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Post by chessparov on May 22, 2023 21:19:29 GMT -6
FWIW my intuition is that David was keeping a healthy suspicion of UA, in the back of his mind.
File under "(Very) Surprised, but not shocked".
As we know, it doesn't make it right, in any event.
Personally all I ever purchased from UA, was just a Volt 1.
With a few UADx Plugs thrown in.
Waves ever? Nope.
UA? Joins the non-purchase list now too.
It would have to make amends with David/etc... To be a serious consideration.
(Having other choices like Soundtoys Suoerplate is icing on the cake)
Am really glad I have a pre-UA U195. Inspected by DB himself.
Chris
P.S. I have three microphones, that are personally very special to me.
U195/BU67/and the AKG D790 I received back from a late/great friend.
Super fortunate to have them.
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Post by hadaja on May 22, 2023 23:05:20 GMT -6
Wow i am only just catching up with this thread.
Many of you have probably seen and know way more of whats going on, especially with that "You Tube" Video.
It does leave me with me scratching my head saying the the heck is going on out there !!
But really wishing David Bock all the best, and hoping he is getting the support of his close friends and family in a time like this, if this is truly what has unfolded.
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Post by teejay on May 23, 2023 15:21:00 GMT -6
Yeah, some people here are crazy for thinking that this was all planned by David and UA together. There's no doubt, even said by David's own word, that he was surprised to say the least. They cut David's presence on the company short, and at a difficult personal time for the man. I don’t think anyone is saying this was planned out, it’s more of we have all seen this movie so many times before that we find it hard to believe that Dave didn’t realize this had a pretty good chance of being how things played out. Anyone who has been around the audio industry for any length of time can pretty much list off the number of times this has happened. I'm with you, Eric. Not just the audio industry. Any time there is a merger or acquisition there is a high likelihood this scenario plays out at some point for the executives and/or employees of the absorbed company, regardless of the pre-transaction glad-handing. I've been through this twice in my career, and ended up at the unemployment office both times in spite of the promises of no change and even increased opportunity by new management. I feel for David, especially considering the reports around his wife's health. If the current narrative is accurate, it is awful for him in a number of ways. However, we all know that for the vast majority of companies it is the budget that talks, and payroll becomes the quickest and most dramatic way to immediatly cut costs. I'm in no way defending UA, but for most in the workforce employment is "At-Will". You can quit or they can fire you for any reason, at any time, with or without notice. While most hope a company will consider the human circumstances of termination, that is simply not the prevailing factor when a tough business decision has to be made. There is also the potential conundrum of the successful hands-on entrepreneur. When business grows they have to decide: meet increased demand by hiring/training more people to do the actual work while they transition into business management; stay involved in the hands-on activity and effectively limit growth due to capacity constraints; merge or sell the business. When an entrepreneur sells he usually finds himself working under others instead of having complete control of his own product/business. If someone can't make that transition, they won't be around long. That's in part why you see so many successful entreprenuers selling their businesses and then starting another one shortly thereafter. As a good friend of mine here says, just my two cents. |
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Post by ericn on May 23, 2023 16:46:16 GMT -6
I don’t think anyone is saying this was planned out, it’s more of we have all seen this movie so many times before that we find it hard to believe that Dave didn’t realize this had a pretty good chance of being how things played out. Anyone who has been around the audio industry for any length of time can pretty much list off the number of times this has happened. I'm with you, Eric. Not just the audio industry. Any time there is a merger or acquisition there is a high likelihood this scenario plays out at some point for the executives and/or employees of the absorbed company, regardless of the pre-transaction glad-handing. I've been through this twice in my career, and ended up at the unemployment office both times in spite of the promises of no change and even increased opportunity by new management. I feel for David, especially considering the reports around his wife's health. If the current narrative is accurate, it is awful for him in a number of ways. However, we all know that for the vast majority of companies it is the budget that talks, and payroll becomes the quickest and most dramatic way to immediatly cut costs. I'm in no way defending UA, but for most in the workforce employment is "At-Will". You can quit or they can fire you for any reason, at any time, with or without notice. While most hope a company will consider the human circumstances of termination, that