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OpenAI and Jony Ive in talks to raise $1B from SoftBank for AI device venture

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Re: OpenAI and Jony Ive in talks to raise $1B from SoftBank for AI device venture

#21

Post by mdonahoe »

alsodumb wrote: post #9
tikkun wrote: post #4

For hardware devices that raised >$100mm before launch, how have they gone? Successes: * Tesla Non-successes: * Magic Leap * Juicero * Nuro * Segway What else am I missing? I suspect there are other successes that raised >$100mm pre-launch that I'm not thinking of. I wonder why they wouldn't start smaller. That said, I still expect they'll succeed, and I hope they succeed. I don't believe in any rules of thumb, great…

A bunch of VTOL/eVTOL and space startups also probably raised >100$ pre-launch I guess? Skydio raised way more than 100 million and I'd call them success, although I'm not sure if they raised that much pre-launch.

We raised ~$60m before R1 launched in 2018. And we were still under 100 total when S2 launched at the end of 2019.

I'm not sure how things would have played out if we had 100m+ before we launched anything. We may have delayed launch even further and missed out on valuable market feedback and brand awareness.

Re: OpenAI and Jony Ive in talks to raise $1B from SoftBank for AI device venture

#22

Post by JumpCrisscross »

tikkun wrote: post #4

For hardware devices that raised >$100mm before launch, how have they gone? Successes: * Tesla Non-successes: * Magic Leap * Juicero * Nuro * Segway What else am I missing? I suspect there are other successes that raised >$100mm pre-launch that I'm not thinking of. I wonder why they wouldn't start smaller. That said, I still expect they'll succeed, and I hope they succeed. I don't believe in any rules of thumb, great…

> What else am I missing?

Now filter for SoftBank.

Re: OpenAI and Jony Ive in talks to raise $1B from SoftBank for AI device venture

#24

Post by sebzim4500 »

jkestner wrote: post #18
sebzim4500 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it makes sense to include Juicero in the list. There is no way that whatever Ive and Altman are cooking up is going to be as obviously stupid as Juicero.

I dunno, I'd take a glass of juice over cryptocurrency from a retina-scanning orb.

At least the creepy orb is trying to solve a problem that actually exists. Namely how do you know the guy you are talking to is a real person? And especially, how do you know the guy you are donating money to is a real person?

Re: OpenAI and Jony Ive in talks to raise $1B from SoftBank for AI device venture

#25

Post by brap »

What the hell is an "AI device"?

Unless we're talking robotics, I don't see why you would need a separate device for AI. Seems like we already have all the right form factors (phones, speakers, etc).

This reminds me of when Facebook tried to make a Facebook phone. Turned out iPhones and Androids were significantly better as phones and they could do Facebook just fine.

Re: OpenAI and Jony Ive in talks to raise $1B from SoftBank for AI device venture

#26

Post by kyawzazaw »

tikkun wrote: post #4

For hardware devices that raised >$100mm before launch, how have they gone? Successes: * Tesla Non-successes: * Magic Leap * Juicero * Nuro * Segway What else am I missing? I suspect there are other successes that raised >$100mm pre-launch that I'm not thinking of. I wonder why they wouldn't start smaller. That said, I still expect they'll succeed, and I hope they succeed. I don't believe in any rules of thumb, great…

Firefly Space

Re: OpenAI and Jony Ive in talks to raise $1B from SoftBank for AI device venture

#27

Post by yamakadi »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #13
jack_riminton wrote: post #8

$1Bn pre launch funding + Softbank = not a good omen

I don't know much about softbank, but my brain strongly associates them with bad bets, failure, and losing money.

Add to that weak cell coverage, exorbitant fees, and a privacy nightmare of jumbled up offerings (Yahoo! Japan, PayPay, Line, Telecom, ISP services, etc.), and you get the full picture.

SoftBank is originally one of the big 3 telecom providers in Japan. We do joke around here about our phone bills increasing anytime Masayoshi Son makes a bad investment.

Re: OpenAI and Jony Ive in talks to raise $1B from SoftBank for AI device venture

#29

Post by JumpCrisscross »

brap wrote: post #25

What the hell is an "AI device"? Unless we're talking robotics, I don't see why you would need a separate device for AI. Seems like we already have all the right form factors (phones, speakers, etc). This reminds me of when Facebook tried to make a Facebook phone. Turned out iPhones and Androids were significantly better as phones and they could do Facebook just fine.

> What the hell is an "AI device"?

Puck and a pair of AirPods? (Maybe compute in the case?)

A device optimised to run a set of LLMs and not sacrifice battery for e.g. a screen seems like it would have a niche, if it just worked. Picture the AIs profiled in the later series of Westworld.

Re: OpenAI and Jony Ive in talks to raise $1B from SoftBank for AI device venture

#30

Post by brucethemoose2 »

dkyc wrote: post #5
tikkun wrote: post #4

For hardware devices that raised >$100mm before launch, how have they gone? Successes: * Tesla Non-successes: * Magic Leap * Juicero * Nuro * Segway What else am I missing? I suspect there are other successes that raised >$100mm pre-launch that I'm not thinking of. I wonder why they wouldn't start smaller. That said, I still expect they'll succeed, and I hope they succeed. I don't believe in any rules of thumb, great…

According to public sources Tesla has raised 'only' 60.5m before delivering the first roadsters in February 2008. Though that total increased to 100.5m by the summer of that year. But I get your point. [0]: https://www.startupranking.com/startup/tesla/funding-rounds

The original roadster was a Lotus Elise with laptop batteries. It was essentially a prototype, albeit a production prototype.
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