5 ms·

What are you building?

by nojs 6y ago

contingencies 6y ago
The consumer view is always available, meaningfully personalized food produced on demand from fresh ingredients as an autonomous urban utility, 10-20× faster than delivery services. Technically, we're building the robotics, R&D and manufacturing capacities to define and dominate that market with a network of just-in-time contactless kiosk-format microfactories. As a consequence of the challenging form factor we've set for ourselves, the regulatory requirements of food handling and so on, let's just say the complexity and BOM length is arguably greater than most vehicles.
- nl 6y ago
  As someone who's had some ancillary involvement in a hardware product I have a lot of sympathy with the disconnect between doing hardware and the "ship fast SAAS product" mindset. However, in this case your comment: > As a consequence of the challenging form factor we've set for ourselves does seem to indicate that decisions you have made yourself are one of the factors causing you to slow down here. Something to consider...
  - contingencies 6y ago
    Well, if you survey the space we are looking at you will find good commercial reasons for that form factor. Such as: size of available spaces under typical vending leases, fits through door, fits in lift, fits in corridor, fits in truck, etc.
    - nl 6y ago
      I don't think anyone will ever argue that you know your market well! I think what people are trying to say is that there maybe ways to get a partial solution to a smaller part of your customer base much quicker and for less money.
      - contingencies 6y ago
        Yes. There may be. But there's no solution cheaper or faster than letting someone else prove the market on your behalf. In our case, we have seen enough proof in the last few years: last mile delivery commodification, 50% of every $1 spent in food retail is convenience-driven, etc. We do not need to prove humans want food or that frustrated demand exists. What we need to prove is that we can supply it, cost effectively, profitably, at scale, with technology we uniquely design, manufacture and operate with a defensible lead.

What are you building?

by nojs 6y ago

What are you building?

The consumer view is always available, meaningfully personalized food produced on demand from fresh ingredients as an autonomous urban utility, 10-20× faster than delivery services. Technically, we're building the robotics, R&D and manufacturing capacities to define and dominate that market with a network of just-in-time contactless kiosk-format microfactories. As a consequence of the challenging form factor we've set for ourselves, the regulatory requirements of food handling and so on, let's just say the complexity and BOM length is arguably greater than most vehicles.

nl 6y ago
As someone who's had some ancillary involvement in a hardware product I have a lot of sympathy with the disconnect between doing hardware and the "ship fast SAAS product" mindset. However, in this case your comment: > As a consequence of the challenging form factor we've set for ourselves does seem to indicate that decisions you have made yourself are one of the factors causing you to slow down here. Something to consider...
- contingencies 6y ago
  Well, if you survey the space we are looking at you will find good commercial reasons for that form factor. Such as: size of available spaces under typical vending leases, fits through door, fits in lift, fits in corridor, fits in truck, etc.
  - nl 6y ago
    I don't think anyone will ever argue that you know your market well! I think what people are trying to say is that there maybe ways to get a partial solution to a smaller part of your customer base much quicker and for less money.
    - contingencies 6y ago
      Yes. There may be. But there's no solution cheaper or faster than letting someone else prove the market on your behalf. In our case, we have seen enough proof in the last few years: last mile delivery commodification, 50% of every $1 spent in food retail is convenience-driven, etc. We do not need to prove humans want food or that frustrated demand exists. What we need to prove is that we can supply it, cost effectively, profitably, at scale, with technology we uniquely design, manufacture and operate with a defensible lead.