just for posterity, I'd like to link to design theatre for anyone who liked this: http://designtheatre.net/
I've been pretty fascinated by these articles, as there's many opportunities out there outside of pure software business.
Pedal to the Mettle: The unbelievable, true story of Automoblox
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Re: Pedal to the Mettle: The unbelievable, true story of Automoblox
#22I can't believe this story got so few votes. It's great story of the ups and downs an entrepreneur went through to bring his product to the market. Worth the read.
I guess it is the title - I almost didn't even read it. But then, I have no idea what "Pedal To Mettle" means (non-native speaker).
Re: Pedal to the Mettle: The unbelievable, true story of Automoblox
#23I can't believe this story got so few votes. It's great story of the ups and downs an entrepreneur went through to bring his product to the market. Worth the read.
I guess it is the title - I almost didn't even read it. But then, I have no idea what "Pedal To Mettle" means (non-native speaker).
It's likely* a play on the phrase, "(put the) pedal to the metal", i.e. going all out (based on the notion of pushing a car's gas pedal as far as possible, for maximum speed):
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/put_the_pedal_to_the_metal
Mettle == courage, spirit, etc.
http://www.google.com/dictionary?q=mettle
* Can't be fully certain it's intentional, given the many examples Google has for the phrase where the use of "mettle" (or "medal") is clearly a mistake.
Re: Pedal to the Mettle: The unbelievable, true story of Automoblox
#24I know this view won't be popular but what I took from this article is it's hard for a well-off westerner to maintain slave labor and get high quality control products for pennies in labor in the east. I have no sympathy.
How was it surprising to realize you can't control patent/copyrights in non-democratic country ten thousand miles from you, where the factory owners have far fewer ethics than you and are willing to manipulate their slave labor even further to sell your product as theirs in other markets?
Re: Pedal to the Mettle: The unbelievable, true story of Automoblox
#25Last year I bought two Autoblox cars, two months apart. First was of a very high manufacturing quality, it snapped together very tightly, everything aligned and it was just a pleasure to hold and play with. It was the reason why I bought another one. Got it from the same place, exact same packaging, authenticity label and what not. And what a wobbly piece of shit it was. Major quality problems. And what is strange, i…
Yep. I've always loved how LEGO has such high precision standards. I once bought a LEGO set where the pieces fit together very poorly -- oh wait, no I didn't -- and realized it was MEGABloks, not LEGO. This was many years ago, so I can't speak as to MEGABloks quality today, but I put together a new LEGO kit recently and the fit/precision was still awesome. LEGO's gone probably 20-30 years without letting me down in t…
Megablox was still utter rubbish as of about six months ago. My 8yo Lego fanatic son was given a kit by his cousins - "It's just like Lego" - err, no - many of the parts would not stay attached.
Re: Pedal to the Mettle: The unbelievable, true story of Automoblox
#26> [It] was a day that rivals only the day that my daughter was born. I hope you mean "it was a day rivaled only by the day that my daughter was born." The former sounds like your daughter's birthday was your worst day ever, and the success of your toy was just slightly better than that.
I read an article recently that said many, many people actually can't tell the difference between active and passive voice. I had a hard time believing it, but seeing mistakes like this in an otherwise well-written article lends weight to it.
Re: Pedal to the Mettle: The unbelievable, true story of Automoblox
#27I can't believe this story got so few votes. It's great story of the ups and downs an entrepreneur went through to bring his product to the market. Worth the read.
A lot of the people on HN are software guys, they have no connection to something like this. This is one of the best stories I've seen on HN in a while becuase I'm actually a product guy and manufacturing is a huge component of it. In fact manufacturing is usually far harder than design for an entrepreneur. The capital required means you have to use a contracter, and for something cheap like a toy you probably have to go to Asia where the quality is lower but the prices are low enough to make it work. Hell, I was at a company that used US manufacturers and we got screwed over for hundreds of thousands of dollars from multiple vendors because they were unable to deliver on quality - not to mention the oppurtunity cost of time delays. How many web app startups can you boot strap for the value of one manufacturers mistake? The stakes are higher because there is a lot more capital in play.
Re: Pedal to the Mettle: The unbelievable, true story of Automoblox
#28I can't believe this story got so few votes. It's great story of the ups and downs an entrepreneur went through to bring his product to the market. Worth the read.
A lot of the people on HN are software guys, they have no connection to something like this. This is one of the best stories I've seen on HN in a while becuase I'm actually a product guy and manufacturing is a huge component of it. In fact manufacturing is usually far harder than design for an entrepreneur. The capital required means you have to use a contracter, and for something cheap like a toy you probably have t…
Yep.
And don't think you can't find bad molders here in the US, or moldmakers that steer your work to a certain molder, who just happens to be an in-law. The best was a molder that found a way to "lose" several parts of a mold just as it was being picked up and moved to another mold shop. "Must have fell of your truck, buddy!". Hmm.
Oh yeah: if you let the moldmaker do the mold design, be sure and get copies of all the files, even if you don't have the CAD system to open or edit the files! Don't trust 'em to back up their hard drive.