Nah, he’s self made all from Rama Works. Guessing there’s some thick margins in this stuff, especially at the volume.
Definitely looks like direction has been lost with Kate gone, Wilba & Olivia gone and Todd gone.
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I’m not at all sure what the future looks like at RW. Seems like all the Keeb related folks have left. One could think it’s simply a change in direction but the rapid pace of it all combined with the personal drama - see Rama’s “apology”(?) story on instagram makes me think there was some kind of serious falling out.
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Is this on his personal Instagram?
Yes - his personal Instagram. I do remember him also posting some time ago that he was taking a break(?) and that RW would continue operating.
I do love a number of his products. I just think it’s not really fair to other makers in the hobby to consider him “completely” self-made. There are a lot of people who don’t have access to his resources and connections. He got his start at his dads company designing products for clients pretty easy to confirm this check his LinkedIn. Here’s his own explanation of his job: “In this full-time role I am directly involved in providing custom one-off products to batch-produced goods, overseeing and contributing to both the design and production processes.”And you can see what his dads business does. Dads name is even on the home page: https://www.umd.com.au/
I say this not to subtract from Kate and Rama’s success. But to maybe help explain their scale in relation to other makers. They have access to probably the best manufacturers, money for marketing and all other sorts of benefits that come from having his dads knowledge, connections and tutelage. I’ve seen so many projects fail in this hobby because the GB runner did not know better in choosing a high quality manufacturer. Problems like these are completely eliminated. No one thinks less of Warren Buffett for having a father who was an expert in stocks and also happened to be a senator. Both very helpful things in starting an investment company. But I do think it’s good to see things accurately.
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This is so none of my business, but nevertheless very very interesting, and the clarification is most appreciated.
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Whenever I see “Rama” I think of one of my favorite books before I think of keyboards and stuff:
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Similarly, my thoughts have always turned to the ancient epic Ramayana.
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Same - though for me it’s the DOS adventure game based on the book.
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I grew up on DOS games.
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Did you ever play Commander Keen?
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Did someone mention an old ID Software title?
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raises hand but I’ll take this to the gaming thread 
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Looks like some weird Pinkfong Baby Shark animal.
I thought the drama is only between Rama and Kate, but it seems like there is beef between Rama and Wilba too. Really hoping that my thermal will still come with a wilba pcb
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Yeah I’ll be pissed if my Thermal+ comes without a Wilba PCB. Rama does not have a good record with PCBs without Wilba TBH.
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Cries in m65-a
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That’s it, then, right? Kate, Wilba, Olivia, and Todd. There’s no designers left in-house apart from Rama himself. I’m not even sure what the last fully Rama designed keyboard project is. The implications are interesting - what happens to VIA? It was ostensibly created originally for Rama/Wilba PCB’s. I wonder if they’ll look into open-sourcing it.
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Yikes. I can only imagine what caused the rift, but it’s got to be bad to have the whole team bail like this…
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It seems like it would be fraudulent for those boards to not come with the advertised PCB, no? Wonder when we will see an IC for a KATE WORKS board 
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