5 ms·

> One highly successful software entrepreneur is burning through something like $80 million in venture funding in his latest startup and has practically nothing

> One highly successful software entrepreneur is burning through something like $80 million in venture funding in his latest startup and has practically nothing to show for it except for some great press clippings and a couple of beta customers — because there is virtually no market for what he is building. Who was he talking about? Anyone has any clues?

codemac 5y ago
The number of possible startups this could be is... incredible.
vishnugupta 5y ago
Wild guess, Magic Leap?
- ilaksh 5y ago
  Augmented reality has a potential market as large as that of cell phones. Magic Leap raised not tens of millions but more than a billion dollars if I recall correctly. I believe the issue is that their product is expensive and therefore did not become popular and therefore has relatively few applications and so does not become popular.
  - ghaff 5y ago
    Wearable augmented reality will probably be very big some day. (The probably being mostly a hedge against essentially the Glasshole factor--i.e. never becoming socially acceptable for day to day casual use, as opposed to commercial applications.) But the when is anyone's guess and could easily be a decade or three out.
    - ilaksh 5y ago
      "Easily three decades" is a short-sighted prediction in my opinion. Some of the optical waveguide prototypes are quite similar to normal glasses especially with power and compute on a tether in a pocket or something. I will be very surprised if it really takes ten years.
      - ghaff 5y ago
        It's mostly the observation that VR and AR have been right around the corner for a long time. (And, yes, I'm aware that are VR products in the market but also that it's not really mainstream.) So I wouldn't be shocked if there were mainstream consumer AR glasses before the end of the decade. I also wouldn't be shocked if 10 years from now they were still at the "real soon now" stage.
gumby 5y ago
Remember “color” for example? This happens more than you’d think.

codemac 5y ago

The number of possible startups this could be is... incredible.

vishnugupta 5y ago

Wild guess, Magic Leap?

ilaksh 5y ago
Augmented reality has a potential market as large as that of cell phones. Magic Leap raised not tens of millions but more than a billion dollars if I recall correctly. I believe the issue is that their product is expensive and therefore did not become popular and therefore has relatively few applications and so does not become popular.
- ghaff 5y ago
  Wearable augmented reality will probably be very big some day. (The probably being mostly a hedge against essentially the Glasshole factor--i.e. never becoming socially acceptable for day to day casual use, as opposed to commercial applications.) But the when is anyone's guess and could easily be a decade or three out.
  - ilaksh 5y ago
    "Easily three decades" is a short-sighted prediction in my opinion. Some of the optical waveguide prototypes are quite similar to normal glasses especially with power and compute on a tether in a pocket or something. I will be very surprised if it really takes ten years.
    - ghaff 5y ago
      It's mostly the observation that VR and AR have been right around the corner for a long time. (And, yes, I'm aware that are VR products in the market but also that it's not really mainstream.) So I wouldn't be shocked if there were mainstream consumer AR glasses before the end of the decade. I also wouldn't be shocked if 10 years from now they were still at the "real soon now" stage.

gumby 5y ago

Remember “color” for example? This happens more than you’d think.