21 ms·

Soylent’s Next Chapter

64 points by ph0rque 12y ago

dankoss 12y ago
Maybe they can use some of their millions to ship orders faster than, I don't know, 3-6 months? Get it in the Amazon supply chain and have next day delivery. I'm still waiting on a reorder from a month ago and haven't heard anything since I emailed customer support.
- marcbernstein 12y ago
  The article mentions just that: "First and foremost, we will be significantly expanding our manufacturing and shipping capabilities. This process has already begun with two new manufacturers that will ramp up our production to more than fifty times its previous rate allowing us to vigorously tackle our order backlog while working toward imminent real-time shipping fulfillment."
- blairbeckwith 12y ago
  > First and foremost, we will be significantly expanding our manufacturing and shipping capabilities. This process has already begun with two new manufacturers that will ramp up our production to more than fifty times its previous rate allowing us to vigorously tackle our order backlog while working toward imminent real-time shipping fulfillment.
- nateberkopec 12y ago
  Amazon just "picks and packs" your product. They don't manufacture it for you. I'm sure 90% of Soylent's supply chain issues aren't in the shipping process but in raw material procurement and manufacture.
- ChikkaChiChi 12y ago
  I believe production was also halted due to an issue with gas? Too many people complained so they refactored the recipe.
nateberkopec 12y ago
Soylent's website claims they've shipped "over 3 million meals" (1 million bags) since launch. From what I can tell, the first bag was shipped in May 2014. That's roughly 111/k bags per month since launch. For the first nine months of a company, that's operationally extremely impressive. The delays for new customers (3-6 months, yikes) seem ridiculous, but if you do the math, I'm surprised it isn't more.
mwill 12y ago
Hoping this includes eventual international shipping. I'm an Australian, been eager to give Soylent a whirl. I've ordered a batch from a 3rd party to see how I go with it, but would be nice to have access to the genuine article.
- nateberkopec 12y ago
  I'm guessing they're so overwhelmed by domestic demand that they don't feel the need to open up the market even further.
schnable 12y ago
Lots of GMO soy and carbs, this does not seem healthy at all.
- gulpahum 12y ago
  There are healthy alternatives for Soylent. I've tried Ambronite. It's made of real food and is organic, but it's also more expensive. Its taste is quite strong when mixed with water. Mixing with juice or fruits makes it better. I just wish the price will come down. http://ambronite.com http://ambronite.com
- ARCarr 12y ago
  You say "GMO" as if it's a bad thing.
  - wdewind 12y ago
    And "carbs" as if they are bad things.
    - debacle 12y ago
      Carbs are a bad thing in large amounts. The FDA's daily carb intake recommendations (250-350g) are a joke.
      - wdewind 12y ago
        The FDA recommendations are not great, but 300g of carbs is totally reasonable if you are on a low fat diet. The problem is people on high carb diets tend to have a hard time keeping it at just 300g due to insulin level effects. But it's a behavioral issue: control the level of carb intake and you'll be fine.
        debacle 12y ago
        300g of carbs is the same amount of sugar in 3 litres of coke. Do you really think that is reasonable for anyone?
ryanseys 12y ago
I hope that, as an international customer, they will expand not only their manufacturing and shipping capabilities in the time-domain but additionally in the location-domain. There are a number of competing products that have come to market since Soylent became huge, and their one advantage over Soylent is they are offering a similar product but will ship nearly world-wide, effectively beating Soylent "by default" which is kind of sad considering these products originate in Europe. This also means potentially setting up manufacturing facilities in other parts of the world so that shipping and customs costs remain low for everyone, regardless of location. I love the idea of Soylent but haven't had the chance to try it out because I live a 1 hour's drive outside the US border in Canada. Congrats to the team on their funding!
berberous 12y ago
I still am optimistic about the idea and principles behind Soylent, but I got to say, I was not impressed with their initial product (v 1.0 and 1.1). It gives users horrific smelling gas, and honestly, I generally felt worse on Soylent than after any other type of food I have ever eaten, including junk food. (I didn't mind the taste though.) They are already at v 1.3 though. Here's hoping that this capital influx allows them to rapidly improve the recipe.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- collyw 12y ago
  I honestly can't understand the appeal or novelty in it. Ready meals have been available for years. Vitamin tables have been available for years. Where exactly does the difference lie?
