Rob Shoemaker leaves PBD

[Zrussian13]

Reality, and case law, shows this to be untrue.

Rob has a HIGHLY specialized skill, which he likely acquired while working at PBD. If Rob started his own business (Just me speculating) before his non-compete is up, PBD can argue that they invested huge sums of money into him acquiring his skill (in the hours of tuning R&D), that PBD directly relies on his expertise (evidenced by this thread and this forum), that PBD will be financially impacted by his leaving (proven by this thread and forum), and that he agreed to not compete with PBD if he should ever leave. If he signed a non-compete, any decently worded one will not allow him to work for himself, a competitor, or any newly formed partnership.

A foreman non-compete is signed for very different reasons. A electrical foreman signs one so they don't take pricing to other companies primarily (Among other reasons).

And let's not forget, regardless of whether or not Rob can or cannot go to work, all of this litigation casts money. Rob would need to pay attorneys, legal fee's, and still risks not winning, all the while, he cannot work. So is all of that worth it to him, or is it better he just stay out of the game for how ever long his non-compete is? These are questions only he has the answers to. And I bet we will be able to figure them out before long.

I do wish the best for him, and PBD. I've not heard a bad interaction from any friends that have used him/PBD.

I'm pretty sure Rob was a big name in the tuning industry well before he joined PBD.

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[WItoTX]

I'm pretty sure Rob was a big name in the tuning industry well before he joined PBD.

Good point. Which would further re-enforce PBD's position. All of this assumes he has a non-compete. He may not, and may legitimately want some time off! I wouldn't blame him.

 

[Angrey]

First off, everyone is making big assumptions. It remains to be seen whether or not he has a non-compete agreement.

Secondly, even if he did, non-competes are many times what's referred to in legal circles as "unenforceable." Just because you put a form in front of my face before I ride a carnival ride that says I or my heirs can't sue you for any reason, and the thing crashes to the ground and kills us all, doesn't mean it will hold up or be enforced in an actual court. There's actually clauses that even attempt to address that (basically communicating that the agreement is up to and including any enforceable feature or aspect).

Non competes usually involve things like you can't take company intellectual property with you and that you can't make efforts to hire away other staff members, etc. Where it gets really weak and murky is if you try to preclude someone for working for a competitor (which most states won't uphold or enforce).

This is all assuming a bunch of things. Maybe he's just burnt and wants a break. Maybe he wants to start his own business. Maybe he's going to work for someone else. Maybe he has a non-compete, maybe he doesn't. It's all conjecture.

To add more conjecture, the whole industry is in for a big kick in the nuts. If they can't crack the S650 PCM (and they haven't been able to crack the dodge or the Ford DCT fully) then a BIG volume of tuning services demand drops right off a cliff. Sure there'll be tuning for existing PCMs and cars and for aftermarket systems, but even the cheaper aftermarket systems are pricey (Fueltech, Halltech, etc) and MOTEC is absurdly expensive and frankly out of reach for most people just wanting to do basic bolts ons.

There'll be a baseline demand/consumption, but it won't be ever expanding anymore and a good portion of the sales will be cut right out. It also begs the question of whether or not jailbreaking a computer product exposes them all to further legal issues (aside from EPA modifications). And even if they crack it, it remains to be seen whether or not the mother ship upload/communications tentacles will present immediate or latent problems.

The whole industry is bracing for a shakeup. The top tuners will survive, but if I was an apprentice level tuner, I'd be hitting options hard right now.

 

[DunkinDomnuts]

This is devastating news to me as Rob was remote tuning my hellion gen 2 I just finished. We have been emailing back and forth as I get the car dialed in. I already paid for a 93 pump gas tune, e85 tune and a few hours of live remote tuning sessions. Just found a local shop i was planning on renting their dyno. This throws a big curve ball at me now. FML

 

[Cory S]

I'm pretty sure Rob was a big name in the tuning industry well before he joined PBD.

Actually he blew up more Coyotes from 2013-2017 than anyone, but he learned more than most over time, and worked his way up the ladder. Now most of the big name calibrators all mimmic very similar tables. Some just get way deeper into the Copperhead ECU tables than others.

 

[Zrussian13]

Actually he blew up more Coyotes from 2013-2017 than anyone, but he learned more than most over time, and worked his way up the ladder. Now most of the big name calibrators all mimmic very similar tables. Some just get way deeper into the Copperhead ECU tables than others.

Never knew that fun fact!

 

[Cory S]

Never knew that fun fact!

Yeah. Finding out how to manipulate knock sensitivity and deactivation was interesting. For some….

 

[GregO]

Actually he blew up more Coyotes from 2013-2017 than anyone, but he learned more than most over time, and worked his way up the ladder.

There’s a phrase the Old Guy Dyno and Engine builders used;
“Die and Learn” !

 

[WD Pro]

Looks like PBD aren’t having much luck lately …




WD

 

[WildHorse]

Looks like PBD aren’t having much luck lately …

He hurt the diff off the launch and paid for it down the track.

 

[Cory S]

He hurt the diff off the launch and paid for it down the track.

He should have scrapped the run immediately.

 

[K4fxd]

He hurt the diff off the launch and paid for it down the track.

or broke an axle. When I watched it I thought he was stupid to get back on it, then he wrecked.

 

[Evolvd]

Man, glad I picked Coastal to do my tune next month.

 

[Angrey]

This thread has turned. It's easy for us to all armchair QB. It's unfortunate, I don't like seeing that happen to anyone. I guess the most productive thing is to say we should learn from it. I kinda get the whole situation where you say, well, the run is ruined (at the launch) but you wanna see what it will trap on the big end so you get back in it. And it wouldn't be the first time someone botched the launch, got back in it and ended up winning because the other car had problems.

In any case, again, I think it's speculation that he had a broken axle or I've heard there was fluid on the track down the way from a previous car. Seems like no one really knows for sure.

 

[K4fxd]

And it wouldn't be the first time someone botched the launch, got back in it and ended up winning because the other car had problems.

Either something broke on the launch or he doesn't know how to drive. Since he was late on the light I figure it was a test pass.

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