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Hotz is a proven, remarkable engineer. But if there was ever a case for a "business guy" to be involved with a pitch this was it. His messaging works at some

Hotz is a proven, remarkable engineer. But if there was ever a case for a "business guy" to be involved with a pitch this was it. His messaging works at some level - "I'm shipping something REAL and SMALL and ACHIEVABLE" But his pitch has two huge problems: (a) The delivery is rough. He comes across as patronizing and manic. I want to put my life in his hands? (b) He fumbles (like Musk has) with the difference between his pitch "Mountain View to San Francisco without touching the wheel" and the reality "It is fully functional. It’s about on par with Tesla Autopilot" Lots of potential in the product but for me this pitch diminished the chances that I'd ever own the device.

lucb1e 10y ago
> Hotz is a proven, remarkable engineer. Wait, Hotz, that name... is this Geohot? ... Turns out, it is! [1] That makes this statement a lot more believable to me. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hotz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hotz
- wingerlang 10y ago
  Both the video and the article is littered with "Geohot", FYI.
- cbHXBY1D 10y ago
  Yes, it's geohot's company but I don't think it lends it anymore credibility. Hacking is very different from building a viable product. Moreover, some of his comments make me distrust his judgement. Just from a CNN article this year: > "For awhile, I thought it was going to be incredibly difficult to contribute," he said. In January 2015, he started working as a researcher at Vicarious, a company that's building artificial intelligence algorithms. "I started reading all the papers. I thought, 'This stuff isn't that hard. This isn't ultra sophisticated. This is basic,'" he said. Moreover, "the mistakes people are making are basic." > "I started to look around at the other players. These people are noobs," he said. [1] http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/04/technology/george-hotz-comma-ai-andreessen-horowitz/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/04/technology/george-hotz-comma...
  - spectrum1234 10y ago
    Because he's a genius?
    - T-A 10y ago
      Because just about everybody in this space, except a small number of well known, mostly academic old-timers, is a noob.
stale2002 10y ago
I don't think the target audience is the average consumer. I Think the target audience at the moment is extreme early adopter, SF types who think "Screw the system! I want to live in the future NOW!" And this pitch certainly works for those type of people.

lucb1e 10y ago

> Hotz is a proven, remarkable engineer. Wait, Hotz, that name... is this Geohot? ... Turns out, it is! [1] That makes this statement a lot more believable to me. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hotz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hotz

wingerlang 10y ago
Both the video and the article is littered with "Geohot", FYI.
cbHXBY1D 10y ago
Yes, it's geohot's company but I don't think it lends it anymore credibility. Hacking is very different from building a viable product. Moreover, some of his comments make me distrust his judgement. Just from a CNN article this year: > "For awhile, I thought it was going to be incredibly difficult to contribute," he said. In January 2015, he started working as a researcher at Vicarious, a company that's building artificial intelligence algorithms. "I started reading all the papers. I thought, 'This stuff isn't that hard. This isn't ultra sophisticated. This is basic,'" he said. Moreover, "the mistakes people are making are basic." > "I started to look around at the other players. These people are noobs," he said. [1] http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/04/technology/george-hotz-comma-ai-andreessen-horowitz/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/04/technology/george-hotz-comma...
- spectrum1234 10y ago
  Because he's a genius?
  - T-A 10y ago
    Because just about everybody in this space, except a small number of well known, mostly academic old-timers, is a noob.

stale2002 10y ago

I don't think the target audience is the average consumer. I Think the target audience at the moment is extreme early adopter, SF types who think "Screw the system! I want to live in the future NOW!" And this pitch certainly works for those type of people.