  - Decade 12y ago
    Ready meals are designed for taste and palatability, not for complete daily nutrition. (Except for military MREs, apparently.) The idea of Soylent is that it's an inoffensive, cheap, and simple way to eat healthily.
    - collyw 12y ago
      It has yet to be proven healthy.
  - dagw 12y ago
    The theory is that, unlike ready meals, Soylent is designed to give you all the vitamins and nutrients a healthy, active adult needs to stay health, in a single package. No need to think about anything or worry about if you're missing anything in your diet, just chug it and go.
    - DanBC 12y ago
      Total meal replacement products have also been available for many years. These come in a variety of forms - shakes, juice-style drinks, soups. There are versions for normal drinking or for naso-gastric tube feeding. There are versions suitable for a variety of special diet needs.
n72 12y ago
Serious question: Do they have any actual nutritionists working on the product yet or just a bunch of hybristic 20-somethings who think they can "hack" the nutrition space without any real education, cause, you know, "disrupt!".
- TarpitCarnivore 12y ago
  A better question is what really separates this from any of the other meal replacement drinks/bars out there? To me it just seems like another darling of the Valley built on hype. I recall reading an interview, or perhaps someone's personal review, stating how it was difficult for them to eat meals and they'd often forget to eat. Soylent solved this problem for them because it gave them an instant meal any time of the day. Upon reading this I thought it was the most ridiculous thing I've read and stupid justification for buying Soylent.
- Kiro 12y ago
  > 20-somethings It's funny that this term is used every time Soylent is discussed on HN. Why is that?
  - Dirlewanger 12y ago
    Are you seriously asking this? What about their website/marketing video makes you think this is not aimed at millienials? Their founder is a 20-something.
  - n72 12y ago
    It has to do with the hubris issue, for me. Typically with age comes the realization that, hey, maybe I don't have all the answers. If there are some hybristic 20-somethings "disrupting" and "hacking" the real estate market or the mobile games market for women from 35-55 years old, and they fail because they thought they knew it all, well, it doesn't really matter. In the case of Soylent, though, they're playing with people's health. This is a big deal and far more healthy skepticism regarding their product is morally warranted. There are millions of years of man-hours which have gone into the study of nutrition and everything I've seen from Soylent just seems to sweep it all under the table.
ph0rque 12y ago
I've been reading HN's overwhelmingly negative treatment of Soylent (as the concept) with some amusement. I'm glad they're successful, and hope they become even more so. That said, I was really underwhelmed with the taste of Soylent when I finally got mine. I understand that I can improve it by e.g. blending a banana into the shake, but if I need to take out my blender and prepare other food to add to Soylent, I might as well make a smoothie out of available fruits and veggies. The next time I order Soylent will be when their price comes down to the point where it's cheaper than the food I buy.
- jeffreyrogers 12y ago
  This was my experience as well. I'm curious what percentage of people reorder. Nonetheless, I'm happy to see soylent doing well over some of the other startups I've seen addressing really trivial problems that probably are better off without VC funding.
- jasonisalive 12y ago
  I've been reading HN's overwhelmingly negative treatment of Soylent (as the concept) with some amusement. It's interesting. HN is supposed to represent some of the world's most dynamic, forward-thinkers. However almost every truly disruptive development is greeted with small-minded negative thinking and parochialism. Bitcoin is scam money for paranoiacs who don't trust banks. Inflation is good for economies. The rich are too rich. We need more and higher taxes and more socialist redistribution of wealth. Soylent tastes bad and destroys traditional food cultures. Uber is too powerful and going to become a monopoly. Google is evil. Without the protection of friendly governments capitalism will exploit the poor. People are too stupid to protect themselves from predatory opportunists (and the government is somehow a perfect vessel to counteract them.) Everything is scary and the way things should be is how a small group of white men who are very good friends with the US government tell us how it should be, which happens to be very similar to today but with more friendly government intervention to fix everything white male programmers are scared of and don't understand. I guess it'll be entertaining to watch people changing their tune over the coming decades.
