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I've always been an amateur astronomer and started building my own telescopes when I was ten. After working as an engineer at WAC, it seemed quite natural to start my own telescope company, Hinde Instruments. To start with, the company imported telescopes and sold them by mail order, but by 1977, the company was making its own telescopes. Almost overnight, we took a huge portion of the market, amateur astronomers being keen to buy our telescopes because of the features they offered. By 1983, sales reached two million dollars. In 1986, I sold the company for 6.5 million dollars to the Amtex Group, staying on as President. From the start, I disagreed with the new owners, and things did not go well. Then the sky fell in. In February 1991, the bank called in the company's loans. There was no cash at the time. In fact, the company's balance sheet gave a net worth of minus 2.5 million dollars for 1991, the company having lost that much the previous year on sales of 11.5 million dollars. |
