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Dead Startup Toys

deadstartuptoys.com

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Re: Dead Startup Toys

#111

Post by ajcp »

rozap wrote: post #80
dotBen wrote: post #56

Seems prudent to point out this isn't the product of a disgruntled's weekend project with fancy webdesign. This is a product from MSCHF which is a $100M+ startup [1] (feels like they're getting a bit of an astroturfed free ride of prime PR on HN because folks may not realize who is behind this) [1] https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/279769-42

The best part is when you go to mschf.xyz there are a bunch of links, and when you click one it logs `TypeError: n.setAttribute is not a function` to the console and then doesn't do anything. millions of dollars to build a homepage with some links on it that spit out JS errors is the ultimate commentary. i think it's genius.

I really hope they didn't pay someone millions of dollars to generate them a Create Nuxt App with really terrible design and tracking.

Re: Dead Startup Toys

#113

Post by thedogeye »

gkoberger wrote: post #88
SavantIdiot wrote: post #72

I was expecting a well-researched collection, instead there are a whopping six items. This website is like a startup: promises something exciting, delivers a dud. Feels more like a grudge page. Also, a friend of mine was lucky enough to get a Coolest cooler. It's actually well made and still works. EDIT: I'm a dingdong: this site is actually selling scale-model replicas. Duh.

I mean, they had to somehow procure stock from startups that are long out of business. Items nobody actually wants, so what's the point of having _more_ items nobody actually wants? (EDIT: oh. whoops. they're miniatures haha)

They are not selling the actual products of these startups but rather super cute miniaturized versions that they made.

Re: Dead Startup Toys

#114

Post by ohazi »

tinco wrote: post #74
ghaff wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Did One Laptop per Child truly fail as a startup? I'd say it kind of did (as did Netbooks as a technology for the most part as well). It's smartphones really that won the segment that OLPC was primarily targeted at. Chromebooks became fairly big in education but primarily AFAIK in developed countries.

If it, and netbooks as a hardware category, failed, it was because in the end they turned out to not have been worth it. I used a netbook happily for about a year or two, it cost ~$400 if I recall correctly, and afterwards I donated it to my sister who I think used it for a while as well. That's at least $150/yr for a low end product fun but uncomfortable product. After the netbook I upgraded to a Macbook Pro that wa…

For "cheap," netbooks as a category have been replaced by your run-of-the-mill entry-level laptop. The cheapest Dell Inspiron starts at ~$300. $400 gets you an Intel i3 or an AMD Ryzen 3, both of which are leagues better than an Atom.

For "small," the category was replaced by Ultrabooks as people realized that it's usually better to have a thin laptop that doesn't force you to compromise on the display or keyboard size.

I remember traveling with a netbook so that I'd have a computer I could use for tickets and reservations, and even for that, the low resolution 8-10" netbook screens were painful. 12-14" Ultrabooks with >= 1080p panels are much more comfortable, and the weight is comparable.

Re: Dead Startup Toys

#116

Post by ehnto »

exabrial wrote: post #70

If you've got thick enough skin to hear a bunch of highly offensive and hilarious Canadian cursing, AvE on YouTube tears down a Juicero machine.

Great recommendation, I learned a lot when I first watched that video. I learned bits and pieces about product design, material science, the nature of startups and venture capital, some introspection occurred, I learned to love again, and a whole bunch of new slang I will neither remember nor understand.

Re: Dead Startup Toys

#117

Post by blihp »

mushufasa wrote: post #38

Did One Laptop per Child truly fail as a startup? It was always a nonprofit, so of course it didn't make money. While the technology was lacking in many respects, it did serve a lot of children at the time, and proved the market that Chromebooks came to later dominate with a similar approach (linux-based OS with minimal resources at $100-300 price point).

It did fall short of what they wanted to deliver as a device probably because it was far too ambitious... but they accomplished quite a bit due to that ambition. Consider that it was conceived of in a time before inexpensive laptops were available. In 2005, a low-end laptop still cost well over $1000. Things like a Chromebook, netbook, Raspberry Pi etc. didn't exist yet. If anything, the OLPC probably got companies thinking sooner and more seriously about the low cost portable computing space than they would have otherwise.

Re: Dead Startup Toys

#118

Post by fnord77 »

mushufasa wrote: post #38

Did One Laptop per Child truly fail as a startup? It was always a nonprofit, so of course it didn't make money. While the technology was lacking in many respects, it did serve a lot of children at the time, and proved the market that Chromebooks came to later dominate with a similar approach (linux-based OS with minimal resources at $100-300 price point).

One Thousand Laptops per Warlord

Re: Dead Startup Toys

#119

Post by techrat »

ohazi wrote: post #114
tinco wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it, and netbooks as a hardware category, failed, it was because in the end they turned out to not have been worth it. I used a netbook happily for about a year or two, it cost ~$400 if I recall correctly, and afterwards I donated it to my sister who I think used it for a while as well. That's at least $150/yr for a low end product fun but uncomfortable product. After the netbook I upgraded to a Macbook Pro that wa…

For "cheap," netbooks as a category have been replaced by your run-of-the-mill entry-level laptop. The cheapest Dell Inspiron starts at ~$300. $400 gets you an Intel i3 or an AMD Ryzen 3, both of which are leagues better than an Atom. For "small," the category was replaced by Ultrabooks as people realized that it's usually better to have a thin laptop that doesn't force you to compromise on the display or keyboard si…

To be fair, you're comparing netbooks then what what we have now. At the time, the pokey, sluggish Atom was the best you could get for a lightweight system and longer-than-usual battery. Remember... the common alternative to a netbook then were awkward 1-2 inches thick 'desktop replacement' style monstrosities unless you wanted to pay a LOT of money relative to performance... and netbooks were $300ish versus $1200+ for laptops at the time. I was grateful for my netbook and they really did seem to push portables into becoming better at being... well, portable.

Re: Dead Startup Toys

#120

Post by sombremesa »

slg wrote: post #91
dotBen wrote: post #56

Seems prudent to point out this isn't the product of a disgruntled's weekend project with fancy webdesign. This is a product from MSCHF which is a $100M+ startup [1] (feels like they're getting a bit of an astroturfed free ride of prime PR on HN because folks may not realize who is behind this) [1] https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/279769-42

For those unware, this is the same people behind those Lil Nas X shoes with blood in them that made the news a few months back. While they do sell products, they seem to be less of a traditional startup with the goal of making money and more of a mix of satirists, artists, and trolls.

They seem to have raised a bunch of money but still ended up being the "poor man's" version of Meow Wolf [0].

They also seem to be pulling some wool over journalists' eyes by misrepresenting their raise as hinging on one or the other of their "drops".

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGHxXw7Qcs8

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/curtissilver/2020/11/09/push-pa...

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