is simply not the prevailing factor when a tough business decision has to be made. There is also the potential conundrum of the successful hands-on entrepreneur. When business grows they have to decide: meet increased demand by hiring/training more people to do the actual work while they transition into business management; stay involved in the hands-on activity and effectively limit growth due to capacity constraints; merge or sell the business. When an entrepreneur sells he usually finds himself working under others instead of having complete control of his own product/business. If someone can't make that transition, they won't be around long. That's in part why you see so many successful entreprenuers selling their businesses and then starting another one shortly thereafter. As a good friend of mine here says, just my two cents. This why we have lawyers, the first rule of any deal is this: what someone says means nothing, what’s written in the contract is what matters. Most have lawyers smart enough to write in a golden parachute so that it is painful for the company to cut them and allow the personal to land safely and cover them during the duration of any non compete clause. I do feel for Dave, the situation reminds me of when Ampex cut our rep John Hall At approximately the same time he was diagnosed with cancer ( my revenge was taking as much of my tape clients elsewhere and at the time I was one of Ampex’s top sales people in the world. It hurt me because I had my own Ampex incentive program that nobody would match.) coincidence is a bitch and there is never a good time to cut someone. Pure absolute conjecture but it would not surprise me if Dave’s quality standards and supplier preferences clashed with UA. I’m sure all the supply chain issues of the past couple of years didn’t help. There are a ton of Harvard B-School case studies that deal with this type of situation and the dominant theory is that if cutting an important person even in crisis means long term survival of the organization you cut the person. After all the organization is a bunch of other people. It sucks if you’re the person. This is why rather than continue in the corporate world I stayed in audio, I’m way to nice for it. |
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Post by ab101 on May 23, 2023 16:56:32 GMT -6
Eric - Sam Goldwyn said a verbal contract is not worth the paper it is written on.  P.S. I am a contract attorney (not artist related) and have been for over 45 years. It is amazing how many disputes arise, even after a written contract, where someone makes an additional promise or concession, and no one writes it down, confirms by email, etc., and then there is a dispute. |
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Post by ericn on May 23, 2023 17:02:32 GMT -6
Eric - Sam Goldwyn said a verbal contract is not worth the paper it is written on. P.S. I am a contract attorney (not artist related) and have been for over 45 years. It is amazing how many disputes arise, even after a written contract, where someone makes an additional promise or concession, and no one writes it down, confirms by email, etc., and then there is a dispute. I know and it keeps you very busy! I’m amazed how many people in the entertainment/ entertainment technology world repeat this mistake over and over. |
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Post by ericn on May 23, 2023 17:11:53 GMT -6
In Silicon Valley, you are trying to grow at all times. You always have quite a few “revenue rockets” knowing some or all won’t last long. And you always, always, always have to have another series of rockets on the launchpad for when the current ones explode. And that keeps you going, your raise going, and investment money coming in. Even if everything is a total flop, you can kick the can with new fresh ideas. User base can be fleeced with any sort of product down the road, the main goal is increase users, and sadly things get axed all the time. And unfortunately, there’s a lot of hot heads, vindictive banker types etc, zero empathy and want results at all costs. It’s a bad look to see this though, A leave of absence would have been so much better. Apparently they didn’t have any idea how to transition employees to new stuff. I hope the best for him and the rest Second day of B school: find a niche, exploit niche while looking for another niche. Wait I think that was all of B school! |
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Post by chessparov on May 23, 2023 17:52:33 GMT -6
"What doesn't kill me, makes me stronger"-The great philosopher Niche.
A fave quote by Oscar Wilde...
"a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing". Quite timely today too.*
Chris
*Also used in the screen adaptation of the 1951 Classic "A Christmas Carol", starring Alistair Sim. (Titled "Scrooge" in England)
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Post by Ward on May 24, 2023 16:26:34 GMT -6
Eric - Sam Goldwyn said a verbal contract is not worth the paper it is written on. P.S. I am a contract attorney (not artist related) and have been for over 45 years. It is amazing how many disputes arise, even after a written contract, where someone makes an additional promise or concession, and no one writes it down, confirms by email, etc., and then there is a dispute. You're going to be a good person to know in my near future.  |
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