Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV • Hacker News Board

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#301

Post by brandonmenc » Thu, May 04, 2017, 5:12 PM UTC

cptskippy wrote: post #280

rubatuga wrote: post #155

Although I was initially brought onto the hype train by great marketing and the promises of health and complete nutrition, I realize that my initial reliance on Soylent was actually part of a deeper problem, brought on by problems such as depression and inappropriate time management. When in reality I should have had enough time to eat out or possibly even cook a meal, I found myself relying on Soylent. I didn't leav…

I tried Soylent v1.2-1.4 for about 6 months thinking I could better regulate my calorie intake and lose some weight. In the end it wasn't for me. I found that it did nothing to satiate my appetite and that I'd be hungry, bloated and gassy all day long. The bloating and gas were incredibly uncomfortable and never really subsided. Eschewing the normal 3 meals a day routine and doing 5 meals didn't seem to help. Despite…

> Despite the fact that I was only consuming 2000 calories, 500 less than recommended for my size/weight/age/sex, I managed to gain weight.

You were eating too many calories. 2500 for maintaining body weight is a lot. Perhaps you were overestimating your activity level?

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#302

Post by vidarh » Thu, May 04, 2017, 5:12 PM UTC

mbesto wrote: post #276

mojowo11 wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meal replacement shakes have been around for, what, 2+ decades now? Saying that Soylent has come along and now somehow enables depressed people strikes me as insanity. Depressed people misuse all kinds of perfectly valid products and services. Being mad at Soylent, or pizza delivery, or the internet, or beds, or any other thing that depressed people might end up leaning on in an unhealthy way seems pretty silly to me…

From the parent's comment: > I think many people approach Soylent as a way to solve some of their problems, but people should realize it won't be and can't be. I'm not sure the parent's tone indicated that they were "mad" at Soylent and honestly your response to it is fairly insensitive. > Meal replacement shakes have been around for, what, 2+ decades now? Reading the copy on the Soylent website suggests that it save…

> If meal replacement shakes have been around, then what is Soylent's value proposition and what makes it different?

Marketing. Initially based around the idea of replacing all food with it (which even the founder stopped doing during his initial trial).

It's tapping into a lot of sentiments around food as a "problem" or "nuisance", where a lot of the other shakes on the market have gone for the health and fitness angle, or the "I'm too important and busy to sit down and have breakfeast so I'll down a shake on the go" angle.

But it's not bringing much more than marketing.

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#303

Post by endorphone » Thu, May 04, 2017, 5:13 PM UTC

ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #281

endorphone wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Soylent 1.6 has a GI of 65. That happens to be the same GI as sucrose (aka sugar). It is literally spot on, so you don't have to say "particularly" regarding 2.0.

> Soylent 1.6 has a GI of 65. That happens to be the same GI as sucrose (aka sugar). ... Both false and misleading. According to the link provided by the parent poster: -Soylent 1.6 _powder_ has a GI of 60 -Soylent 2.0 _liquid_ has a GI of 49. Also, note that common white bread has a glycemic index of 75, which is higher than that of table sugar (65), so your statement, even if you had used the right number, is not a…

>Both false and misleading

Apologies, I should have said Soylent 1.5. Not sure why you decided to say "both false", however, given that sucrose most certainly has a GI of 65. Further, what is the relevance of saying _powder_. You realize that mixing a powder into water generally doesn't reduce its GI, right?

Further, saying "white bread is worse" is a laughable diversion. White bread is considered the unholy worst case for GI, so being better than it is not a high mark.

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#304

Post by Questron » Thu, May 04, 2017, 5:14 PM UTC

vorpalhex wrote: post #288

Questron wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but three times in 8 hours? I think it's more of an unhealthy habit to constantly eat. That's how you get diabetes.

Regular small meals have been frequently recommended for a variety of diet reasons and is in no way tied to diabetes or other health issues, and is often times better then a glut of food in a single meal. In addition, people prone to hypoglycemia can benefit from gentle gnoshing through the day. http://www.webmd.com/diet/obesity/features/6_meals_a_day#1 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-53111/Why-eating-l...

The "more and smaller meals" applies only to people with diseases (diabetes, obesity, etc.). People prone to hypoglycaemia are called diabetics with insulin overdose. Moreover, soylent contains 18% of energy as added sugars which is about twice the recommended amount. That's how you get diabetes.

