4 ms·

Pedal to the Mettle: The unbelievable, true story of Automoblox

80 points by chip 16y ago

michael_dorfman 16y ago
What a depressing story. The guy had an offer from Brio, a very reputable partner, to take over the manufacturing responsibility, and passed on it in favor of dealing with some shady, fly-by-night Chinese firms he stumbled upon, because he "wasn’t willing to let Automoblox out of my control at this point; I still wanted to achieve my dream of being a manufacturer."
- Sujan 16y ago
  Yeah, and he learned a hell lot of important stuff. I think this experience shaped him to be a better entrepreneur.
- qq66 16y ago
  Not too depressing, Automoblox are widely available on Amazon. Even if he had to fire-sale the IP his toy is out on shelves.
matrix 16y ago
I can't believe this story got so few votes. It's great story of the ups and downs an entrepreneur went through to bring his product to the market. Worth the read.
- ghurlman 16y ago
  Likely because the story ends in 2005
- ihumanable 16y ago
  I would say that it's not that "unbelievable." Guy does business with shady third world factory, gets screwed over... It's long and ends 5 years ago with a cliffhanger.
- Tichy 16y ago
  I guess it is the title - I almost didn't even read it. But then, I have no idea what "Pedal To Mettle" means (non-native speaker).
  - qohen 16y ago
    It's likely* a play on the phrase, "(put the) pedal to the metal", i.e. going all out (based on the notion of pushing a car's gas pedal as far as possible, for maximum speed): http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/put_the_pedal_to_the_metal http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/put_the_pedal_to_the_metal Mettle == courage, spirit, etc. http://www.google.com/dictionary?q=mettle http://www.google.com/dictionary?q=mettle * Can't be fully certain it's intentional, given the many examples Google has for the phrase where the use of "mettle" (or "medal") is clearly a mistake.
- krschultz 16y ago
  A lot of the people on HN are software guys, they have no connection to something like this. This is one of the best stories I've seen on HN in a while becuase I'm actually a product guy and manufacturing is a huge component of it. In fact manufacturing is usually far harder than design for an entrepreneur. The capital required means you have to use a contracter, and for something cheap like a toy you probably have to go to Asia where the quality is lower but the prices are low enough to make it work. Hell, I was at a company that used US manufacturers and we got screwed over for hundreds of thousands of dollars from multiple vendors because they were unable to deliver on quality - not to mention the oppurtunity cost of time delays. How many web app startups can you boot strap for the value of one manufacturers mistake? The stakes are higher because there is a lot more capital in play.
  - joe_bleau 16y ago
    Yep. And don't think you can't find bad molders here in the US, or moldmakers that steer your work to a certain molder, who just happens to be an in-law. The best was a molder that found a way to "lose" several parts of a mold just as it was being picked up and moved to another mold shop. "Must have fell of your truck, buddy!". Hmm. Oh yeah: if you let the moldmaker do the mold design, be sure and get copies of all the files, even if you don't have the CAD system to open or edit the files! Don't trust 'em to back up their hard drive.
aresant 16y ago
Anybody know what happened after 2005?
phugoid 16y ago
I own a few of these, and I've given more away as gifts. They are truly awesome, the toy equivalent of an iPhone in terms of beauty, perfection, fit and finish. It's nice to see the story behind the toy.
eps 16y ago
Last year I bought two Autoblox cars, two months apart. First was of a very high manufacturing quality, it snapped together very tightly, everything aligned and it was just a pleasure to hold and play with. It was the reason why I bought another one. Got it from the same place, exact same packaging, authenticity label and what not. And what a wobbly piece of shit it was. Major quality problems. And what is strange, it left me far more pissed with the company than it wiuld've if the first toy were of a subpar quality. I guess the point is that if you are going to differentiate by delivering high quality products, you just absolutely cannot let the quality slip. Ever. Otherwise it's an instant trip to the pile of "regular products" and a long a painful climb back up to gain back customers trust.
- mkramlich 16y ago
  Yep. I've always loved how LEGO has such high precision standards. I once bought a LEGO set where the pieces fit together very poorly -- oh wait, no I didn't -- and realized it was MEGABloks, not LEGO. This was many years ago, so I can't speak as to MEGABloks quality today, but I put together a new LEGO kit recently and the fit/precision was still awesome. LEGO's gone probably 20-30 years without letting me down in terms of physical quality of the pieces. I can't say that about any other vendor I've bought from over the same time period (not even Apple, for example). Well, not counting consumables like toothpaste. I've never had a bad experience with say Colgate.
  - samlittlewood 16y ago
    Megablox was still utter rubbish as of about six months ago. My 8yo Lego fanatic son was given a kit by his cousins - "It's just like Lego" - err, no - many of the parts would not stay attached.
RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
Does the author actually mean "Pedal to the Metal" ? The original saying comes from pressing the gas pedal as far as it goes, until it presses against the metal underneath and can go no further. I've never heard to "Pedal to the Mettle" ...
- baddox 16y ago
  "Mettle" means willingness to succeed or endure; standfastness. I'm assuming the title is just a pun.
  - RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
    Ah. I was aware of the meaning of mettle, I was just unsure if it was deliberate. It's a nice theory that it's a deliberate pun, but I'm not sure it works. It feels the same as "The proof is in the pudding" and other, similarly meaningless distortions of old adages that made sense in the original. But still, nice idea - thanks.
    - lunchbox 16y ago
      It's actually "The proof is in the putting", where "putting" refers to putting the pedal to the metal ;)
      - baddox 16y ago
        I thought the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
baddox 16y ago
> [It] was a day that rivals only the day that my daughter was born. I hope you mean "it was a day rivaled only by the day that my daughter was born." The former sounds like your daughter's birthday was your worst day ever, and the success of your toy was just slightly better than that.
- wccrawford 16y ago
  I read an article recently that said many, many people actually can't tell the difference between active and passive voice. I had a hard time believing it, but seeing mistakes like this in an otherwise well-written article lends weight to it.
mkramlich 16y ago
Great story about starting a new business. Also a great story about China. I found it interesting how in the photos, many of the "factories" look like little more than junkyards or disaster areas, and how many of the people working in them looked like teenagers or possibly even children. That plus all the shady dealings going on may explain at least in part how China is able to manufacture so many things so cheaply compared to the US. Shameful.
mkramlich 16y ago
When I saw the part about the low-bidder winning the deal I had an ominous foreboding of what would later happen. Oftentimes you really do get what you pay for. Price is a signal. Ignore it at your peril.
mkramlich 16y ago
By random chance I happened to be looking at a few Automoblox models in a store in Boulder a few night ago. Reminded me of a cross between the Pinewood Derby cars we used to make in scouts as a kid, and LEGO. My tastes are little more into robotics/RC now otherwise I would have bought one. Nice designs.
seltzered 16y ago
just for posterity, I'd like to link to design theatre for anyone who liked this: http://designtheatre.net/ http://designtheatre.net/ I've been pretty fascinated by these articles, as there's many opportunities out there outside of pure software business.
ck2 16y ago
I know this view won't be popular but what I took from this article is it's hard for a well-off westerner to maintain slave labor and get high quality control products for pennies in labor in the east. I have no sympathy. How was it surprising to realize you can't control patent/copyrights in non-democratic country ten thousand miles from you, where the factory owners have far fewer ethics than you and are willing to manipulate their slave labor even further to sell your product as theirs in other markets?

