"Juicero Inc., the startup behind the $399 internet-connected juice machine, said it’s cutting 25 percent of its staff.
The job reductions, which are primarily in sales and marketing, are being made as Juicero is trying to lower the price of its machine and juice packs. The company’s product came under scrutiny in April, when Bloomberg revealed the packs could be squeezed by hand, yielding almost the same amount of juice in a shorter period of time than with the machine. "
“We’re still some time away from introducing substantially lower pricing and unveiling a national distribution strategy to achieve the scale we’re aiming for,” Dunn said in the letter. Juicero’s machine costs $399 and the company’s juice packs cost $5 - $7."
So basically, this startup sells $7 juice packs and a $400 machine that squeezes the packs. When I heard of this a year or two ago, I thought it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Why not just buy juice? For every runaway success tech company, there is some dumb sh*t destined to be material in future comedic articles.
I know a bunch of finance guys who, after making a bit of money and connections in their regular job, just go and become “venture capitalists”. These dudes have no special qualifications in running startups. Probably they are ripping new @ssholes for their investors. Percentile returns for these funds are pretty bad and returns are skewed towards “home runs” that no one can predict. Plus, they have long lock up periods, so basically you can charge your client 3% for like 7 years and they can’t do dick about it.
I think part of the genius in shark tank is it jumpstarts these companies with advertising through being on the show and stimulates real demand and growth from day 1
"You can squeeze the Juicero bags with your bare hands. Two backers said the final device was bulkier than what was originally pitched and that they were puzzled to find that customers could achieve similar results without it. Bloomberg performed its own press test, pitting a Juicero machine against a reporter’s grip. The experiment found that squeezing the bag yields nearly the same amount of juice just as quickly—and in some cases, faster—than using the device.
Juicero declined to comment. A person close to the company said Juicero is aware the packs can be squeezed by hand but that most people would prefer to use the machine because the process is more consistent and less messy. The device also reads a QR code printed on the back of each produce pack and checks the source against an online database to ensure the contents haven’t expired or been recalled, the person said. The expiration date is also printed on the pack."
the current richest guy who graduated same class as me in high school wasnt the guy who went to harvard for econ. it was the guy who went to berkeley for architecture, who alongside some biz students and comp science students created a food delivery startup that was acquired by square for $90m. now all he does is travel the world. i am low key jealous of him so i assume ohai knows the founders and is hating.