  - 12y ago
jayess 12y ago
I just wish they would do a low-carb version. I tried soylent for a couple of weeks. I then had my annual physical and my blood sugar level was much higher than it had been in the past. So much so that my doctor asked me what I had been doing and what I was eating. He said I was now suddenly "pre-diabetic." I stopped soylent immediately. I really wanted it to be a legitimate meal alternative. I'm disappointed. As a side note, I now have four boxes of soylent for sale if anyone wants them... :)
- thatthatis 12y ago
  http://www.ketosoy.com http://www.ketosoy.com is an ultra low carb version.
- nazgulnarsil 12y ago
  It's worth noting that the first ingredient, maltodextrin, is only "not a sugar" in the technical sense. Sure, it is a weakly bonded polysaccharide and not a mono or disaccharide (the FDA's definition of what to call sugar on your label), but it is absorbed by the body at the same rate as pure glucose. I think this is pretty deceptive for the non-nutrition geek crowd.
- B5geek 12y ago
  Send me an email. I'm thinking about taking those off your hands. o2kewl_at_gmail com
- stemc43 12y ago
  Soylent Green is PEOPLEE!
- lucb1e 12y ago
  I have never heard this before. Haven't people tried it for a month with health checks before and after? Couldn't it be anything else (did you run exclusively on Soylent)? I've been thinking of ordering some for when I don't have time for lunch or don't feel like cooking or something, but this would obviously make it a no-go.
  - 12y ago
kyleblarson 12y ago
People in their 80's have been "hacking eating" for quite some time now. It's called Ensure. I think I know what's next. Depends (adult diapers) for the young tech set so you can just go to the bathroom and not disrupt that epic coding session. Because disrupt.
- jasonisalive 12y ago
  What if Ensure had a cool name and didn't carry connotations of age and disease? What if it was sexily marketed? What if it was easy to flavour and make delicious? What if you signed up for a subscription and never thought about it again? What if you got it from vending machines that were everywhere you went and recognised you as you approached, having a glass perfectly formulated to your tastes and needs at that precise moment ready? What if it came out of a tap? What if your home 3D printer could form it into a multitude of shapes and textures (bar, cookie, cereal) and it would still be nutritionally balanced? What if it was surrounded by a devoted and inventive community of DIY hackers? What if the creator of Ensure was rapidly iterating it and discussing engineering microbes to produce pure versions of it? Oh, or is it easier, instead of using your imagination and a bit of enthusiasm, to point to how it's similar to a crappy product that nobody bothered to market, and imply that it won't be sucessful - because we all know the success and impact of a product has nothing to do with the creativity, perserverance and vision of the creators, right?
  - DanBC 12y ago
    Ensure is heavily marketed. It is not irresponsibly marketed. Ensure does not claim to put you in good health. It doesn't claim o be suitable for everyone. By the way: Ensure is available in unflavoured versions to allow users to add it to other food or add other food to it.
    - jasonisalive 12y ago
      Cool story. It's not vegan though so it's useless for me. Plus I would far prefer to buy from a company (eg Soylent) that has a vision of clean, futuristic food production, rather than a company that stupidly accepts the dirty, nasty way we make food now.
thebiglebrewski 12y ago
Great time for me to say that I'm selling all of my Soylent! 6 soylent bags, 6 fish oil canister guys and the original pitcher. zachfeldman (at) gmail dot com. Make me an offer!
ChikkaChiChi 12y ago
Soylent is approaching the 'meal replacement' as an outsider to an industry that is rife with subsidization, existing partnerships, preconceived notions, and vast mires of bureaucracy. They are dogfooding their product, iterating based on feedback, publishing their findings and recipes, and still this isn't good enough for the "disruptive" community of HackerNews. The two biggest competitors in this realm according to these discussions seem to be Ensure, a product from a 127 year old publicly traded company (Abbott) with 90k employees and 40 billion in revenue, and Carnation Instant Breakfast, a product from a Swiss candy company with a laundry list of other products that don't give me a lot of faith that they have my health as their primary interest. Soylent isn't perfect yet, but neither is our understanding of the human body. I'm glad to see them get infused with more cash that will allow them to add more expertise to their roster and shore up better distribution. I'm more at ease with Soylent and it's backing than I am with the current DIY movement, at least until things settle down. I'm glad its an option. I'm even more glad that it's fostering the discussion.

