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Solid advice, but this part was a little cringeworthy: "At the same time, we also needed sufficient cash flows to fund our aggressive growth strategy and inves

Solid advice, but this part was a little cringeworthy: "At the same time, we also needed sufficient cash flows to fund our aggressive growth strategy and invest in technologies that will change the world." I hope that is tongue-in-cheek because world-changing ideas aren't a dime a dozen.

easong 11y ago
If any recent startups can say they're taking a go at changing the world, it's the guys trying to solve world hunger by engineering healthy food that can be mass-produced by genetically engineered algae in tanks.
- blackguardx 11y ago
  When I last looked at them in depth, they wanted to create meal replacement shakes so busy professionals didn't have to waste mental output thinking about food. Did they pivot? Edit: I can't reply for some reason, but I applaud them if solving world hunger is their goal. I think they should have changed their marketing, though. Their original marketing seemed very niche.
  - dikaiosune 11y ago
    Why can't those be the same thing? It doesn't seem unreasonable to me to use the capital generated by the prices you can charge for a luxury good to fund the R&D necessary to bring the costs of their method low enough that it could be a significant and affordable improvement to low-income families' nutrition.
    - SyneRyder 11y ago
      It sounds like the Tesla model: first create a luxury car that you can sell to the very wealthy, and use those funds to increase production & lower costs through increased volume to produce a family car... then use the increased demand for batteries to make building a Gigafactory cost effective, so you can start producing Powerwall house batteries, so you can start taking more houses off the electricity grid & become 100% solar.
  - frakkingcylons 11y ago
    I sympathize with the position you're taking, their marketing is certainly pursuing the busy-body yuppie audience. I think if you spend some time reading comments and posts from users of Soylent online you'll see a lot of people are buying it because it is inexpensive and nutritious, while still requiring very little time to prepare. I acknowledge that, as an example, a healthy and cheap meal can be made from beans, rice, and frozen vegetables, but it takes non-trivial energy to make that every day, which is hard to find on a consistent basis after working or studying all day. I certainly see Soylent as a means to improve public health and the state of mass food production. I think if you take an honest look at Rhinehart's blog posts about Soylent and his other (somewhat radical) personal experiments you'll find that his pursuits are similarly aligned.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
markbao 11y ago
I agree with you in general, but I didn't read it that way – I read it as them saying that developing world-changing technologies takes a lot of capital, not that having a lot of capital necessarily leads to world-changing technologies.
radu_floricica 11y ago
Well they (*joylent actually, because soylent doesn't deliver in EU yet) managed to change my life somewhat. Easier to keep a diet and I never stress about buying food anymore - I only get what I feel like eating when I feel like eating it, because I have a standard backup to go to. This goes with being the first company to make a certain kind of product. If they had opened a pizza chain they may have been more or less successful, but there would have been zero claim on changing the world.
- DanBC 11y ago
  I'm glad that Soylent / Joylent works for you. > This goes with being the first company to make a certain kind of product. That's not accurate. They were maybe the first company to successfully market this product to the general public?

easong 11y ago

If any recent startups can say they're taking a go at changing the world, it's the guys trying to solve world hunger by engineering healthy food that can be mass-produced by genetically engineered algae in tanks.

blackguardx 11y ago
When I last looked at them in depth, they wanted to create meal replacement shakes so busy professionals didn't have to waste mental output thinking about food. Did they pivot? Edit: I can't reply for some reason, but I applaud them if solving world hunger is their goal. I think they should have changed their marketing, though. Their original marketing seemed very niche.
- dikaiosune 11y ago
  Why can't those be the same thing? It doesn't seem unreasonable to me to use the capital generated by the prices you can charge for a luxury good to fund the R&D necessary to bring the costs of their method low enough that it could be a significant and affordable improvement to low-income families' nutrition.
  - SyneRyder 11y ago
    It sounds like the Tesla model: first create a luxury car that you can sell to the very wealthy, and use those funds to increase production & lower costs through increased volume to produce a family car... then use the increased demand for batteries to make building a Gigafactory cost effective, so you can start producing Powerwall house batteries, so you can start taking more houses off the electricity grid & become 100% solar.
- frakkingcylons 11y ago
  I sympathize with the position you're taking, their marketing is certainly pursuing the busy-body yuppie audience. I think if you spend some time reading comments and posts from users of Soylent online you'll see a lot of people are buying it because it is inexpensive and nutritious, while still requiring very little time to prepare. I acknowledge that, as an example, a healthy and cheap meal can be made from beans, rice, and frozen vegetables, but it takes non-trivial energy to make that every day, which is hard to find on a consistent basis after working or studying all day. I certainly see Soylent as a means to improve public health and the state of mass food production. I think if you take an honest look at Rhinehart's blog posts about Soylent and his other (somewhat radical) personal experiments you'll find that his pursuits are similarly aligned.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

markbao 11y ago

I agree with you in general, but I didn't read it that way – I read it as them saying that developing world-changing technologies takes a lot of capital, not that having a lot of capital necessarily leads to world-changing technologies.

radu_floricica 11y ago

Well they (*joylent actually, because soylent doesn't deliver in EU yet) managed to change my life somewhat. Easier to keep a diet and I never stress about buying food anymore - I only get what I feel like eating when I feel like eating it, because I have a standard backup to go to. This goes with being the first company to make a certain kind of product. If they had opened a pizza chain they may have been more or less successful, but there would have been zero claim on changing the world.

DanBC 11y ago
I'm glad that Soylent / Joylent works for you. > This goes with being the first company to make a certain kind of product. That's not accurate. They were maybe the first company to successfully market this product to the general public?