80 points by chip 16y ago

What a depressing story. The guy had an offer from Brio, a very reputable partner, to take over the manufacturing responsibility, and passed on it in favor of dealing with some shady, fly-by-night Chinese firms he stumbled upon, because he "wasn’t willing to let Automoblox out of my control at this point; I still wanted to achieve my dream of being a manufacturer."

Sujan 16y ago
Yeah, and he learned a hell lot of important stuff. I think this experience shaped him to be a better entrepreneur.
qq66 16y ago
Not too depressing, Automoblox are widely available on Amazon. Even if he had to fire-sale the IP his toy is out on shelves.

matrix 16y ago

I can't believe this story got so few votes. It's great story of the ups and downs an entrepreneur went through to bring his product to the market. Worth the read.

ghurlman 16y ago
Likely because the story ends in 2005
ihumanable 16y ago
I would say that it's not that "unbelievable." Guy does business with shady third world factory, gets screwed over... It's long and ends 5 years ago with a cliffhanger.
Tichy 16y ago
I guess it is the title - I almost didn't even read it. But then, I have no idea what "Pedal To Mettle" means (non-native speaker).
- qohen 16y ago
  It's likely* a play on the phrase, "(put the) pedal to the metal", i.e. going all out (based on the notion of pushing a car's gas pedal as far as possible, for maximum speed): http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/put_the_pedal_to_the_metal http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/put_the_pedal_to_the_metal Mettle == courage, spirit, etc. http://www.google.com/dictionary?q=mettle http://www.google.com/dictionary?q=mettle * Can't be fully certain it's intentional, given the many examples Google has for the phrase where the use of "mettle" (or "medal") is clearly a mistake.
krschultz 16y ago
A lot of the people on HN are software guys, they have no connection to something like this. This is one of the best stories I've seen on HN in a while becuase I'm actually a product guy and manufacturing is a huge component of it. In fact manufacturing is usually far harder than design for an entrepreneur. The capital required means you have to use a contracter, and for something cheap like a toy you probably have to go to Asia where the quality is lower but the prices are low enough to make it work. Hell, I was at a company that used US manufacturers and we got screwed over for hundreds of thousands of dollars from multiple vendors because they were unable to deliver on quality - not to mention the oppurtunity cost of time delays. How many web app startups can you boot strap for the value of one manufacturers mistake? The stakes are higher because there is a lot more capital in play.
- joe_bleau 16y ago
  Yep. And don't think you can't find bad molders here in the US, or moldmakers that steer your work to a certain molder, who just happens to be an in-law. The best was a molder that found a way to "lose" several parts of a mold just as it was being picked up and moved to another mold shop. "Must have fell of your truck, buddy!". Hmm. Oh yeah: if you let the moldmaker do the mold design, be sure and get copies of all the files, even if you don't have the CAD system to open or edit the files! Don't trust 'em to back up their hard drive.

