As an academic, I'd like Mr. Jannard to address a question about new companies.

[Stephen Pruitt]

Hi there, Mr. Jannard. . . or RED Team members who might know the answer to this one:

I'm a college professor (finance and economics), and I'd love to know a bit about the inside story on your/Mr. Jannard's dealings with development and customers in a very high tech field (RED) versus a your/his dealings in a more "fashion driven" field (Oakley). What are the similarities? The differences? Did Oakley's success surprise you/him? Has the reception for RED been different than you/he expected? What roadblocks did you/he run into along the way the first time? This time?

I'm certain there is a great documentary in here somewhere. I would be fun to be a part of it.

I know, to give any justice to these questions, would take more time than they are worth, but I'm certain that a lot of people would love to know the answers. Maybe tomorrow's entrepreneurs could learn something valuable.

If you ever want to talk about a book, I'm all ears.

Stephen Pruitt, Ph.D.
Arvin Gottlieb/Missouri Endowed Chair of Business Economics and Finance
Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration
University of Missouri—Kansas City

[Yannick Hagman]

I'm sure he has way more interesting things on his desk than an übertheoretic analysis about the past for people who think they can learn this at university. I hope he won't before nursing home, because I want to get his damn redmini.

[Bill Goehring]

I think Stephen's on the right track.

And, if things turn out for RED as well as they appear to be headed, I imagine Jim will be fielding lots of offers to develop case studies, books and documentaries on the economic and business aspects of the RED business model that compare and contrast his two efforts with those of others in the past and present--especially if all of his RED efforts pay off with that ultimate in motion picture industry recognition: that certain one-foot-tall, gold-colored, bald statuette. (I just can't bring myself to say it outright, since I think it may be tantamount to saying "Macbeth" backstage in a theatre.)

Hell, look what it's done to amp up Al Gore's image!

Now I'm not saying that Jim is secretly Jonesing to be drafted for a run for President or that he should expect to be on the the short list for the next Nobel Prize, but I do think that the way Jim has handled the various aspects of RED may well be a harbinger for future business/product development, one that is less autocratic than the industrial business model and leverages the instantaneous feedback, expertise, and enthusiasm of its target market via that Al Gore invention (kidding), the Internet.

[Jannard]

Thanks for the thoughts... I'm pretty busy right now.

Jim

[Roxco]

Just build a better mousetrap and the Disney studios will be begging for you to come and visit their mouse house.

I'd be more interested to hear what patents were used on the RED so I can be sure they will be in the black (and RED) for many years to come.

Or maybe a course on organizational behavior and what type of beer makes for the best R&D on high tech devices.

Or who is the happiest person at RED? And why are they so happy?

Those are my academic questions,

Rosco

Thanks for the thoughts... I'm pretty busy right now.

Jim

[Bob England]

Yeah, with only 100 cameras in the field, it seems a little premature to ask him to kick back, light one of his cigars, and think about things like where's he's been and how he got where he is today...

[Tom Lowe]

Jim, be nice.

[sander kamp]

I think the story of RED versus Oakley is not the most interesting thing at the moment. We're still in the middle of just the RED story and still waiting to see whether it will have the same success as Oakley did (which we all hope for).

That said the story of RED is very interesting. I am not familiar with economics but I can imagine it defies all logic.