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Portrait of E.H. Harriman

E.H. Harriman

Referenced as an example of a powerful financier.

From "High Finance" by Kahn, Otto H.
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Core Belief

"Implied to believe in strong leadership and the power of personality in finance."

Worldview

Implied to see the world as shaped by powerful individuals and financial forces.

Personality

Implied to be a strong, decisive leader with a compelling personality.

Discussions with E.H. Harriman

I founded a startup three years ago with a brilliant technical innovation. We raised $10 million, built a team of 30, and launched a product that reviewers loved. We're almost out of money. Our technology is still better than competitors, but our operations are a mess. Customer support is slow, billing is error-prone, deliveries are late. We're losing customers who love our product but hate the experience of being our customer. My CTO says we need to double down on R&D—our tech advantage is eroding, and the only way to survive is to stay ahead of competitors technically. "Operations can be fixed later. If we lose our innovation edge, we have nothing." My COO says the opposite: "The best product in the world doesn't matter if customers can't rely on us. We need to pause development, fix our operations, and build a company that can actually deliver what we promise." I don't have resources to do both well. The next six months will determine if we survive. Do I bet on innovation or operations? — The Struggling Startup in Austin8 messages

Other Characters from High Finance

Portrait of Otto H. Kahn

Otto H. Kahn

A prominent financier and author of the address.

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