So they had people willing to pay for the product, but not enough runway to launch?
Why not get people to pay in full ala Tesla and use that money to launch?
So Close
21–30 of 274 posts
Re: So Close
#22Is (was?) there something more to this product that I missed, or is it really a $700 smart lock?
It doesn't even have a proximity sensor -- you have to touch it to make it work. Might as well stick a key in at the same time. If I paid that kind of money I would expect my door to unlock for me when I approached it. It also has no manual override with a key like some smart locks -- it just has some backup batteries that last an unspecified amount of time. Because it has no key, it can't be re-keyed, so good luck c…
My $200 August is smart enough to unlock when I approach. For $700 I’d at least expect it to massage my backside as I walk through or something.
Re: So Close
#23Is (was?) there something more to this product that I missed, or is it really a $700 smart lock?
It doesn't even have a proximity sensor -- you have to touch it to make it work. Might as well stick a key in at the same time. If I paid that kind of money I would expect my door to unlock for me when I approached it. It also has no manual override with a key like some smart locks -- it just has some backup batteries that last an unspecified amount of time. Because it has no key, it can't be re-keyed, so good luck c…
If I paid that kind of money I would expect my door to unlock for me when I approached it.
For $700, it better open the door for me. I can get locks to merely unlock it for me for half that.
Re: So Close
#24Re: So Close
#25Can someone fix the title? it's click bait. There's no way to tell what the article is about without clicking on it. At least mention the company. (Good article though.)
Guidelines say to not editorialize titles, and stick with original, but I agree. Putting short summary in parentheses would help (like "So Close (Otto postmortem)")
Re: So Close
#26If I understand the sequence of events properly, the company entered acquisition negotiations and agreed not to solicit other bids during that time. When the acquisition fell apart, the company was out of money and had to stop operations. If that's correct, it seems to me like it's something they should have known in advance -- if they knew they would be out of money by the end of the year, why would they enter acqui…
Those were exactly my thoughts upon reading it. “Four weeks from generating revenue” and then sudden death because of a failed acquisition sounds like awful planning for a well-funded startup.
Also, it’s a damn internet-connected door lock with Bluetooth. Do you really need $45M and designing new mechanical systems from scratch to make it work? I’m sure their team did amazing work but all of it sounds incredibly head-in-the-clouds.
Re: So Close
#27Is (was?) there something more to this product that I missed, or is it really a $700 smart lock?
Well apparently this one has "a new, exciting and addictive (?) user experience".
Re: So Close
#28Is (was?) there something more to this product that I missed, or is it really a $700 smart lock?
It doesn't even have a proximity sensor -- you have to touch it to make it work. Might as well stick a key in at the same time. If I paid that kind of money I would expect my door to unlock for me when I approached it. It also has no manual override with a key like some smart locks -- it just has some backup batteries that last an unspecified amount of time. Because it has no key, it can't be re-keyed, so good luck c…
Having just bought a "non-luxury" car that locks and unlocks by proximity (plus things like OSX that does the same with Apple Watch) this seems like a no-brainer.
Re: So Close
#29Ouch. A sadly common outcome of talking to corp dev. http://paulgraham.com/corpdev.html Agreeing to no-fundraising and exclusivity clauses during a long due diligence process really puts your head in their vise. And once it's there, people within the acquirer will start saying, Hey, we could built this ourselves! Let's run the clock out and kill the competition.
Seems strange that anyone would agree not to raise more funds or negotiate with other parties for their entire remaining runway.
I mean, it puts you in the situation that you either sell to that company or you go out of business. They could offer you a fraction of the amounts they were talking about before you signed, and you'd have no alternative.
Hell, even asking you to agree to such unbalanced terms seems like a sign they're planning to pull a fast one on you and they don't intend to negotiate in good faith.
What kind of chump would agree to shoot themselves in the foot like that, unless they'd exhausted every alternative?
Re: So Close
#30Can someone fix the title? it's click bait. There's no way to tell what the article is about without clicking on it. At least mention the company. (Good article though.)
Originally it did, I guess it got moderated to the actual title of the article, as per rules?
Yes, I edited it but got changed either by bots or mods.