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A cofounder with me on another project was involved in Boston Chicken in its early stages. Her sister living in NY at the time told her the business was a dumb
by rz2k 10y ago
A cofounder with me on another project was involved in Boston Chicken in its early stages. Her sister living in NY at the time told her the business was a dumb idea because everyone could already get fresh cooked chicken whenever they want from food carts.
It's difficult to appreciate what was novel and what was obvious at different times in the past. I lived in Italy in 1994/95, and when I returned to a non-city in the US I was sure I wouldn't be able to find a good espresso, yet the independent coffee shops starting turning up right about when I returned. I also imagined that the per-minute local phone billing in Italy would end up precluding modems and the internet from taking hold back in Italy any time soon.
- coldcode 10y agoFrom what I remember Boston Chicken was a sort of stock scam that turned out a great buy when it went under. I vaguely remember McDonalds bought them out for virtually nothing.
- rz2k 10y agoShe raised money for them as they were exhausting what they could get from "friends and family" connections, and long before they went public. Probably like a few others she worked with they later went through cycles of completely different management that was more suitable for different stages of growth, and rarely stuck to the long term plans of the founders. If I remember correctly, an early business plan for Blockbuster projected streaming, or at least delivery through people cable boxes, about a decade early than when later management was ridiculing Netflix's streaming business.