[spkalka]

The Schiit Silence before the Schiit Storm.

 

[ThePianoMan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaYUqXAmXRQ

 

[ThePianoMan]

The Schiit Silence before the Schiit Storm.

You could say its SBD
.... 
Sorry 'Bout the Delays I mean. Of course. 

 

[DougD]

  Heh heh heh. Our evil plan (to sell the highest value stuff at the lowest possible cost?) is working!

 
The word you were looking for is "disruptive".

 

[wink]

   
The word you were looking for is "disruptive".

You rang.....?      

 
 
or, should I say " You [REDACTED]"....     

 

[OldRoadToad]

I am looking forward to seeing innovative, imaginative and attractive equipment that plays well with everyone.  And at real world affordable prices.  I went to the first Schiit Show and hope to attend the next one.  For me, its about the music and the memories associated with it.  The equipment brings that to me and from what I heard at that first show, Schiit does a fine job giving me what I crave.
 
Music takes me from there to back again and Schiit equipment is the perfect aural WayBack Machine.  As Doc Brown might say, "When this baby hits 44.1 kHz, you're gonna hear some serious Schiit..."

 

[Jason Stoddard]

2016, Chapter 9.5:
Just An Update
 
Hey all, yeah, I know, I’ve been promising you a new chapter for a couple of weeks, and hinting that we’re going to have the first product announcement of 2016 coming shortly.
 
The good news: we’re cleared for the first product announcement next week, assuming no big hiccups. First articles were approved yesterday and we’ve had the metal for a while.
 
The bad news: the chapter slipped again this week. I’ve been traveling a bit more than usual, and the whole thing just kinda slipped my mind (the irony being that I wrote two product chapters as I traveled, getting ahead of the coming announcements.)
 
So, in the interest of giving you something with more substance than my usual mysterious pronouncements about reeeelly cool schiit coming reeeelly soon or maybe later or maybe not at all, I thought I’d give you a better picture of what’s happening at Schiit right now.
 
(And next week, hopefully, the first new product chapter.)
 
So, without further ado:
 
We got (most of) our expansion space earlier than expected. Yes. The additional 4200 square feet I mentioned in the How We (Didn’t) Move Again chapter is now largely ours. As of, like, yesterday. We hadn’t planned on getting it to November 1, so this is very good news.
 
So how did this stroke of good fortune come about? Dumb neighbors, and Alex’s quick thinking.
 
You see, we’d signed a lease for the space starting on November 1. This is a normal lease with our normal landlord, nothing special. It shouldn’t have been particularly surprising to our neighbors that they were leaving, because they:
 

• Hadn’t put any renewal clauses in the lease
• Had signed only a one-year lease to start

 
But, sometimes you’re stupid. Which is why, about a month after we signed the new lease, we got a visit by a very sweaty, grumpy, and visibly agitated neighbor. They needed the space for a while still! We had to move our November 1 date back! They were having a custom buildout done, and it wouldn’t be done for at least 6 months after November 1!
 
Yeah. Well, we were completely within our rights to cross our arms, say, “Tough luck, you should maybe kinda think about some bog-standard stuff like having a renewal clause, or at least letting the building owner know you needed the space for longer, hope you find something for 6 months.” 
 
But Alex, knowing a couple of things about our neighbor, had a brilliant idea.
 
You see, our neighbors weren’t actually using their warehouse space. Like, at all. Well, except to store a drift car and to play basketball in. And warehouse space was:
 

• The majority of the space
• The space that mattered to us

 
So, Alex said, “You know, if we can get access to the warehouse, like, NOW, we could sublease the office part back to you after November.”
 
And so, after a few details were worked out, we were on our way to having most of the space, far earlier than we expected. Alex is already busy planning, cutting holes, moving racks, etc, etc, as we make a big shift (the new space will be primarily storage, and we’ll consolidate production and expand finished goods areas, which makes for a much better overall flow.)
 
Tis the season of saying, “no.” It’s funny. I don’t know what’s happening, but in the past couple of months, I’ve been approached by more organizations wanting to sell us stuff, and more companies wanting us to design stuff, than ever before.
 
Some of the outfits that want to sell our stuff are really, stunningly big, I mean, names that you all know. Yes, I know, conventional wisdom sez, “You should jump at the chance! OMGWTFBBQ! This is YOUR BIG BREAK! How can you turn this down?
 
Well, it’s actually pretty easy. You say “no.”
 
Here’s why you say “no:” Because they want stupid margins, don’t have any clue about the market, are setting you up for failure, will outstrip your production capabilities, or all of the above.
 