64 points by ph0rque 12y ago

Maybe they can use some of their millions to ship orders faster than, I don't know, 3-6 months? Get it in the Amazon supply chain and have next day delivery. I'm still waiting on a reorder from a month ago and haven't heard anything since I emailed customer support.

marcbernstein 12y ago
The article mentions just that: "First and foremost, we will be significantly expanding our manufacturing and shipping capabilities. This process has already begun with two new manufacturers that will ramp up our production to more than fifty times its previous rate allowing us to vigorously tackle our order backlog while working toward imminent real-time shipping fulfillment."
blairbeckwith 12y ago
> First and foremost, we will be significantly expanding our manufacturing and shipping capabilities. This process has already begun with two new manufacturers that will ramp up our production to more than fifty times its previous rate allowing us to vigorously tackle our order backlog while working toward imminent real-time shipping fulfillment.
nateberkopec 12y ago
Amazon just "picks and packs" your product. They don't manufacture it for you. I'm sure 90% of Soylent's supply chain issues aren't in the shipping process but in raw material procurement and manufacture.
ChikkaChiChi 12y ago
I believe production was also halted due to an issue with gas? Too many people complained so they refactored the recipe.

nateberkopec 12y ago

Soylent's website claims they've shipped "over 3 million meals" (1 million bags) since launch. From what I can tell, the first bag was shipped in May 2014. That's roughly 111/k bags per month since launch. For the first nine months of a company, that's operationally extremely impressive. The delays for new customers (3-6 months, yikes) seem ridiculous, but if you do the math, I'm surprised it isn't more.

mwill 12y ago

Hoping this includes eventual international shipping. I'm an Australian, been eager to give Soylent a whirl. I've ordered a batch from a 3rd party to see how I go with it, but would be nice to have access to the genuine article.

nateberkopec 12y ago
I'm guessing they're so overwhelmed by domestic demand that they don't feel the need to open up the market even further.

schnable 12y ago

Lots of GMO soy and carbs, this does not seem healthy at all.

gulpahum 12y ago
There are healthy alternatives for Soylent. I've tried Ambronite. It's made of real food and is organic, but it's also more expensive. Its taste is quite strong when mixed with water. Mixing with juice or fruits makes it better. I just wish the price will come down. http://ambronite.com http://ambronite.com
ARCarr 12y ago
You say "GMO" as if it's a bad thing.
- wdewind 12y ago
  And "carbs" as if they are bad things.
  - debacle 12y ago
    Carbs are a bad thing in large amounts. The FDA's daily carb intake recommendations (250-350g) are a joke.
    - wdewind 12y ago
      The FDA recommendations are not great, but 300g of carbs is totally reasonable if you are on a low fat diet. The problem is people on high carb diets tend to have a hard time keeping it at just 300g due to insulin level effects. But it's a behavioral issue: control the level of carb intake and you'll be fine.
      - debacle 12y ago
        300g of carbs is the same amount of sugar in 3 litres of coke. Do you really think that is reasonable for anyone?

ryanseys 12y ago

I hope that, as an international customer, they will expand not only their manufacturing and shipping capabilities in the time-domain but additionally in the location-domain. There are a number of competing products that have come to market since Soylent became huge, and their one advantage over Soylent is they are offering a similar product but will ship nearly world-wide, effectively beating Soylent "by default" which is kind of sad considering these products originate in Europe. This also means potentially setting up manufacturing facilities in other parts of the world so that shipping and customs costs remain low for everyone, regardless of location. I love the idea of Soylent but haven't had the chance to try it out because I live a 1 hour's drive outside the US border in Canada. Congrats to the team on their funding!

