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What happened to Pippin / Rent the Backyard

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Re: What happened to Pippin / Rent the Backyard

#21

Post by sokoloff »

nikanj wrote: post #14
pbreit wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get why there was such an emphasis on building a factory/assembly line from the very beginning. An experienced general contractor can get 650sf dwellings built pretty easily, especially in the confines of a wharehouse.

The assembly line gives the company the Tech Aura which gets them funded.

You’ve definitely got a point here, but I think you could announce that strategy and still spin some MVP/MLP/PMF jargon to explain why you’re slow-rolling the factory while building the first dozen units.

Re: What happened to Pippin / Rent the Backyard

#22

Post by pyb »

sokoloff wrote: post #21
nikanj wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The assembly line gives the company the Tech Aura which gets them funded.

You’ve definitely got a point here, but I think you could announce that strategy and still spin some MVP/MLP/PMF jargon to explain why you’re slow-rolling the factory while building the first dozen units.

They had to believe 100% in the assembly-line strategy, in order to work on this in the first place, and to sell it to investors.

Re: What happened to Pippin / Rent the Backyard

#23

Post by jspash »

"We believed that , workers with limited skills could be quickly trained and perform just as well as workers who would cost twice as much to employ"

My oh my. Will they ever learn?

You could power a small town by attaching a generator to the (imaginary) revolving door of my company used by bootcamp grads, overseas devs and relatives of senior management who tinker with computers.

That last one is not made up!

Re: What happened to Pippin / Rent the Backyard

#24

Post by nibbleshifter »

Jesus Christ, this almost physically hurt to read.

Its exactly the kind of thing I expect from when people in tech go try do something in other sectors without an adult in the room.

Thoughts on the "lessons" (out of order, deliberately).

Lesson 2: Word salad that basically means "we hired people who didn't know what they were doing, and expected the performance of professional tradesmen to just magically happen".

Lesson 1: see lesson 2, but with additional process issues that anyone with any construction experience could have warned you about, and chronic understaffing to keep a lean headcount.

Lesson 3: basically they decided to ignore tried and tested business strategies for growth and wing it instead. This didn't work.

Lesson 4-6 mostly, again, are poor business planning.

See also: recent HN threads of Hackernews readers largely incorrecting each other about work in the trades.

Re: What happened to Pippin / Rent the Backyard

#25

Post by saalweachter »

UncleEntity wrote: post #19
rippercushions wrote: post #8

Is there a typo in the intro, or did they really build only 10 (ten) houses during 4 years?

I think I could personally build ten little backyard houses in four years all by myself. —edit— Did some reading on this project and it seems they intended to do 10 units as a test run, just wondering if they get to keep them or if the homeowners have to buy them out?

> I am proud to share that all of Rent the Backyard’s customers either received their home from us or received a 100% refund.

That makes it sound like the customers are renting their back yards to third parties, and the company was just selling a product.

Re: What happened to Pippin / Rent the Backyard

#26

Post by luckylion »

jspash wrote: post #23

"We believed that , workers with limited skills could be quickly trained and perform just as well as workers who would cost twice as much to employ" My oh my. Will they ever learn? You could power a small town by attaching a generator to the (imaginary) revolving door of my company used by bootcamp grads, overseas devs and relatives of senior management who tinker with computers. That last one is not made up!

"Look, we have people who know how to do this. We can just hire a bunch of other people and have our people sit down with them for an afternoon or two and tell them how to do it, right? Why hasn't anyone done this before? Guess it's time to disrupt the market."

Re: What happened to Pippin / Rent the Backyard

#27

Post by mherdeg »

causality0 wrote: post #18

Huh, I could've sworn there was an HN submission where this company announced they were pivoting to a different business model. I remember being happy, because I thought "get poor people to pay to live in a poverty box in their betters' back yards" was the most dystopian shit I'd ever heard.

Looks like there is also myhomestead.com & ottoadu.com ( https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/homestead ). Are you thinking of them maybe?

Re: What happened to Pippin / Rent the Backyard

#28

Post by thehappypm »

causality0 wrote: post #18

Huh, I could've sworn there was an HN submission where this company announced they were pivoting to a different business model. I remember being happy, because I thought "get poor people to pay to live in a poverty box in their betters' back yards" was the most dystopian shit I'd ever heard.

Homelessness and excruciatingly high rent is far more dystopian.

Re: What happened to Pippin / Rent the Backyard

#29

Post by aliqot »

nibbleshifter wrote: post #24

Jesus Christ, this almost physically hurt to read. Its exactly the kind of thing I expect from when people in tech go try do something in other sectors without an adult in the room. Thoughts on the "lessons" (out of order, deliberately). Lesson 2: Word salad that basically means "we hired people who didn't know what they were doing, and expected the performance of professional tradesmen to just magically happen". Les…

I've never wished ill on HN, but I'm glad they failed at this approach. People can get hurt, physically, financially, beyond repair by groups that take the software mentality into physical products.

Skilled laborers cost money not for what they're doing for you, but for the years and sweat they put into knowing safety practices, codes, and proper workmanship.

Re: What happened to Pippin / Rent the Backyard

#30

Post by porcheetoh »

nibbleshifter wrote: post #24

Jesus Christ, this almost physically hurt to read. Its exactly the kind of thing I expect from when people in tech go try do something in other sectors without an adult in the room. Thoughts on the "lessons" (out of order, deliberately). Lesson 2: Word salad that basically means "we hired people who didn't know what they were doing, and expected the performance of professional tradesmen to just magically happen". Les…

Businesses fail all the time. Very often because the founders are inexperienced and underestimate just how much knowledge and skill it takes to run something seemingly simple. This is not unusual, it should not “physically hurt” to read. There but for the grace of god etc.

The hyperbole and disdain is unappealing.

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