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Factor: Entrepreneurship

In 1995, Don Katz struggled on his daily runs to listen on his cassette tape. Turning it around, struggling with wires, limited options, were all very frustrating. After being a journalist and author for 20 years, he had new hope. He began to find a way to solve his problems. This excited him with feeling he hasn't felt for a long time. He quit his job, understanding he would not gain this money back for a while. While being a journalist, he made many connections. He worked with tech teachers, old college room mates, and more. His influence was ahead of his time, as the internet was not taking off quite yet. Many people doubted him. But he found his alliances and relationships in past connections.

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Factor: Land/Technology

Around the same time in '95, Audible started out as a hardware company focused on designing the products in order to download audio. It revolved around signal compression and transferring audio from analog to digital. They would ideally use this to push audio through the phone lines. People would take these devices, download audio, and listen in the car. Society had not been as advanced, even in their thoughts on this transfer of sound. This is what caused the doubts. The phone lines were less sophisticated and more simple. Katz connected with old technology contacts in order to get in and understand how all of this worked. He used these audio files to create a new way of transferring them and listening to them on the go. They released the Audible MobilePlayer, a device that could hold 2 hours of downloaded media.

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Factor: Labor

Katz eventually realized he needed help. He could not run this alone. He had some tech experience from his contacts, but not enough. He hired Tim Mott to be chairman and investigate the electronic arts of the company. This allowed Katz to relax and allow some of his worries onto Mott. They also took on A guy named Andrew Huffman. "Andy" was the new CEO and was a very techy guy. He handled the company's every move and swerve along the way. In 1999, Andy was playing a game of basketball with a few buddies and contacts. During this game, he died of a brain aneurysm. At 39, Andy was lost. None of the other employees at Audible had ever experienced such a large loss. Except for Katz. As a boy, his father died and it impacted Katz exceptionally. Katz hired his friend and grief counselor to make sure everyone was okay. This caused the whole company to have a new "survivor mentality" that pushed them to get better every day.

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Factor: Capital

Also in 1999, many "online" companies were beginning to go public in order to gain capital. This worried financial owners of the company. In the short time so far, it had not worked out too well for many companies to be on consumers' radars. In the end, Katz felt as if he should just go for it. So he did. The company went public and they gained around $40 million. They used this money to put into making their own audiobooks and shows. They even hired Robin Williams to host his own show. (He also eventually invested in some of their stock) But by end of that year, each stock share for audible went from $29 to 4 cents. Investors dropped out, sold their stock, and made bank. Katz references this as "puking shares". Others stuck with the company because they knew it had potential.

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Factor: Labor/Entrepreneurship

Development of the hardware still continued to go on. It became more about the website and downloads rather than the hardware. Katz even got a group of rocket scientists together to study and observe different options for a software algorithm that gives the relative sound better audio. In 2001, Katz gets a call. From Steve Jobs. He heard word about his device and his ideas. He insists that Katz tells him everything. During this time Jobs had been working on the iPod, while Audible had been pursuing a new route as well. They had created a system where customers would get a free Otis (mp3 player type system) if they subscribed to Audible for a year. This subscription allowed you 2 books every month.

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Factors: Capital/Labor

In 2003, Katz began to use Steve Jobs to his advantage. Audible became the official iTunes audiobook player. This began to take his consumer levels to another level and allowed Katz to expand his horizons. In 2005, Audible would give out free iPods when agreeing to a year's subscription. This was only $9.99. Everyone wanted iPods and had begun to see the potential in Katz's passion. In 2008, Amazon announced a purchase of Audible for around $300,000 million. This allowed Audible to purchase specific and exclusive fiction and fantasy books in order to expand and stand out.

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Factor: Land

In 2016, many years later, Katz decided on a move. They had already taken the scene of New York. Katz set his sights on a lower prize. They moved to Newark, New Jersey. This was controversial as there had been many issues around in this area, and many people agreed the crime was scary. Katz planned to use this land and place to reach new groups of people. Not a lot of growth was seen in this area in the past, but Katz was determined to change this. This is the whole reason he chose this facility in the first place. Last used in 1995, the company moved to the "Innovation Cathedral", in a former Second Presbyterian Church. This was leaving behind all that was created in New York and creating a new moment. Maybe not the painted-up doctor's office they were originally based in but had the same heart.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audible_(service)

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/29/1050511655/audible-don-katz