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Launch HN: Bottomless (YC W19) – Coffee Restocked with a Smart Scale

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Re: Launch HN: Bottomless (YC W19) – Coffee Restocked with a Smart Scale

#31

Post by noirbot »

So, I really like this idea, and I've been with plenty of coffee subscriptions over the last few years. My issue/worry is that I don't make coffee at home on a daily rate. I have coffee at the office most weekdays, and then at home on the weekend, and then usually also on one day I work from home.

For me, it would be really nice for your service to work out something like "You make 60g of coffee on Saturdays and Sundays, and then 30g's on Wednesday" and then work out when I'll be running out, and maybe order me a new bag to come in on Friday because it knows I'll likely run out on Saturday.

This doesn't seem super hard to do, but does seem like something that's important to work out, since there's a lot of products that people don't use on with regular daily amount.

Re: Launch HN: Bottomless (YC W19) – Coffee Restocked with a Smart Scale

#32

Post by seizethecheese »

bg451 wrote: post #27

Just a note on four barrel: One of their cofounders sexually harassed and assaulted their employees. The other cofounders were aware and complicit until a lawsuit finally hit. They promised to make four barrel employee owned but still have not followed up on that promise: https://www.sfchronicle.com/restaurants/article/Four-Barrel-... We stopped ordering from four barrel because of these reasons and I'd recommend you…

Thanks for the note.

We have been told by Four Barrel that they are now employee owned and that the former owner is no longer involved.

My email is available at my account. If you know for certain that the above is not true, please reach out.

Re: Launch HN: Bottomless (YC W19) – Coffee Restocked with a Smart Scale

#34

Post by seizethecheese »

greenpizza13 wrote: post #21
trt808 wrote: post #8

I always keep my coffee beans in the freezer after opening the bag :/

You shouldn't freeze your beans. You can get a container which allows the beans to degas at a constant rate, which keeps them fresher for longer on your counter. Good beans don't deserve the freezer.

I'd love this thread to become a debate on the merits of freezing beans :).

Re: Launch HN: Bottomless (YC W19) – Coffee Restocked with a Smart Scale

#35

Post by seizethecheese »

noirbot wrote: post #31

So, I really like this idea, and I've been with plenty of coffee subscriptions over the last few years. My issue/worry is that I don't make coffee at home on a daily rate. I have coffee at the office most weekdays, and then at home on the weekend, and then usually also on one day I work from home. For me, it would be really nice for your service to work out something like "You make 60g of coffee on Saturdays and Sund…

Interesting use case.

This actually mirrors a lot of our customers, so it's important for our system to take this consumption pattern into account.

After a few orders, the system will learn that you make 120g on weekends with sporadic weekday consumption.

Re: Launch HN: Bottomless (YC W19) – Coffee Restocked with a Smart Scale

#36

Post by paulgerhardt »

seizethecheese wrote: post #10
alexbecker wrote: post #3

I don't see the value-add of a scale over, say, a button. I'm going to be interacting with the coffee when I use it, why not just leave the decision to re-order to me then?

Thanks for the feedback. We weren't sure a scale would work either. We tested it with some skepticism. It turns out, leaving your coffee on a scale is intuitive for most people. This actually works as a way to do re-ordering without the user having to think of it at all. It's like a Dash button that presses itself. For what it's worth, Amazon recently discontinued Dash buttons. :)

We love our Bottomless scale!

The thing I would add is this product works particularly well at our office. It’s one less task to delegate. At home I can mentally keep tabs on how supplies are diminishing but in an office environment there are more chaotic variables that I don’t have visibility into the effect resource consumption.

Also protip: tare (reset to zero) the scale with an airtight container like a “coffee gator” and store the beans on the scale in that.

Re: Launch HN: Bottomless (YC W19) – Coffee Restocked with a Smart Scale

#37

Post by noirbot »

seizethecheese wrote: post #32
bg451 wrote: post #27

Just a note on four barrel: One of their cofounders sexually harassed and assaulted their employees. The other cofounders were aware and complicit until a lawsuit finally hit. They promised to make four barrel employee owned but still have not followed up on that promise: https://www.sfchronicle.com/restaurants/article/Four-Barrel-... We stopped ordering from four barrel because of these reasons and I'd recommend you…

Thanks for the note. We have been told by Four Barrel that they are now employee owned and that the former owner is no longer involved. My email is available at my account. If you know for certain that the above is not true, please reach out.

I'd be open to believing that and I definitely don't want to mess them up too much, but at this point, their brand has done so much shady stuff over the years that it's really hard to trust them any more, especially when there's so many good options that don't have assaulters and potentially complicit owners in the mix.

Re: Launch HN: Bottomless (YC W19) – Coffee Restocked with a Smart Scale

#38

Post by seizethecheese »

noirbot wrote: post #26
seizethecheese wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We'll be sure to reach out! Thanks for the tip.

I'd also totally recommend Dark Matter. They have a great subscription right now that, IMO, is fairly approachable, but still interesting enough for folks who are into unique coffee. They also have one of the best supply chains I've run into - 2-day shipping to most places, so you're getting really fresh coffee. Turns out Chicago is nice for that. Madcap is also excellent, as well as Tandem, Wild Gift, Ritual... On t…

Thanks for the recommendations!

Re: Four Barrel - copied from above:

We have been told by Four Barrel that they are now employee owned and that the former owner is no longer involved.

My email is available at my account. If you know for certain that the above is not true, please reach out.

Re: Launch HN: Bottomless (YC W19) – Coffee Restocked with a Smart Scale

#39

Post by psalminen »

noirbot wrote: post #31

So, I really like this idea, and I've been with plenty of coffee subscriptions over the last few years. My issue/worry is that I don't make coffee at home on a daily rate. I have coffee at the office most weekdays, and then at home on the weekend, and then usually also on one day I work from home. For me, it would be really nice for your service to work out something like "You make 60g of coffee on Saturdays and Sund…

I am in the same boat. This kind of irregular is what has stopped me from automatically re-ordering a la Amazon subscriptions. It would be amazing if this was solved.

Re: Launch HN: Bottomless (YC W19) – Coffee Restocked with a Smart Scale

#40

Post by lazyasciiart »

seizethecheese wrote: post #25
jchallis wrote: post #23

The biggest stockout problems in my life are those where an inconvenience turns into a big mess. If you can expand your thinking to that problem, I'm very interested. Specifically: Toilet Paper Diapers Diaper Wipes Paper Towels Cat Litter Laundry Detergent Sanitary Napkins / Tampons Auto-coffee refill is something I can avoid. Diaper stockout -- the horror!

Thank you! We're always wondering what the biggest restocking problems are for people. Your list are all products we're planning to address eventually. The real question is: what do we do next ?

Toilet paper. By far the biggest market out of those listed above, bulky and inconvenient to pick up at the shops while doing other things or to stock up on, catastrophic not to have. You'd need two/three levels of comfort, probably.
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