1. Stupid margins mean you’re gonna get boned. Probably at least twice. Maybe three times. You get boned first by the stupid margins. You get boned second because, if you were dumb enough to give them stupid margins, they now have power to put things on deep discount. That’s the second bonage—for you, your resellers, and every customer you’ve sold to before. And the third round of boning comes if you didn’t read the contract and they can return everything to you if it didn’t sell. Big ouch. And very bad day. This ain’t rocket science: if you have figured out what your margins need to be, stick to them. If they want more, say no. Period
2. Not having a clue about the market is really, really dangerous. My biggest failures in marketing were trying to break out of a niche. Most of the time, it’s not worth while. If the organization also sells cameras or home goods (and it’s not BIC Camera or Yodabashi in Japan), run. They have no clue. See second and third bonage above, because that’s what happens when they don’t know the market.
3. Setting you up for failure, yeah, happens all the time. Do you think that a generalist really knows the high end audio market—and will have the ancillary products, demo capability, and sales staff to support it? No. They’re just reacting to some buzzword they saw in the ad agency’s latest brief (compiled by a smart intern Redditor secretly hoping to work in the audio industry), and seeing if any companies will bite so they can test the niche with minimal investment.
4. Will outstrip your production capabilities—well, that should be good, right? That means everything is selling great! Well, maybe, and maybe they’re just filling the channel with product that will end up being returned. Or maybe it is selling great—but suddenly nobody is buying your stuff anywhere else, because you gave them a big margin and they’re discounting it, and now you’re beholden to them, and when you can’t keep up with production, they stop ordering, and…you see where this is going.

 
And what about companies that want you to make “white-label” stuff for them? Well, that one’s easy. Ask yourself, “Why wouldn’t I make this for myself?” The answer usually becomes obvious. And, if not, consider:
 

1. Contract design takes away time from your own products. Bad news.
2. Contract design doesn’t always pan out. Even if you’re paid for engineering time, the order may never come. And you may not get paid for engineering time.
3. Contact design earns your company name and brand exactly zero cred. It’s a pure money play, nothing more.

 
So. Yeah. No. Learn to say it. It’s not hard. It benefits you—and your customers.
 
Mike is back at full clip. As Mike noted before, he went in to get his full bionic neck done a while back. Now he’s fully released from the torture-chamber-like device that he had to wear while the Borg impants took…er, I mean while he healed. Although he’s been busy from home, it’s nice to get together with Mike and Dave at the shop regularly again, and he’s already busy digging up a couple of projects we shelved until we had the extra space for them.
 
And…Mike and Dave and I are working more closely together. As products become more complex, and take on elements of both analog and digital (you know, like the Ragnarok control system), it’s much more important that we coordinate what we’re doing. The result is that we’re actually coming up with more good ideas. Or at least it seems that way. As usual, until it’s released, it’s not a product.
 
And that’s the update. It seemed like there was more. But we’ve got a bunch of people on vacation right now (summers are always slow), and we’re still waiting on the big influx of boards for new products.
 
Stay tuned for next week (I sincerely hope!)

 

[DougD]

  2016, Chapter 9.5:
Just An Update
 
Hey all, yeah, I know, I’ve been promising you a new chapter for a couple of weeks, and hinting that we’re going to have the first product announcement of 2016 coming shortly.
 
<snip snip>

 
You worry too much about trying to keep some kind of schedule with The Schiit Story.
 
In the finest of Schitt traditions, the Value >>>> what we pay for the subscription to the series.  
 
However, I think I speak for everyone ... except your competitors, presumably ... in saying we are MIGHTY KEEN to see what's coming out of the magicians' hats next though.

 

[Baldr]

   
You worry too much about trying to keep some kind of schedule with The Schiit Story.
 
In the finest of Schitt traditions, the Value >>>> what we pay for the subscription to the series.  
 
However, I think I speak for everyone ... except your competitors, presumably ... in saying we are MIGHTY KEEN to see what's coming out of the magicians' hats next though.

Muah, huah, huah, huah................
 
My turn!

 

[wink]

[REDACTED],[REDACTED],[REDACTED],[REDACTED],[REDACTED].
 
My turn trumps yours...........     

 

[Stegosaurus]

My Schitt don't stink...like thats never been said before. Anyway, big fan of Schitt. Grew up in the 80's. Had a crappy canary yellow Ford Fairmount but an awsome Sumo system that pumped majic through my pioneer HPM's...those were the days! 

 

[artur9]

  Although he’s been busy from home, it’s nice to get together with Mike and Dave at the shop regularly again, and he’s already busy digging up a couple of projects we shelved until we had the extra space for them.

I shudder to think what kind of device Mike is working on that requires a warehouse-sized space.  Maybe something like Nelson's Beast of a Thousand JFETs but with tubes.  Do I win?

 

[crazychile]

 

  Although he’s been busy from home, it’s nice to get together with Mike and Dave at the shop regularly again, and he’s already busy digging up a couple of projects we shelved until we had the extra space for them.

I shudder to think what kind of device Mike is working on that requires a warehouse-sized space.  Maybe something like Nelson's Beast of a Thousand JFETs but with tubes.  Do I win?

 I think it may be a Sonic Defrackulator
 

 

[ScottFree]

 

 Although he’s been busy from home, it’s nice to get together with Mike and Dave at the shop regularly again, and he’s already busy digging up a couple of projects we shelved until we had the extra space for them.

I shudder to think what kind of device Mike is working on that requires a warehouse-sized space.  Maybe something like Nelson's Beast of a Thousand JFETs but with tubes.  Do I win?

 I think it may be a Sonic Defrackulator
 

What the Frack?

 

[Jason Stoddard]

Ha. When I mentioned that Alex was excited to get into the new space early, this is what greeted me this morning:
 
 
 
 
 
 

Walls we haven't seen since 2013.
 

A big empty space.
 

Lots of boxes outside.
 

Even more in the new space.
 

Racks going in. Alex doesn't mess around.
 

 
Still to-do: adding doors between the second space (largely unchanged) and the third.