4 ms·

Goodbye to Grommet

33 points by Brett_S 6y ago

Brett_S 6y ago
An positive example of how passionate founders operated to serve both shareholders and the wider community comes to an unexpected end.
delduca 6y ago
I thought that was this "grommet"[1] 1 - https://v2.grommet.io https://v2.grommet.io
- kps 6y ago
  For a moment I thought it was Gromit.
- flak48 6y ago
  Me too, started to wonder what they could have done wrong
- jimmaswell 6y ago
  All I could think of was Wallace and Gromit.
2020-07-17 6y ago
I was involved in e-commerce when The Grommet came about and they have a lot to be proud of. That said, the reason for things ending with the founders losing control is that they took a lot of money and then didn't live up to expectations. Put more directly, they never held their own against Kickstarter, IndieGogo, or Etsy. Their investor/owners went from Rakuten (the Amazon of Japan) to Ace Hardware. The latter probably thinks of The Grommet as a way to use quirky products to get people into physical stores. At that point the founders probably want out more than they are letting on.
- js2 6y ago
  So they stuck some end-caps in Ace stores and put a section on its website and for that gave up a majority share? https://www.acehardware.com/grommet https://www.acehardware.com/grommet What was Ace Hardware expecting out of this deal? Aside: my local Ace is frustrating more often than not. I go there because it's a mile away, but the inventory is so small that at least half the time I can't find what I need and end up driving the extra 15 minutes to the big box hardware store. This Ace also has a small section devoted to pet supplies, but there again, it's often too small to be useful. An example: we adopted a dog last year and I wanted to get a name tag right away. PetSmart has kiosks that print these on-demand. The Ace store does not. Their employees are also no longer the experts that Ace stores were once staffed by. I'm lucky if they even know their inventory. Meanwhile at HD, I can usually find someone with plumbing experience in the plumbing section, electrician experience in electrical, etc. Not always, but so far I'm batting 0% at Ace.
vosper 6y ago
> No one had heard of brands like SodaStream, Fitbit, OtterBox, PopSockets, S’well, Bombas, SimpliSafe and Mrs. Meyers when we embraced and launched them. I'm a little confused, it sounds like they're taking credit for SodaStream, a company that's more than 100 years old and has been in homes for decades [0]? And Fitbit was only a success because of these people? Or am I just misunderstanding what they're trying to say here? [0] Aside: SodaStream is surely ripe for disruption. Home fizzy water is great. Their margin on a tiny bit of CO2 gas must be enormous, surely they're laughing all the way to the bank. How have they maintained their virtual monopoly for so long?
- xyzzy_plugh 6y ago
  Re: sodastream I do agree, and I don't particularly like their product. The profit margins of selling canned soda water are incredibly high. Sodastream has managed a virtual monopoly because they appear to have undercut that margin substantially (in that it is much cheaper to do yourself at home than buy soda) and have a very wide distribution network. There's a spot to swap canisters in the small hardware store down the block. If you were to create a competitor, what would your differentiator be? Cheaper? Good luck, it's already pretty cheap. They're just not worth competing with, it seems.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
    the problem that sodastream still faces is that you can't get the flavor of e.g. waterloo (for those who don't know: like la croix, but better) at home. so yeah, the fizz is easy, the flavor not so much. my wife and i do our own blends, but we tried the "essence oils" approach for a bit and gave up.
  - schwartzworld 6y ago
    There already is a competitor. It doesn't take a ton of expertise to attach a regulator and carbonation cap to a co2 tank. Doing it this way, it costs me $20 to get the tank filled, and I can use regular soda bottles.
- rsynnott 6y ago
kitd 6y ago
No one had heard of brands like SodaStream, ... Huh? They've been around for decades.

33 points by Brett_S 6y ago

An positive example of how passionate founders operated to serve both shareholders and the wider community comes to an unexpected end.

delduca 6y ago

I thought that was this "grommet"[1] 1 - https://v2.grommet.io https://v2.grommet.io

kps 6y ago
For a moment I thought it was Gromit.
flak48 6y ago
Me too, started to wonder what they could have done wrong
jimmaswell 6y ago
All I could think of was Wallace and Gromit.

2020-07-17 6y ago

I was involved in e-commerce when The Grommet came about and they have a lot to be proud of. That said, the reason for things ending with the founders losing control is that they took a lot of money and then didn't live up to expectations. Put more directly, they never held their own against Kickstarter, IndieGogo, or Etsy. Their investor/owners went from Rakuten (the Amazon of Japan) to Ace Hardware. The latter probably thinks of The Grommet as a way to use quirky products to get people into physical stores. At that point the founders probably want out more than they are letting on.

js2 6y ago
So they stuck some end-caps in Ace stores and put a section on its website and for that gave up a majority share? https://www.acehardware.com/grommet https://www.acehardware.com/grommet What was Ace Hardware expecting out of this deal? Aside: my local Ace is frustrating more often than not. I go there because it's a mile away, but the inventory is so small that at least half the time I can't find what I need and end up driving the extra 15 minutes to the big box hardware store. This Ace also has a small section devoted to pet supplies, but there again, it's often too small to be useful. An example: we adopted a dog last year and I wanted to get a name tag right away. PetSmart has kiosks that print these on-demand. The Ace store does not. Their employees are also no longer the experts that Ace stores were once staffed by. I'm lucky if they even know their inventory. Meanwhile at HD, I can usually find someone with plumbing experience in the plumbing section, electrician experience in electrical, etc. Not always, but so far I'm batting 0% at Ace.

vosper 6y ago

> No one had heard of brands like SodaStream, Fitbit, OtterBox, PopSockets, S’well, Bombas, SimpliSafe and Mrs. Meyers when we embraced and launched them. I'm a little confused, it sounds like they're taking credit for SodaStream, a company that's more than 100 years old and has been in homes for decades [0]? And Fitbit was only a success because of these people? Or am I just misunderstanding what they're trying to say here? [0] Aside: SodaStream is surely ripe for disruption. Home fizzy water is great. Their margin on a tiny bit of CO2 gas must be enormous, surely they're laughing all the way to the bank. How have they maintained their virtual monopoly for so long?

xyzzy_plugh 6y ago
Re: sodastream I do agree, and I don't particularly like their product. The profit margins of selling canned soda water are incredibly high. Sodastream has managed a virtual monopoly because they appear to have undercut that margin substantially (in that it is much cheaper to do yourself at home than buy soda) and have a very wide distribution network. There's a spot to swap canisters in the small hardware store down the block. If you were to create a competitor, what would your differentiator be? Cheaper? Good luck, it's already pretty cheap. They're just not worth competing with, it seems.
- PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
  the problem that sodastream still faces is that you can't get the flavor of e.g. waterloo (for those who don't know: like la croix, but better) at home. so yeah, the fizz is easy, the flavor not so much. my wife and i do our own blends, but we tried the "essence oils" approach for a bit and gave up.
- schwartzworld 6y ago
  There already is a competitor. It doesn't take a ton of expertise to attach a regulator and carbonation cap to a co2 tank. Doing it this way, it costs me $20 to get the tank filled, and I can use regular soda bottles.
rsynnott 6y ago

kitd 6y ago

No one had heard of brands like SodaStream, ... Huh? They've been around for decades.