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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

#211

Post by markkanof »

saberience wrote: post #192
seizethecheese wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly! Coffee : Bottomless :: Books : Amazon Interesting you mentioned Soylent. Part of the motivation for Bottomless was our Soylent subscription. We have enough piled up to survive Armageddon. I'm curious about your comment on the overhead. The scale takes 60 seconds to set up, and lasts for over a year on a charge. I definitely understand that any set-up sometimes feels like too much!

So you'd end up with loads of scales all over the kitchen? I don't understand how this sort of thing would work with many food types. Looking at the product as is, I already don't want a random scale laying around. Never mind 10 scales for 10 different products. Then if you forget to put something on a scale, the product isn't ordered. It all seems quite annoying and chaotic. Also the scale is large and ugly, and som…

I wish I could upvote you 100 times! The idea that this could scale out to a bunch of different household products seems absolutely insane. I can only think of a handful of items that we keep “in stock” in our kitchen and only a fraction of those that have a distinct placement in my kitchen. It just seems like so much hassle to knoll all my food items to make sure they are tracked correctly. I can’t even begin to imagine my wife going along with this and we have a young child who is just discovering how to get things from cabinets and the fridge so this is just a nonstarter. It feels like I would spend a good amount of my time just making sure every food item was exactly in the right spot.

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

#212

Post by Latteland »

moonka wrote: post #210

I rolled my eyes reading the synapsis, because I am picky with which coffee I order, and prefer to grab bags of local roasters. Then I looked at the roasters you offer and was impressed. I'll be putting in an order once I finish the bag in my cupboard I just picked up. If only you had Slate* it would be perfect for me because you'd have 4 out of the 4 I prefer instead of just 3 out of 4. * https://slatecoffee.com/

I work right by the one in pioneer square. slate is excellent. I hate that they refer to a latte as espresso + milk though :-)

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

#213

Post by nathan_f77 »

This is awesome! I've been wanting to build something similar to this for many years. I also wanted to hack together a prototype with a Raspberry Pi and scale, and automatically add items to a grocery list whenever the weight dropped below a certain threshold. Automatic ordering and delivery would be great too, but I don't think that would be viable in most countries.

I'd love to have a smart fridge / pantry where every spot on the shelf had a scale, and could detect when things are running low. Unfortunately most of the big appliance companies seem to be spinning their wheels on strange and useless "innovations" like putting Twitter on your fridge.

I think starting with a single product and having a subscription model is a really smart idea. Unfortunately Amazon has an enormous edge, especially after acquiring Whole Foods. Also the Amazon Dash button, and Amazon Go for automatic checkout. I've been expecting Amazon to put out a product like this for a long time (maybe their own smart fridge with automatic restocking.)

So I think it's very brave to go into this market! I hope it works out well with the coffee, and that you're able to expand into other products.

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

#214

Post by peterwwillis »

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #170

I think the business case with the same idea and tech, but a lot better market cap, would be providing a restocking service to businesses who are using tens of thousands of dollars of consumable shop supplies than the small audience of people who are willing to buy coffee from a subscription for $3/mo. To make the pain point that I'm familiar with on a daily basis crystal clear to you: I'm an engineer at a small, sho…

Came here to echo this, but for grocery stores ala Amazon's bumbled attempts to optimize Whole Foods stocking.

Your use case and the parent's sound like a good use of JIT Kanban[1], waiting for inventory levels to drop below a threshold to replenish them. However, demand-forecasting[2] may also be useful in the parent's use case, and sometimes both systems are used in a product lifecycle.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_forecasting

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

#215

Post by sghiassy »

rorykoehler wrote: post #187
seizethecheese wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah love grocery shopping when I’m making a meal or shopping for something unique. Personally, I’m not a fan of shopping for the same stuff over and over.

That's kind of my point. I buy coffee every week but rarely the same one. In fact discovering, comparing and contrasting various beans, washes, roasts and preparation types is half the joy of coffee.

Just for contrast, I buy the same coffee every week.

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

#216

Post by seizethecheese »

titanix2 wrote: post #186

Yet another startup that throws tech at a non-issue. People buying cheap coffee just do that when doing their groceries. And people buying expensive ones are probably inclined to try new ones based on recommendations of their local dedicated store. Congratulations, you removed chit-chat with the clerk, smelling the different varieties of products, buying something unplanned, i.e. what’s make interesting to go buying…

You're basically making an argument against all e-commerce.

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

#217

Post by black-tea »

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!

Use reusable diapers.

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

#218

Post by kkarakk »

saberience wrote: post #193
seizethecheese wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, we've thought a lot about this. We could end up doing something like what you describe. The reason for the current format is that we want the scales to blend into your normal life. The scale is the size of one coffee bag so you just put it where you'd normally put your bag.

The scale seems way too big and ugly to fit into my kitchen, never mind multiple of them.

coffee aficionados tend to have lots of random bulky objects in the kitchen anyways. coffee makers,coffee implements, temperature sensors etc etc

it quickly becomes a hassle to stow it all away everytime so you end up chucking it all in one "space"

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

#219

Post by chungleong »

rorykoehler wrote: post #175
function_seven wrote: post #162

My initial reaction to this post was very dismissive. I was ready to jump into the comments and nod along with everyone else shitting all over it. But, I don't want to be like CmdrTaco and the iPod, or whoever thought an rsync bash script could replace Dropbox. If you prove this out with coffee, and work on making it for all "constant" foods in the home, this would be awesome. Milk, butter, cheese, eggs, soda, cereal…

I kind of like going to the supermarket. I also like variety. This sounds like it would work better for offices etc

In an office, coffee consumption would be fairly constant, such that you can just buy it on a schedule.

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

#220

Post by kkarakk »

conductr wrote: post #130

> universal problem Slight inconvenience != problem. If this works out, I’m going into the catheter business because peeing is universal too. I do wish you best of luck and hope you find people who care enough to buy your product. This just sounds like an uphill battle to me Edit to add; I’m not a fan of the weight approach. This assumes a lot and can’t predict what I’ll need tomorrow. Also, it forces me to put thing…

you just leave your coffee bags lying around after you finish making coffee?
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