For some time now, there have been whispers coming out of Procaps that have augured badly for its future.
The problem seems to be one of mismanagement or to be more accurate, a guy called rob molyneux who's allegedly in charge over there in Canada.
I have heard a few distasteful things concerning this man molyneux, he is apparently irrational, rude and boorish; not exactly the required qualities you need when looking to turn the fortunes around for a stuggling company in 'struggling' times.
Enter Mr Bottom Line
Bottom line managers are basically individuals who negotiate their way thru the business minefield relying on the facts & figures a balance sheet throws up as any finanical year progresses.
Generally speaking, there are two types of bottom-line merchants who take over companies [in trouble]; there are those who have some affinity to the marketplace they find themselves in and there are others who have no such affinity and look solely to the balance sheet.
It is now fashionable [out of need more than anything] for investment funds to own paintball companies, in fact, a lot of the biggest paintball companies such as Kee, Procaps and Tippman are all owned and controlled by such investment fund management.
And it's all well and good having this type of thinking running these big companies but somewhere along the line, if you are continually looking at the balance sheet, you have to take stock of the actual environment you are in and it is the marriage of these combined data that allows you to best run that company.
Paintball is not a business you can run successfully unless you have some degree of personal approach to both employees and just as importantly to your customers.
Paintball is parochial by nature and responds positively to the personal touch even though the sheer size of business does imply a less personal touch is appropriate.
rob molyneux seems to redefine what blinkered management means, he has recently been responsible for the severance of the services of Opie Thomas and Paul Satler from Procaps, basically he has just sacked them.
OPie's a friend of mine and I know him well enough to know, a harder working [and more loyal] individual you could not find and it's incredulous molyneux has sought to let Opie go.
I do not know Paul anywhere near as well as I know Opie but I hear he's apparently a similar sort of guy.
The point here is, paintball is an industry that thrives on the personal touch, and there is no greater tragic irony in paintball than acknowledging Richmond Italia created and grew Procaps on just such a personal approach.
Richmond got his ass out there in the beginning of Procaps and met people, cultivating relationships and trust ... I think he started with something like 4 machines and rapidly expanded that operation to a point where he had over 20 machines and was able to sell it for an alleged $110 million.
I know for a FACT, there is no way Procaps could have grown that fast without Richmond adopting that personal philosophy in the beginning and also maintaining it thru to its eventual sale.
And now?
The bottom line approach, as best exampled by some ludicrous management decisions this guy molyneux has made is gonna see Procaps struggling to resist the invitation for one last dance of death .... maybe it's time for history to repeat itself before it's too late .... R?
The problem seems to be one of mismanagement or to be more accurate, a guy called rob molyneux who's allegedly in charge over there in Canada.
I have heard a few distasteful things concerning this man molyneux, he is apparently irrational, rude and boorish; not exactly the required qualities you need when looking to turn the fortunes around for a stuggling company in 'struggling' times.
Enter Mr Bottom Line
Bottom line managers are basically individuals who negotiate their way thru the business minefield relying on the facts & figures a balance sheet throws up as any finanical year progresses.
Generally speaking, there are two types of bottom-line merchants who take over companies [in trouble]; there are those who have some affinity to the marketplace they find themselves in and there are others who have no such affinity and look solely to the balance sheet.
It is now fashionable [out of need more than anything] for investment funds to own paintball companies, in fact, a lot of the biggest paintball companies such as Kee, Procaps and Tippman are all owned and controlled by such investment fund management.
And it's all well and good having this type of thinking running these big companies but somewhere along the line, if you are continually looking at the balance sheet, you have to take stock of the actual environment you are in and it is the marriage of these combined data that allows you to best run that company.
Paintball is not a business you can run successfully unless you have some degree of personal approach to both employees and just as importantly to your customers.
Paintball is parochial by nature and responds positively to the personal touch even though the sheer size of business does imply a less personal touch is appropriate.
rob molyneux seems to redefine what blinkered management means, he has recently been responsible for the severance of the services of Opie Thomas and Paul Satler from Procaps, basically he has just sacked them.
OPie's a friend of mine and I know him well enough to know, a harder working [and more loyal] individual you could not find and it's incredulous molyneux has sought to let Opie go.
I do not know Paul anywhere near as well as I know Opie but I hear he's apparently a similar sort of guy.
The point here is, paintball is an industry that thrives on the personal touch, and there is no greater tragic irony in paintball than acknowledging Richmond Italia created and grew Procaps on just such a personal approach.
Richmond got his ass out there in the beginning of Procaps and met people, cultivating relationships and trust ... I think he started with something like 4 machines and rapidly expanded that operation to a point where he had over 20 machines and was able to sell it for an alleged $110 million.
I know for a FACT, there is no way Procaps could have grown that fast without Richmond adopting that personal philosophy in the beginning and also maintaining it thru to its eventual sale.
And now?
The bottom line approach, as best exampled by some ludicrous management decisions this guy molyneux has made is gonna see Procaps struggling to resist the invitation for one last dance of death .... maybe it's time for history to repeat itself before it's too late .... R?
