I'm curious how many of the people bashing Reggie have ever broken away from the umbilical cord themselves???

I wasn't there everyday anymore than you were but it's just not quite as simple as saying "he ran the company into the ground". Why?

1. Although I'm sure he was not perfect by any means, no one including him could have anticipated how ugly things would get. If NOTHING else, Reg is a very, very proud, vociferous, and reasonably high-profile man in his industry. Regardless of what any of the haters say, there is no way; no way this man would intentionally run his company into the ground when his last name is on several thousand boats out there. Imagine the embarrassment and stroke to the ego. There's more to the story than just to say "he failed".

2. If you know anything at all about marketing and selling a tangible good, then you must admit that taking him out of the picture will be disastrous if not detrimental to the brand that he has created. People / buyers are very sensitive to the standing of a brand when considering a large purchase. The boats sold well because he knew how to promote everywhere he went. Love him or hate him; without his personality behind the brand, it may as well say Bayliner, Sea-Ray, or Oxford on the side of it. People buy Fountain for the same reasons they buy a Cobra or Chevy or BMW. There are lots of black sandwich cookies with vanilla crème in the middle but none of them taste the same as an "Oreo".

It's very, very easy to throw stones when you go to work everyday for that paycheck. Everything looks to be black and white. Perhaps from where you sit, maybe it does look that simple. But rest assured; it’s NOT that simple.

Having said that, start your own company where there is a tangible good involved with inventories, tons of employees, taxes, money on the table that ages while you sleep and have the azz end of it fall out from underneath you. Then, you will realize that you're no different. Things happen. Things go wrong. No one had a problem waiting in line to meet him at the boat shows when the economy was good.

Realize it or not; own a Fountain or not; if you own any offshore performance V boat, you can just about bet that there is something in or on your boat that was copied or influenced by Fountain. Whether or not Fountain is the best boat or not is wide open.

The man has done more for this sport than all others combined. It's my opinion that the industry would miss him (admittedly or not). Fountain did not survive for nearly 30 years by being stupid or irresponsible. He made some significant decisions during very crucial times and he's paying the price like millions of other business owners and CEO's out there. That's it.

Finally, most really sucessful people got it, lost it, and then got it again. Trump (twice), Colonel Sanders etc.

May The Beak Live A Little Longer - - - :ernaehrung004:

For What It's Worth...
 

If Donald Trump called you and gave you a really good real estate tip and if you had the money I bet you'd listen.

Did he run his previous two empires into the ground or is there more to it?

You know the thing I think that's funny is that you do not see anybody asking about DONZI's CEO. Or GENMAR or,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I brought GENMAR up in the general forum and everyone gave me crap.

What seemed to be their problem?

Good point! Goes to show that more people care about the Fountain brand (haters or not)......

More proof to the idea that Fountains marketing and promoting has worked and not failed. No one gets criticism like Fountain. It's because he's always shooting off that name everywhere. Makes a big deal out of everything. Has learned how to keep his name more visible than anyone in the industry.

Needless to say, when you have everyone's attention long enough, it won't always be positive attention but it's still drawing attraction from lots of people. It has worked for 30 years. That's why his VIN schematic has to be able to support thousands and not just hundreds...

I was at Fountain today. They had several boats coming down the line. Service was really busy too. Everybody was friendly and their attitudes were great. Even got to spend some time with Reggie. Brian spent more time with us than he should. I know he must have been glad to see us leave. It was like being a kid in a candy store. I sure wish I had enough money to have a fish boat, sport boat and cruiser.

That's great news. Glad to hear. Hopefully other builders are having a similar month..

I feel the same way :drink: