Case Adagio

University of Dublin

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GERARD McHUGH

Adagio Limited Start-Up

Harry Bloomfield worked for 25 years as a stringed instrument maker for Steinway Inc. the musical instrument manufacturer. As a highly skilled craftsman, he became disillusioned with the outsourcing of stringed instrument production to low-cost economies, and the consequent decline in the tonal qualities of many mid-priced instruments.

Harry believed that a market existed for mid-priced, hand-crafted stringed instruments for serious student players and for orchestral players early in their careers. He had been thinking about this for a number of years… but the prospect of a redundancy package in November 2013 prompted him to advance the idea. Working for himself also held a lot of attraction.

In the months leading up to his departure from Steinway, Harry put a great deal of thought into how he would progress his idea of establishing a small stringed instrument business. He formed a limited company, Adagio Ltd, with an authorized share capital of 500,000 shares with a nominal (par) value of €1.00. The company issued 100,000 shares to Harry in exchange for €100,000. He began work on a business plan and held preliminary discussions with his bank, and musical instrument sellers in the local market. Having put the elements of a business plan together, one thing became clear - he could not do this alone.

Harry invited two colleagues at Steinway to join him. First, Fred McHugh, a trainee instrument maker studying under Harry’s direction, who had shown great promise. Second, Bill Findlasen, a long-standing colleague in the Sales and Marketing department whose contacts in the business were legendary. Both Fred and Bill were hugely enthused by the project; Fred agreeing to continue his training under Harry, and Bill agreeing to take responsibility for the entire administrative, marketing and selling functions in the business. They agreed to join Harry as equity...