berberous 12y ago

I still am optimistic about the idea and principles behind Soylent, but I got to say, I was not impressed with their initial product (v 1.0 and 1.1). It gives users horrific smelling gas, and honestly, I generally felt worse on Soylent than after any other type of food I have ever eaten, including junk food. (I didn't mind the taste though.) They are already at v 1.3 though. Here's hoping that this capital influx allows them to rapidly improve the recipe.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
collyw 12y ago
I honestly can't understand the appeal or novelty in it. Ready meals have been available for years. Vitamin tables have been available for years. Where exactly does the difference lie?
- Decade 12y ago
  Ready meals are designed for taste and palatability, not for complete daily nutrition. (Except for military MREs, apparently.) The idea of Soylent is that it's an inoffensive, cheap, and simple way to eat healthily.
  - collyw 12y ago
    It has yet to be proven healthy.
- dagw 12y ago
  The theory is that, unlike ready meals, Soylent is designed to give you all the vitamins and nutrients a healthy, active adult needs to stay health, in a single package. No need to think about anything or worry about if you're missing anything in your diet, just chug it and go.
  - DanBC 12y ago
    Total meal replacement products have also been available for many years. These come in a variety of forms - shakes, juice-style drinks, soups. There are versions for normal drinking or for naso-gastric tube feeding. There are versions suitable for a variety of special diet needs.

n72 12y ago

Serious question: Do they have any actual nutritionists working on the product yet or just a bunch of hybristic 20-somethings who think they can "hack" the nutrition space without any real education, cause, you know, "disrupt!".

TarpitCarnivore 12y ago
A better question is what really separates this from any of the other meal replacement drinks/bars out there? To me it just seems like another darling of the Valley built on hype. I recall reading an interview, or perhaps someone's personal review, stating how it was difficult for them to eat meals and they'd often forget to eat. Soylent solved this problem for them because it gave them an instant meal any time of the day. Upon reading this I thought it was the most ridiculous thing I've read and stupid justification for buying Soylent.
Kiro 12y ago
> 20-somethings It's funny that this term is used every time Soylent is discussed on HN. Why is that?
- Dirlewanger 12y ago
  Are you seriously asking this? What about their website/marketing video makes you think this is not aimed at millienials? Their founder is a 20-something.
- n72 12y ago
  It has to do with the hubris issue, for me. Typically with age comes the realization that, hey, maybe I don't have all the answers. If there are some hybristic 20-somethings "disrupting" and "hacking" the real estate market or the mobile games market for women from 35-55 years old, and they fail because they thought they knew it all, well, it doesn't really matter. In the case of Soylent, though, they're playing with people's health. This is a big deal and far more healthy skepticism regarding their product is morally warranted. There are millions of years of man-hours which have gone into the study of nutrition and everything I've seen from Soylent just seems to sweep it all under the table.

ph0rque 12y ago

I've been reading HN's overwhelmingly negative treatment of Soylent (as the concept) with some amusement. I'm glad they're successful, and hope they become even more so. That said, I was really underwhelmed with the taste of Soylent when I finally got mine. I understand that I can improve it by e.g. blending a banana into the shake, but if I need to take out my blender and prepare other food to add to Soylent, I might as well make a smoothie out of available fruits and veggies. The next time I order Soylent will be when their price comes down to the point where it's cheaper than the food I buy.

jeffreyrogers 12y ago
This was my experience as well. I'm curious what percentage of people reorder. Nonetheless, I'm happy to see soylent doing well over some of the other startups I've seen addressing really trivial problems that probably are better off without VC funding.
jasonisalive 12y ago
I've been reading HN's overwhelmingly negative treatment of Soylent (as the concept) with some amusement. It's interesting. HN is supposed to represent some of the world's most dynamic, forward-thinkers. However almost every truly disruptive development is greeted with small-minded negative thinking and parochialism. Bitcoin is scam money for paranoiacs who don't trust banks. Inflation is good for economies. The rich are too rich. We need more and higher taxes and more socialist redistribution of wealth. Soylent tastes bad and destroys traditional food cultures. Uber is too powerful and going to become a monopoly. Google is evil. Without the protection of friendly governments capitalism will exploit the poor. People are too stupid to protect themselves from predatory opportunists (and the government is somehow a perfect vessel to counteract them.) Everything is scary and the way things should be is how a small group of white men who are very good friends with the US government tell us how it should be, which happens to be very similar to today but with more friendly government intervention to fix everything white male programmers are scared of and don't understand. I guess it'll be entertaining to watch people changing their tune over the coming decades.
- 12y ago

