Valco has two leaders. One is a real person, the other is a better leader. This article clarifies the situation – or makes it even more confusing.
Henri – the real CEO, questionable car choices
Henri is Valco's official big boss. He signs the papers, bears the responsibility, and drives an Alfa Romeo that breaks down on average once a month. This tells you everything essential about Henri: the man believes in beautiful things, even if they let him down repeatedly.
Henri's vision is simple. Make world-class headphones with a small team, sell them directly to customers, and use the money for the Death Star. And maybe someday a Ferrari, once the Alfa is back in the shop.
Henri's management philosophy is based on the idea that 14 people can accomplish more than 14,000, as long as no one sits on their hands. So far, the strategy has worked. Headphones have been sold to over 58 countries. The Death Star is, however, only 0.00003% complete, so buy more.
Raimo – fictional leader, real wisdom
Raimo is Valco's spiritual leader. He doesn't exist, but he's still right more often than Henri.
Raimo's worldview is clear: the Mercedes-Benz W124 is humanity's greatest achievement. Everything since then has been downhill. This applies to cars, home appliances, and society in general. Raimo isn't a pessimist – he's a realist who has seen enough.
Raimo is about 40 years old. He eats grilled sausage at the hot dog stand, mustard on his shirt. He is happy. He doesn't have an Alfa Romeo, because he makes better decisions than Henri.
If Raimo ran Valco, all the products would be black, the warranty would be lifetime, and the marketing budget would go entirely to beer. Honestly, that doesn't sound like a bad plan.
So which one leads better?
Henri runs the company. Raimo leads the brand. In practice this means Henri decides what gets done and Raimo decides how we talk about it.
Henri says: "Let's make new noise-cancelling headphones, VMK25.2, with better internals."
Raimo says: "Let's tell customers that the previous ones were good but these are better, because we're not so proud that we couldn't admit we've improved our own product."
Jasse doesn't say anything, because he's in the studio tuning sound profiles. His ears are insured. In this trio, he's the one who actually makes the products what they are.
The bottom line: Henri needs Raimo, Raimo needs Henri, and both need Jasse. The customer just needs headphones that work and that can be repaired when they don't. That's it.
Summary of the division of authority
- Henri – signs the contracts, dreams of a Ferrari, drives the Alfa to the repair shop
- Raimo – talks to customers like people, swears by the W124, doesn't exist
- Jasse – makes the headphones good, doesn't take part in the power struggle, insured ears
- You – fund all this by buying headphones, thank you for that
If you want to support Henri's Ferrari fund or the Death Star construction project, go take a peek at https://valco.fi. Bye, and thanks for all the money.
