5 ms·

The problem is the founders did come from that world and tried to consumerize it. If they'd focused on per-juice-cost (thus, high volume) and gone from attende

by rdl 9y ago

The problem is the founders did come from that world and tried to consumerize it. If they'd focused on per-juice-cost (thus, high volume) and gone from attended to semi-attended (office) or unattended (vending machine) it might have won. They also could have just built a "scrappier" v1.0 hardware product at a lower cost (maybe with rollers or something) at 50% BOM cost and subsidized it a bit more. At $200 + $6-8 per pack they might have been successful; at $200 + $200/mo for 30 packs they probably would have been.

ogreface 9y ago
Rollers were my immediate thought as to how to get the juice out. Would love one of their engineers to chime in and talk about the reasons they built it that way.
- rdl 9y ago
  The AvE teardown mentioned this. It does give you uniform force across the entire work surface, which is theoretically superior, but I think it's a case where a 5% improvement in results does not warrant 75% increase in BOM cost and design, at least in v1 of a relatively virgin market (if the market were flooded with roller systems, you could possibly differentiate with a press based 1.0, but no need to do that out the gate in a virgin market.)
  - gehwartzen 9y ago
    There is nothing complicated about squeezing something out of a bag with with uniform pressure. The book press / screw press has existed since the first century AD. Here is a 'juicero' that you can fill with whatever chopped fruit you want and get the same/better results: https://www.amazon.com/Fruit-Press-Italian-Stainless-Brewcraft/dp/B00K6OSUDO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1504324186&sr=8-2&keywords=Screw+press https://www.amazon.com/Fruit-Press-Italian-Stainless-Brewcra...
    - dingo_bat 9y ago
      Oh but does it have the food DRM that forces you to buy all your fruits from one company in overpriced bags?
      - trapperkeeper74 9y ago
        LOL. That was the fail. They had a tiny market of a subset of rich people whom bought into inkjet/razorblade/K-cup crapola.

by rdl 9y ago

ogreface 9y ago

Rollers were my immediate thought as to how to get the juice out. Would love one of their engineers to chime in and talk about the reasons they built it that way.

rdl 9y ago
The AvE teardown mentioned this. It does give you uniform force across the entire work surface, which is theoretically superior, but I think it's a case where a 5% improvement in results does not warrant 75% increase in BOM cost and design, at least in v1 of a relatively virgin market (if the market were flooded with roller systems, you could possibly differentiate with a press based 1.0, but no need to do that out the gate in a virgin market.)
- gehwartzen 9y ago
  There is nothing complicated about squeezing something out of a bag with with uniform pressure. The book press / screw press has existed since the first century AD. Here is a 'juicero' that you can fill with whatever chopped fruit you want and get the same/better results: https://www.amazon.com/Fruit-Press-Italian-Stainless-Brewcraft/dp/B00K6OSUDO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1504324186&sr=8-2&keywords=Screw+press https://www.amazon.com/Fruit-Press-Italian-Stainless-Brewcra...
  - dingo_bat 9y ago
    Oh but does it have the food DRM that forces you to buy all your fruits from one company in overpriced bags?
    - trapperkeeper74 9y ago
      LOL. That was the fail. They had a tiny market of a subset of rich people whom bought into inkjet/razorblade/K-cup crapola.