3 ms·

It's interesting how few companies are in the classical tech stack in any way, and how few are in the more retail/consumer oriented techie things like social me

It's interesting how few companies are in the classical tech stack in any way, and how few are in the more retail/consumer oriented techie things like social media. Many of these are just regular businesses quite far from the ostensible advantages of having rockstar technologists etc., obviously the medical tech notwithstanding, but that's another field altogether. It's also interesting how many of these I don't think will every fit the mold of 'high growth' kind of startup, as opposed to more along the lines of 'great new businesses'. Aalo parts are considerably too expensive - basically they are quite a bit more expensive than IKEA, but they don't like quite as 'finished' and don't quite have the 'finished/unfinished' look to suit putting even in a modern living room, I feel it still looks like utility stuff. And at those prices ... I've just personally had to deal with a lot of brick and mortar stuff, and the reality of 'price sensitivity' hits home really hard. People don't have money for expensive, unnnecessary stuff, 'retail' is not at all like Kickstarter. Love people trying to make fake meat taste great. I have yet to see anything available that really works well. I suggest that once a fast-food chain picks up on it and 'regular folks' get a try, it might fly.

baxtr 8y ago
I personally don't buy into the fake meat trend. Fake meat is highly processed, you have to add a lot of stuff to make it look, feel and taste like meat. So it's far away from being a "natural food". After spending a bit of time in the space, I've come to the following conclusion: Live mostly (!) vegan, eat fish 1-2x a week, eat chicken once in a while (both have very good feed to food conversion ratios [1]). Try to avoid beef as much as possible - I do eat it when I crave really badly (every 2-3 months?) [1] http://ib.bioninja.com.au/options/option-c-ecology-and-conser/c2-communities-and-ecosyste/feed-conversion-ratio.html http://ib.bioninja.com.au/options/option-c-ecology-and-conse...
- sonnyblarney 8y ago
  I understand it's not there yet ... but in your experience were you able to live through a couple cycles to the point wherein you feel it might get there someday in terms of nutritional value and taste? Also, should add ... I think most people don't care that much about the nutritional value of fake meat. A lot of fast-food meat is already processed and crap. Anyone who can make something that's 'not steak' simply taste like 'steak' will do really well - it's going to be a cost consideration before anything. Consider the 'meat' in Taco Bell is 75% 'filler/chickenfeed' already. I think huge chunks of people wouldn't mind eating vegan so long as they could eat stuff that tasted like meat, even if there were some extra processing. That's why I think it will be a fast-food chain that will make it mainstream: they are cost conscious (as their consumers are), they have the reach and marketing power to change consumer behaviour, and their consumers don't have high-nutritional 'real food' expectations. So a 'McNotBeef' would do really really well even among regular folks, even traditional meat eaters.
  - baxtr 8y ago
    I agree. If the cost is low enough and it tastes, looks, smells the same, the fast-food giants will push it through. People who don't care too much that their meat is highly processed already today, probably won't care tomorrow either
    - nightski 8y ago
      Meat is a very nutritional source of protein & fat and generally very low carb. This is usually not the case with meat alternatives, which is very unfortunate because it makes them a poor substitute no matter how good they taste. Ice cream tastes good also, but in order to be a meat replacement it should at least have a similar macro profile.
      - baxtr 8y ago
        I think this is one of the goals of the meat replacement companies. That’s why it’s very complcciated to replace meat: it needs to taste, smell, look like meat AND have similar nutritional value. And, lastly, have the same or lower price point, at least to become a mass market product
- porker 8y ago
  From a health perspective I can see eating fish 1-2x a week, but from a sustainability perspective with the decline of our fish stocks, I've chosen to rarely eat fish at all.
  - baxtr 8y ago
    It's a tradeoff I guess. There are organic fish farms that do a good job, e.g. the European ones. They won't thrive without demand. So I try to buy organic fish, it's expensive though.
  - sologoub 8y ago
    This is where I wish I could actually buy the land-raised salmon. http://www.kuterra.com http://www.kuterra.com
- davej 8y ago
  > eat chicken once in a while (both have very good feed to food conversion ratios [1]). Depending on your animal welfare ethics, I'm not sure that's the best metric to optimise for. To get a good ratio, the animals' movement needs to be restricted and they need to be killed young. Hence, battery hens do very well.

baxtr 8y ago

I personally don't buy into the fake meat trend. Fake meat is highly processed, you have to add a lot of stuff to make it look, feel and taste like meat. So it's far away from being a "natural food". After spending a bit of time in the space, I've come to the following conclusion: Live mostly (!) vegan, eat fish 1-2x a week, eat chicken once in a while (both have very good feed to food conversion ratios [1]). Try to avoid beef as much as possible - I do eat it when I crave really badly (every 2-3 months?) [1] http://ib.bioninja.com.au/options/option-c-ecology-and-conser/c2-communities-and-ecosyste/feed-conversion-ratio.html http://ib.bioninja.com.au/options/option-c-ecology-and-conse...

sonnyblarney 8y ago
I understand it's not there yet ... but in your experience were you able to live through a couple cycles to the point wherein you feel it might get there someday in terms of nutritional value and taste? Also, should add ... I think most people don't care that much about the nutritional value of fake meat. A lot of fast-food meat is already processed and crap. Anyone who can make something that's 'not steak' simply taste like 'steak' will do really well - it's going to be a cost consideration before anything. Consider the 'meat' in Taco Bell is 75% 'filler/chickenfeed' already. I think huge chunks of people wouldn't mind eating vegan so long as they could eat stuff that tasted like meat, even if there were some extra processing. That's why I think it will be a fast-food chain that will make it mainstream: they are cost conscious (as their consumers are), they have the reach and marketing power to change consumer behaviour, and their consumers don't have high-nutritional 'real food' expectations. So a 'McNotBeef' would do really really well even among regular folks, even traditional meat eaters.
- baxtr 8y ago
  I agree. If the cost is low enough and it tastes, looks, smells the same, the fast-food giants will push it through. People who don't care too much that their meat is highly processed already today, probably won't care tomorrow either
  - nightski 8y ago
    Meat is a very nutritional source of protein & fat and generally very low carb. This is usually not the case with meat alternatives, which is very unfortunate because it makes them a poor substitute no matter how good they taste. Ice cream tastes good also, but in order to be a meat replacement it should at least have a similar macro profile.
    - baxtr 8y ago
      I think this is one of the goals of the meat replacement companies. That’s why it’s very complcciated to replace meat: it needs to taste, smell, look like meat AND have similar nutritional value. And, lastly, have the same or lower price point, at least to become a mass market product
porker 8y ago
From a health perspective I can see eating fish 1-2x a week, but from a sustainability perspective with the decline of our fish stocks, I've chosen to rarely eat fish at all.
- baxtr 8y ago
  It's a tradeoff I guess. There are organic fish farms that do a good job, e.g. the European ones. They won't thrive without demand. So I try to buy organic fish, it's expensive though.
- sologoub 8y ago
  This is where I wish I could actually buy the land-raised salmon. http://www.kuterra.com http://www.kuterra.com
davej 8y ago
> eat chicken once in a while (both have very good feed to food conversion ratios [1]). Depending on your animal welfare ethics, I'm not sure that's the best metric to optimise for. To get a good ratio, the animals' movement needs to be restricted and they need to be killed young. Hence, battery hens do very well.