aresant 16y ago

Anybody know what happened after 2005?

phugoid 16y ago

I own a few of these, and I've given more away as gifts. They are truly awesome, the toy equivalent of an iPhone in terms of beauty, perfection, fit and finish. It's nice to see the story behind the toy.

eps 16y ago

Last year I bought two Autoblox cars, two months apart. First was of a very high manufacturing quality, it snapped together very tightly, everything aligned and it was just a pleasure to hold and play with. It was the reason why I bought another one. Got it from the same place, exact same packaging, authenticity label and what not. And what a wobbly piece of shit it was. Major quality problems. And what is strange, it left me far more pissed with the company than it wiuld've if the first toy were of a subpar quality. I guess the point is that if you are going to differentiate by delivering high quality products, you just absolutely cannot let the quality slip. Ever. Otherwise it's an instant trip to the pile of "regular products" and a long a painful climb back up to gain back customers trust.

mkramlich 16y ago
Yep. I've always loved how LEGO has such high precision standards. I once bought a LEGO set where the pieces fit together very poorly -- oh wait, no I didn't -- and realized it was MEGABloks, not LEGO. This was many years ago, so I can't speak as to MEGABloks quality today, but I put together a new LEGO kit recently and the fit/precision was still awesome. LEGO's gone probably 20-30 years without letting me down in terms of physical quality of the pieces. I can't say that about any other vendor I've bought from over the same time period (not even Apple, for example). Well, not counting consumables like toothpaste. I've never had a bad experience with say Colgate.
- samlittlewood 16y ago
  Megablox was still utter rubbish as of about six months ago. My 8yo Lego fanatic son was given a kit by his cousins - "It's just like Lego" - err, no - many of the parts would not stay attached.

RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago

Does the author actually mean "Pedal to the Metal" ? The original saying comes from pressing the gas pedal as far as it goes, until it presses against the metal underneath and can go no further. I've never heard to "Pedal to the Mettle" ...

baddox 16y ago
"Mettle" means willingness to succeed or endure; standfastness. I'm assuming the title is just a pun.
- RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
  Ah. I was aware of the meaning of mettle, I was just unsure if it was deliberate. It's a nice theory that it's a deliberate pun, but I'm not sure it works. It feels the same as "The proof is in the pudding" and other, similarly meaningless distortions of old adages that made sense in the original. But still, nice idea - thanks.
  - lunchbox 16y ago
    It's actually "The proof is in the putting", where "putting" refers to putting the pedal to the metal ;)
    - baddox 16y ago
      I thought the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

baddox 16y ago

> [It] was a day that rivals only the day that my daughter was born. I hope you mean "it was a day rivaled only by the day that my daughter was born." The former sounds like your daughter's birthday was your worst day ever, and the success of your toy was just slightly better than that.

wccrawford 16y ago
I read an article recently that said many, many people actually can't tell the difference between active and passive voice. I had a hard time believing it, but seeing mistakes like this in an otherwise well-written article lends weight to it.

mkramlich 16y ago

Great story about starting a new business. Also a great story about China. I found it interesting how in the photos, many of the "factories" look like little more than junkyards or disaster areas, and how many of the people working in them looked like teenagers or possibly even children. That plus all the shady dealings going on may explain at least in part how China is able to manufacture so many things so cheaply compared to the US. Shameful.

mkramlich 16y ago

When I saw the part about the low-bidder winning the deal I had an ominous foreboding of what would later happen. Oftentimes you really do get what you pay for. Price is a signal. Ignore it at your peril.

mkramlich 16y ago

By random chance I happened to be looking at a few Automoblox models in a store in Boulder a few night ago. Reminded me of a cross between the Pinewood Derby cars we used to make in scouts as a kid, and LEGO. My tastes are little more into robotics/RC now otherwise I would have bought one. Nice designs.

seltzered 16y ago

just for posterity, I'd like to link to design theatre for anyone who liked this: http://designtheatre.net/ http://designtheatre.net/ I've been pretty fascinated by these articles, as there's many opportunities out there outside of pure software business.

ck2 16y ago

I know this view won't be popular but what I took from this article is it's hard for a well-off westerner to maintain slave labor and get high quality control products for pennies in labor in the east. I have no sympathy. How was it surprising to realize you can't control patent/copyrights in non-democratic country ten thousand miles from you, where the factory owners have far fewer ethics than you and are willing to manipulate their slave labor even further to sell your product as theirs in other markets?