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Software isn’t super hard I suppose, but you still need a dozen “rockstar devs” and $1mil in licensed software to push out a car, so yeah probably it’s a minimu

Software isn’t super hard I suppose, but you still need a dozen “rockstar devs” and $1mil in licensed software to push out a car, so yeah probably it’s a minimum $5-10m exercise for basic software that can just drive around. And if you start talking about razzle dazzle infotainment smart phone experiences, well that’s where you get the $1b price tag from. My startup is actually aiming to disrupt the low end of this with a generic VCU that lets you design any vehicle you want and then tweak a few arguments to set how it should be controlled. The goal is to let you build a Slate-like car or truck (infotainment excluded / BYO) without writing software.

71bw 1y ago
Interesting, mind sharing a bit more about the startup?
- aetherspawn 1y ago
  We use a production VCU hardware with custom software. It currently supports most of the VCU functions you would find in a production vehicle, including in-built CCS2 and NACS charging on the single controller (wires directly to socket). We’ve put customised versions of our product in a few commercial vehicles, mainly retrofits. Our backstory is that we’ve been consulting in custom E2E vehicle controls for a long time and now we’re productising for better scalability of our expert team (capturing expertise in product so we can eventually take a step back). Currently doing an angel/seed round: looking to raise US$ 250K. Very close to profitability due to low burn rate and having a lot of existing IP, so not planning to do any subsequent round like Series A. We think it could grow into a $50m company with low headcount in the style of Airbnb. Based in Australia.
  - 71bw 1y ago
    Willing to invest $5 if you're down... :-)
    - aetherspawn 1y ago
      Thank you for the interest, I wish VCs shared your enthusiasm haha!
      - 71bw 1y ago
        Genuinely though, if you're interested in getting rid of 1 (1) share hit me up balu [at] xdapierdolnik [d o t] pl

71bw 1y ago

Interesting, mind sharing a bit more about the startup?

aetherspawn 1y ago
We use a production VCU hardware with custom software. It currently supports most of the VCU functions you would find in a production vehicle, including in-built CCS2 and NACS charging on the single controller (wires directly to socket). We’ve put customised versions of our product in a few commercial vehicles, mainly retrofits. Our backstory is that we’ve been consulting in custom E2E vehicle controls for a long time and now we’re productising for better scalability of our expert team (capturing expertise in product so we can eventually take a step back). Currently doing an angel/seed round: looking to raise US$ 250K. Very close to profitability due to low burn rate and having a lot of existing IP, so not planning to do any subsequent round like Series A. We think it could grow into a $50m company with low headcount in the style of Airbnb. Based in Australia.
- 71bw 1y ago
  Willing to invest $5 if you're down... :-)
  - aetherspawn 1y ago
    Thank you for the interest, I wish VCs shared your enthusiasm haha!
    - 71bw 1y ago
      Genuinely though, if you're interested in getting rid of 1 (1) share hit me up balu [at] xdapierdolnik [d o t] pl