jayess 12y ago

I just wish they would do a low-carb version. I tried soylent for a couple of weeks. I then had my annual physical and my blood sugar level was much higher than it had been in the past. So much so that my doctor asked me what I had been doing and what I was eating. He said I was now suddenly "pre-diabetic." I stopped soylent immediately. I really wanted it to be a legitimate meal alternative. I'm disappointed. As a side note, I now have four boxes of soylent for sale if anyone wants them... :)

thatthatis 12y ago
http://www.ketosoy.com http://www.ketosoy.com is an ultra low carb version.
nazgulnarsil 12y ago
It's worth noting that the first ingredient, maltodextrin, is only "not a sugar" in the technical sense. Sure, it is a weakly bonded polysaccharide and not a mono or disaccharide (the FDA's definition of what to call sugar on your label), but it is absorbed by the body at the same rate as pure glucose. I think this is pretty deceptive for the non-nutrition geek crowd.
B5geek 12y ago
Send me an email. I'm thinking about taking those off your hands. o2kewl_at_gmail com
stemc43 12y ago
Soylent Green is PEOPLEE!
lucb1e 12y ago
I have never heard this before. Haven't people tried it for a month with health checks before and after? Couldn't it be anything else (did you run exclusively on Soylent)? I've been thinking of ordering some for when I don't have time for lunch or don't feel like cooking or something, but this would obviously make it a no-go.
- 12y ago

kyleblarson 12y ago

People in their 80's have been "hacking eating" for quite some time now. It's called Ensure. I think I know what's next. Depends (adult diapers) for the young tech set so you can just go to the bathroom and not disrupt that epic coding session. Because disrupt.

jasonisalive 12y ago
What if Ensure had a cool name and didn't carry connotations of age and disease? What if it was sexily marketed? What if it was easy to flavour and make delicious? What if you signed up for a subscription and never thought about it again? What if you got it from vending machines that were everywhere you went and recognised you as you approached, having a glass perfectly formulated to your tastes and needs at that precise moment ready? What if it came out of a tap? What if your home 3D printer could form it into a multitude of shapes and textures (bar, cookie, cereal) and it would still be nutritionally balanced? What if it was surrounded by a devoted and inventive community of DIY hackers? What if the creator of Ensure was rapidly iterating it and discussing engineering microbes to produce pure versions of it? Oh, or is it easier, instead of using your imagination and a bit of enthusiasm, to point to how it's similar to a crappy product that nobody bothered to market, and imply that it won't be sucessful - because we all know the success and impact of a product has nothing to do with the creativity, perserverance and vision of the creators, right?
- DanBC 12y ago
  Ensure is heavily marketed. It is not irresponsibly marketed. Ensure does not claim to put you in good health. It doesn't claim o be suitable for everyone. By the way: Ensure is available in unflavoured versions to allow users to add it to other food or add other food to it.
  - jasonisalive 12y ago
    Cool story. It's not vegan though so it's useless for me. Plus I would far prefer to buy from a company (eg Soylent) that has a vision of clean, futuristic food production, rather than a company that stupidly accepts the dirty, nasty way we make food now.

thebiglebrewski 12y ago

Great time for me to say that I'm selling all of my Soylent! 6 soylent bags, 6 fish oil canister guys and the original pitcher. zachfeldman (at) gmail dot com. Make me an offer!

ChikkaChiChi 12y ago

Soylent is approaching the 'meal replacement' as an outsider to an industry that is rife with subsidization, existing partnerships, preconceived notions, and vast mires of bureaucracy. They are dogfooding their product, iterating based on feedback, publishing their findings and recipes, and still this isn't good enough for the "disruptive" community of HackerNews. The two biggest competitors in this realm according to these discussions seem to be Ensure, a product from a 127 year old publicly traded company (Abbott) with 90k employees and 40 billion in revenue, and Carnation Instant Breakfast, a product from a Swiss candy company with a laundry list of other products that don't give me a lot of faith that they have my health as their primary interest. Soylent isn't perfect yet, but neither is our understanding of the human body. I'm glad to see them get infused with more cash that will allow them to add more expertise to their roster and shore up better distribution. I'm more at ease with Soylent and it's backing than I am with the current DIY movement, at least until things settle down. I'm glad its an option. I'm even more glad that it's fostering the discussion.