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The strange thing is running a business for a decade without bringing a product to market. Prototypes be damned, they aren’t revenue.

jfim 7y ago
It's manufacturing, not software. While one can produce one million copies of a binary for cheap and no lead time, producing one million physical objects requires setting up production lines, quality control checks, rework stations, warehousing, supply chains and controls, and so on.
- OnlineGladiator 7y ago
  Yes, but before you produce one million physical objects it's good to do a test run with one to see how strong the market demand is. It's not a foregone conclusion that their product will sell at high enough margins and quantity to be successful. You don't automate something before you validate it. Even Tesla made this mistake - they tried to automate their assembly line before they had the assembly line figured out. It's one of the few things Elon Musk did that he later admitted was stupid on his part. Tesla didn't start with a mass-market vehicle. They started with an extremely high margin, low volume sports car. They then transitioned to a not-quite-as-high margin, not-quite-as-low volume luxury car. They are currently trying to make moderate margin, high volume sedans with the Model 3, but it's uncertain they can currently sell those profitably.
- threeseed 7y ago
  Not to mention all of the regulatory requirements at the state and federal levels across many countries. Selling a car isn't far off trying to sell a medical device.
  - ultrasounder 7y ago
    Not even close. Having worked at a Medical ultrasound startup and now at a Gene Sequencing Company that also sells diagnostics equipment, there is More documentation burden involved with bringing medical devices to market, more verification and validation than Auto. Just compare what Apple had to go through to v&v Series 5 EKG Vs the Tesla Auto summon which was literally regression tested by hapless customers at Target/Walmart parking lots. It’s really a day and night difference.
- varjag 7y ago
  You can do a lot to get going with couple billion dollars though. I agree that it sounds like vaporware.
- unlinked_dll 7y ago
  I work in hardware currently. Failing to bring a product to market in a decade is a failure. Even for autos, you need to ship product eventually.
  - gamblor956 7y ago
    You clearly don't work in automobiles, where it can take almost a decade for a model to go from inspiration to design to production. Tesla tried to rush things, and they're still trying to fix all the bugs and problems from rushing into production.

jfim 7y ago

It's manufacturing, not software. While one can produce one million copies of a binary for cheap and no lead time, producing one million physical objects requires setting up production lines, quality control checks, rework stations, warehousing, supply chains and controls, and so on.

OnlineGladiator 7y ago
Yes, but before you produce one million physical objects it's good to do a test run with one to see how strong the market demand is. It's not a foregone conclusion that their product will sell at high enough margins and quantity to be successful. You don't automate something before you validate it. Even Tesla made this mistake - they tried to automate their assembly line before they had the assembly line figured out. It's one of the few things Elon Musk did that he later admitted was stupid on his part. Tesla didn't start with a mass-market vehicle. They started with an extremely high margin, low volume sports car. They then transitioned to a not-quite-as-high margin, not-quite-as-low volume luxury car. They are currently trying to make moderate margin, high volume sedans with the Model 3, but it's uncertain they can currently sell those profitably.
threeseed 7y ago
Not to mention all of the regulatory requirements at the state and federal levels across many countries. Selling a car isn't far off trying to sell a medical device.
- ultrasounder 7y ago
  Not even close. Having worked at a Medical ultrasound startup and now at a Gene Sequencing Company that also sells diagnostics equipment, there is More documentation burden involved with bringing medical devices to market, more verification and validation than Auto. Just compare what Apple had to go through to v&v Series 5 EKG Vs the Tesla Auto summon which was literally regression tested by hapless customers at Target/Walmart parking lots. It’s really a day and night difference.
varjag 7y ago
You can do a lot to get going with couple billion dollars though. I agree that it sounds like vaporware.
unlinked_dll 7y ago
I work in hardware currently. Failing to bring a product to market in a decade is a failure. Even for autos, you need to ship product eventually.
- gamblor956 7y ago
  You clearly don't work in automobiles, where it can take almost a decade for a model to go from inspiration to design to production. Tesla tried to rush things, and they're still trying to fix all the bugs and problems from rushing into production.