$400 VC-Backed Juice Machine Is Completely Unnecessary(daringfireball.net) |
$400 VC-Backed Juice Machine Is Completely Unnecessary(daringfireball.net) |
I think we can guess what the probable answers are.
Process...
Step 1: Pick a natural, functional, thing like a fruit.
Step 2: Hype the crap out of it (or wait until someone else does).
Step 3: Re-invent some part of it (eg. fruit skin) as an artificial product (eg. QR-coded spacepack) so that you can charge money for it, even though this is both unethical and wasteful, and actually less functional in many ways (eg. hard expiry, juice only output, damage less apparent, etc.) than the original.
Step 4: Sell a subscription.
Step 5: Obtain some kind of industrial protection racket through regulatory means, by claiming the natural alternative is unsanitary, of dubious or dangerously uncontrolled quality.
This is basically how a lot of the pharmaceutical industry works (with a few extra steps like co-opting/corrupting established points of community trust, integrating an insurance protection racket, etc.), as well as diet pills, cuisine fads, juice industry, etc.
Was this really the top US hardware startup last year?
Was this really the top US hardware startup last year?
Carbon raised $80 million in Sept.
I did some further reading on the business and answered some of the questions I had. They have a 3-stage wash for inbound vegetables, however it does vary per ingredient. Since many people in the industry integrate chemicals such as chlorine during washing for sanitation purposes, there is a significant likelihood that they are too and therefore there likely remains a percentage of residue. Ingredients are sourced to their southern California facility for washing, cutting and packing for national redistribution to 17 states. It's a pretty carbon heavy operation.
The hubris.
> different than bottled juice
Maybe no different than Suja or something like that. But they charge $8/bottle - so maybe Juicero is cheaper in the long run, even with the wildly overpriced dispenser.
In addition, you can get ready-to-drink fruit juices in larger quantities at your local megamart.
Note that the Juicero does not actually do anything other than open a packet and pour into a glass.