From late 2011 when Rick launched HFC, to late 2014 I helped on the digital side. I did all the website, marketing, banners, lightbox photography of all the products, contacted a heap of reviewers and websites to promote e.t.c
So apart from Rick and his wife (who was building all the early cables), I was the only other person. I was not an employee and not remunerated one single dollar, I just did it to be involved with what I sensed to be a cutting edge signal technology, which it was. No other cables come close.
Rick is a genius designer, passionate, huge hearted, and as all people like this, best suited to designing and inventing new products, not the dull minutiae of running a business. He could also be a difficult person and would burn bridges when he was provoked.
He told me even though the GFC had sent Virtual Dynamics under (with sales dropping 90%) it had been 10 years and things with VD had run its course. It’s now been exactly 10 years with HFC and the same thing seems to has occurred, with COVID sending them under.
Supply chain issues would hurt HFC most of all because Rick has almost everything custom made, not much is off the shelf. For example the initial CT-1 RCA connector has almost 40 different parts (in a single connector!)
Rick will be back and energised in a year or two with a slew of new products, no doubt about it.