Go Fast & Outsource Everything You Can
Go Fast & Outsource Everything You Can
//Intro
[Thesis]
Organizing my thoughts the state of technology in 2017 was more daunting than expected. 2017 was a messy year all around, and the technology business kept getting pulled into the muck no matter how hard it tried to stay quiet and keep it’s head down. The mascot for this tension was the Silicon Valley thought leader on Twitter, stubbornly attempting to pull the topic back to self-driving, deep learning, crypto, or AR while #MeToo revelations, North Korean missile tests, and political bombshells exploded around them. Despite these best efforts, tech seemed to became mainstream news only when it was caught up in these threads.
A new model of start up which can scale up while staying small and fast. The trick is to outsource everything humanly possible. SaaS businesses hinted at this future as they built and distributed their products in the cloud. But now, the pieces are in place for all businesses to benefit, not just the ones with digital goods. Many departments, not just IT ops, are now available for outsourcing.
Ousted from the raw food stores he co-founded, Doug Evans couldn’t get his daily cold-pressed juice. After discussing the problem with his health coach, Evans began working on what he proclaimed to be, “one of the most significant things to impact human health on a global basis.”
Over one hundred people spent 33 months secretly building the juicer of Evans’ dreams. They delivered a Yves Behar-designed appliance of aircraft-grade aluminum. It contained over 400 custom parts, two motors, 10 circuit boards, a camera, WiFi chips, and antennae. The machine juiced ‘Produce Packs’: breathable plastic pouches filled with precisely minced fruits and vegetables sourced directly from organic farms. Pouches shipped to customers could be used for a week before their appliance would recognize the dated QR code and refuse to juice.
Evans’ Juicero raised over $120 million of venture capital from the biggest names in the Valley, including Google, Kleiner Perkins, and Carmello Anthony.
In 2016, the first Juiceros were sold for $699. In 2017, the price dropped to $399 following slow sales and criticism. Two Bloomberg reporters surprised investors when they discovered Produce Packs could be squeezed by hand. Shortly after, the company folded.
[Instant Pot summary]
[Comparison and wrap up]
//Where else?
[Jets vs. Drones]
[AI vs. Bots]
[Dollar General?]
[Pirate boxes?]
//What are the effects/learnings?
tk
//Innovation I’d Like to See
[Wii for VR]
[Dashcams]
[Ad hoc networks]