Interview : Audio Cofounder Lucio Proni Audio

JL Audio

For this assignment, I chose to interview JL Audio cofounder Lucio Proni. JL Audio is a consumer/professional audio manufacturer located in Miramar Florida that produces speakers for boats, cars, and home sound systems.

Lucio Proni is an engineer and cofounded of the company with his high school buddy Jim Birch. During the mid-1970’s when they were on their summer break from the University of Florida, Lucio and Jim decided to mess around with component speakers and wound up building home loudspeakers for fun. They worked out of a garage in Lucios home and showed some of their speakers to their friends and some. Later on, a few of them even bought some, so they built a couple more to sell on the flea market. Lucio’s early success inspired him to start a speaker business so he could make a living from his work. In 1975, he joined fellow business partner and friend, Jim Birch and founded JL Audio; their company name being an amalgamation of the first letters of their names. They didn’t really start out their business with a solid business plan, their early days were instead marked by a lot of trial and error. At first they tried to sell JL Audio products to local audio shops. They found some success doing this since a couple of the loca shops were interested in selling their home speaker systems and kits. In 1977, business became scarce and they encountered financial difficulties as a result. In troubling times like this, it was Jims’s business skills, Lucio’s quality workmanship, and their combined tenacity that got them through it all. As a child, Lucio was given some valuable advice from his father; he said that “if you’re not willing to put your heart into something, then don’t bother doing it”. This work philos...

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... believe it myself. You must be very proud to have been recently visited by Florida governor Rick Scott congratulating you on your success, as well as thanking you for your contributions to Florida’s economy. You guys are undeniable proof that the American Dream is not only real, but alive and well in this country.

Self-made men built up through hard work and perseverance, do exist and this does actually pay off at the end of the day. It’s quite honestly refreshing to find honest men who made great strides in an industry without the use of any tricks or traps. If I’ve learned anything from this interview it’s that if you really set yourself to succeed and are passionate enough about something to keep fighting when things get tough then you can actually make it. This interview has not only been educational it’s been quite inspiring as well. Thank you for your time.