How We Spent $500 on Tech to Ship $2.6M of Soylent • Hacker News Board

Re: How We Spent $500 on Tech to Ship $2.6M of Soylent

#31

Post by TDL » Thu, Jun 04, 2015, 1:25 PM UTC

nbouscal wrote: post #21

"a $500 system that successfully managed the first four months of Soylent shipments." Successfully is rather overstating it. The shipment of Soylent was delayed by over a year and went at a snail's pace. My shipment was delayed at a rate of roughly one month per month, with it eventually arriving something like six months after the first shipment had gone out, despite being one of the first backers. I can't think of…

Wasn't that an issue with the overwhelming demand (and not having sourced enough ingredients) as opposed to shipping issues? I don't think your shipment of Soylent was in transit for six months.

Re: How We Spent $500 on Tech to Ship $2.6M of Soylent

#32

Post by reamworks » Thu, Jun 04, 2015, 1:36 PM UTC

SQL2219 wrote: post #13

Don't eat soy.

I get that you don't like this product, but why do you have to lie? There's no soy in it.

Re: How We Spent $500 on Tech to Ship $2.6M of Soylent

#33

Post by chrisBob » Thu, Jun 04, 2015, 1:38 PM UTC

moonbug wrote: post #20

Cool story bro, but it give me hives just reading it. "We didn't know anything about physical order fulfilment so we hacked our way into a local optimum, rather than asking anyone who knew". Or, as we say hereabouts, a month in the lab solves a day in the library. But it only cost $500! Well, I'm sure that'll come as a lovely surprise come payday when John discovers he's working pro bono. Also, that product looks dis…

I love math where $500 in hardware plus 6 months of engineer salary equals $500.

I am a grad student making about $30k/yr and my advisor still says to figure labor as costing $1,000/day.

Re: How We Spent $500 on Tech to Ship $2.6M of Soylent

#34

Post by eslackey » Thu, Jun 04, 2015, 1:38 PM UTC

nbouscal wrote: post #21

"a $500 system that successfully managed the first four months of Soylent shipments." Successfully is rather overstating it. The shipment of Soylent was delayed by over a year and went at a snail's pace. My shipment was delayed at a rate of roughly one month per month, with it eventually arriving something like six months after the first shipment had gone out, despite being one of the first backers. I can't think of…

I never even received my order. Had to get a refund about a year later.

Re: How We Spent $500 on Tech to Ship $2.6M of Soylent

#35

Post by jackcarter » Thu, Jun 04, 2015, 1:38 PM UTC

SQL2219 wrote: post #13

Don't eat soy.

Soylent is to soy as javascript is to java.

Re: How We Spent $500 on Tech to Ship $2.6M of Soylent

#36

Post by replicatorblog » Thu, Jun 04, 2015, 1:40 PM UTC

Does anyone know why an off-the-shelf solution like Magento or Shopify paired with a label printer wouldn't have worked? It's interesting to see the the mechanics of an early-stage startup, but this feels like a largely solved problem? Also, how did the mess of labels get matched with the specific orders, someone was just matching invoices and stickers?

Re: How We Spent $500 on Tech to Ship $2.6M of Soylent

#37

Post by nbouscal » Thu, Jun 04, 2015, 1:44 PM UTC

TDL wrote: post #31

nbouscal wrote: post #21

"a $500 system that successfully managed the first four months of Soylent shipments." Successfully is rather overstating it. The shipment of Soylent was delayed by over a year and went at a snail's pace. My shipment was delayed at a rate of roughly one month per month, with it eventually arriving something like six months after the first shipment had gone out, despite being one of the first backers. I can't think of…

Wasn't that an issue with the overwhelming demand (and not having sourced enough ingredients) as opposed to shipping issues? I don't think your shipment of Soylent was in transit for six months.

I'm sure it was a combination of a lot of issues. They did have a lot of demand, and with that demand came full advance payments for all of that product, which they got to use interest-free for the entire time from sale to delivery. I'm not trying to say their job was easy, or that the main difficulty was any particular thing. I am saying that the result was a long way from being something that merits this kind of self-congratulatory blog post.

Re: How We Spent $500 on Tech to Ship $2.6M of Soylent

#38

Post by patcheudor » Thu, Jun 04, 2015, 1:48 PM UTC

Rifu wrote: post #24

nbouscal wrote: post #21

"a $500 system that successfully managed the first four months of Soylent shipments." Successfully is rather overstating it. The shipment of Soylent was delayed by over a year and went at a snail's pace. My shipment was delayed at a rate of roughly one month per month, with it eventually arriving something like six months after the first shipment had gone out, despite being one of the first backers. I can't think of…

To be fair, you receiving the product is technically a success. But I understand where you're coming from.

I actually received my order twice! The second order arrived nearly two months after the first and after subsequent orders had been delivered. Getting a free months worth of Soylent was awesome. I sent a thank-you note to the Soylent team and they were very well humored about the situation.

Re: How We Spent $500 on Tech to Ship $2.6M of Soylent

#39

Post by virmundi » Thu, Jun 04, 2015, 1:55 PM UTC

reamworks wrote: post #32

SQL2219 wrote: post #13

Don't eat soy.

I get that you don't like this product, but why do you have to lie? There's no soy in it.

Then why do they say there's soy in it? https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/201274745-Vegan-Or...

I can see that there might be soy from the processing plant, but I can't find that information easily on their site.

Re: How We Spent $500 on Tech to Ship $2.6M of Soylent

#40

Post by dangrossman » Thu, Jun 04, 2015, 2:07 PM UTC

virmundi wrote: post #39

reamworks wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get that you don't like this product, but why do you have to lie? There's no soy in it.

Then why do they say there's soy in it? https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/201274745-Vegan-Or... I can see that there might be soy from the processing plant, but I can't find that information easily on their site.

Here's the ingredients label: http://files.soylent.com/pdf/soylent-nutrition-facts.pdf

Soy or soybeans are not an ingredient in Soylent. It has the "Contains: Soy" allergen label because it contains a small amount of soy lecithin, which is derived from soybean oil. Soylent contains lots of oils/fats, and you mix it with water to drink it. Oil and water don't normally mix well. Soy lecithin is an emulsifier that lets them mix without clumping.