by design. Hell, our distributors are absolutely ecstatic we’re not introducing new stuff. “I can finally catch my breath. Maybe,” as one of them said. And we needed a breather, as we digested the production process on some big new products. The line for Ragnarok and Yggdrasil is significantly different than last year, and moves much more efficiently. And yes, I know, we’re still in backorder from time to time. Blame the Analog Devices DAC availability largely for that.
- At the same time, there’s a LOT of stuff going on behind the scenes. I think I commented that there are “many (redacteds) right now, just nothing to announce. Don’t worry, there’ll be some cool and (I think) game-changing products coming in the summer, and before the end of the year. There’s probably more than we can release effectively, but that’s the way things work out sometime. Don’t expect us to flood you with a dozen new products at once; instead expect the hits to keep coming, once they start coming, at regular intervals.
- Part of the delay in new products is lead times. A lot of the new products we’re working on use significantly more custom parts—hardware, molded parts, extruded parts, assemblies—and those custom parts have lead times. Sometimes those lead times are longer than we’d like. One very significant new product may slip because the lead times on a custom piece of hardware are 10-12 weeks—and we couldn’t verify that this trick piece of hardware would work until the prototypes were assembled. Expect more of this in the future, especially as products get more complex.
- There are both desktop and “2 channel” products coming this year. I’m very, very excited for both. Don’t be surprised if the 2 channel products start with preamps first, rather than power amps. Even then, I think you will be floored by what we have in store. Grr, heatsink extrusions are a pain in the rear end, especially when they’re, well, different.
- None of the new products will have a “3” on them, however. Just in case you’re thinking of one of our “2” series products. Like I said before, it is very hard to improve on the “2” series products without radical changes—in effect, making them different products.
- I really can’t list everything we’re working on. There are literally 14 things on the board right now. It’s likely some of them won’t become products. And there’s no way we’d try to introduce 14 products in the remainder of the year, anyway.
- Some of the product intro chapters are already written. And one is a real saga—a product with more twists and turns than Ragnarok. Seriously.
I think that’s about all I can say. At least without getting into a product-announcement-before-the-product-is-ready-complete-with-renderings-and-prices. Which, as you know, we don’t do. Anymore.
Okay. So now that that’s over, let’s talk about what you can learn from being comfortable with who you are, from a business perspective. No, I haven’t forgotten that some of you would like to start—or are starting—your own companies right now.
I personally think you can learn lots of things, but the primary point is: you don’t have to conform to succeed.
Go back and read that again. Then read it a third time. Then sit back, have a glass of your favorite beverage, and really think about that. In an era where everyone wants to distill the recipe for a zero-hour workweek into a slim novel, and seemingly every business wants the secret to being everything to everyone (while making the founders billionaires when the sellout inevitably occurs), you don’t have to play those games.
Not if you don’t want to, anyway.
Sure, if a pressure-cooker atmosphere, cutthroat environment, making money from nothing more than other money, and the chance for big gains trips your trigger, go ahead and venture into the financial world. Have fun, and I hope you achieve your goals.
But if you’re looking for a business where you can have some fun, where your employees actually like coming to work, and where you can see yourself “playing” at forever, you can do that as well. Simply by being comfortable with what you are.
By being comfortable with what you are:
- You’ll have more fun
- You’ll want to do more
- Your employees will want to be part of the fun
- Your employees will want to do more
- Your products will stand out in the sea of me-too stuff
- Your products will sell themselves
- Your fans will love the products
- Your fans will spread the word
“Yeah, kum-by-yah and all that, but are there any examples of this other than Schiit?” someone is probably asking.
Yes. But they’re thin on the ground. Everyone who starts a company instantly gets “advice” from people like Mr. Retired, and most people who starts a company think that appealing to the broadest possible audience is the best plan, and the majority of people who start a company don’t want to give up on a sale, so the cards are stacked against companies like Schiit.
I do have great respect for Taction, which is a company with some unique tactile transducer technology that is ramping up to create their first headphone, the Taction Kannon.
“Ah, that’s basshead stuff,” somebody here grumbles. “Not real audiophile gear.”
Yes, and bassheads have often been marginalized by audiophiles. To some audiophiles, bassheads are only about how hard a headphone can hit. They’re not discerning of the finer points of treble response. They (gasp) might not even listen to serious, acoustic music!
Which, to me, is a perfect, perfect market.
You know what? Bassheads have fun. They embrace what they like. And they are a market that has been underserved in terms of quality. Original Beats had a lot of bass, but they didn’t have a tactile transducer like Taction.
And what is Taction doing with this? Their show graphics prominently feature a shot of Earth from space—being shattered into a million flaming pieces by giant headphones. The headline? “Not everyone can handle a Kannon.”
This, my friends, is knowing what you are.
And, it’s also tapping into a marginalized and underserved market. You know, like the marginalized and underserved audiophile market…as seen from the perspective of a Beats buyer.
Want long-term success? Go ahead. Embrace what you are.
And have fun with it.
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