EDIT: nice touch linking to an article about obesity and the always-so-reliable daily mail. Kind of proves my point.

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#305

Post by lukas099 » Thu, May 04, 2017, 5:16 PM UTC

milquetoastaf wrote: post #21

johnfn wrote: post #5

Soylent gets a lot of hate (I'm looking forward to skipping out on this thread before the inevitable negative comments from people who assume that Soylent consumers will eat nothing but Soylent for the rest of their lives), but to me, it's solved a large problem in my life: what to eat when I'm hungry but I don't have enough time to prepare a full meal. It can happen every now and then when I'm rushing around, and so…

What advantage does Soylent have over say, other meal replacements e.g. Slimfast, weight watcher shakes, juices etc that have existed for years before it and will continue to do so for years after? All I see is SV hype and marketing. In fact you just showed that Soylent is easily outplayed because you switched to a different drink already.

I drink a mix of whey/soy protein powder mixed in milk each morning. Does soylent have any advantages over that if I eat balanced meals the rest of the day?

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#306

Post by yegle » Thu, May 04, 2017, 5:16 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #72

yegle wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pro GMO: they are not hiding that they used a lot of GMO product, instead of selling you something organic with a huge premium. Glycemic Index/Glycemic Load: a quick search doesn't give me SlimFast's GI/GL info, while Soylent does post the number.

> Glycemic Index/Glycemic Load: a quick search doesn't give me SlimFast's GI/GL info, while Soylent does post the number. It's available. Seems weird to decide based on the availability of the number versus the number .

GI/GL is important for diabetes/prediabetes. The number is of course reasonable (mid-low GI/GL).

I don't see result by searching "glycemic site:slimfast.com". There are some numbers posted on other websites (e.g. http://www.glycemicindex.com/foodSearch.php?num=1469&ak=deta... which looks credible), but compare to Soylent's disclosure (https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/212769503-Glycemic...) I'm more confident to choose Soylent instead of SlimFast.

Out of curiosity, I also searched GI/GL info on amplemeal.com and found nothing.

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#307

Post by brilliantcode » Thu, May 04, 2017, 5:18 PM UTC

mojowo11 wrote: post #189

rubatuga wrote: post #155

Although I was initially brought onto the hype train by great marketing and the promises of health and complete nutrition, I realize that my initial reliance on Soylent was actually part of a deeper problem, brought on by problems such as depression and inappropriate time management. When in reality I should have had enough time to eat out or possibly even cook a meal, I found myself relying on Soylent. I didn't leav…

This comment is kinda silly. Like, the problem here isn't Soylent, it's that you were depressed. And the problem with your friend using Soylent to watch her weight isn't Soylent, it's that she ate more of other crap when she drank Soylent as a meal replacement. I drink Soylent occasionally -- once every two or three weeks, maybe. Normally I use it if I know I'm going to eat a huge dinner, or if I ate a giant lunch an…

Are you a soylent stakeholder? It's puzzling why you would invalidate someone's experience with such a condescending tone.

Soylent is just another hyped up SV junk. The rest of the world does not give a shit about having to cook because they don't have much to eat.

I personally wouldn't touch Soylent and leave it up to some 30 year old engineers with no understanding of the food industry.

The CEO is super fucking annoying always pushing that shitjuice and looking at ppl confused "why are you still eating lol thats a waste of time". This is exactly what an engineer on the autism spectrum will tell you.

Fuck Soylent.

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#308

Post by cowpewter » Thu, May 04, 2017, 5:20 PM UTC

johnfn wrote: post #5

Soylent gets a lot of hate (I'm looking forward to skipping out on this thread before the inevitable negative comments from people who assume that Soylent consumers will eat nothing but Soylent for the rest of their lives), but to me, it's solved a large problem in my life: what to eat when I'm hungry but I don't have enough time to prepare a full meal. It can happen every now and then when I'm rushing around, and so…

Thank you for mentioning Ample, as I hadn't heard of it before. I'm a T2 diabetic, so I've been avoiding Soylent because of the carb content. Ample looks like it's made of things I'd actually feel good about putting in my body vs the maltrodextrin/oat base of Soylent. I went ahead and ordered a 12 pack to give it a try.

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#309

Post by elif » Thu, May 04, 2017, 5:20 PM UTC

atqtion wrote: post #193

thaumaturgy wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't go hiking with Slimfast, Weight Watcher shakes, or juices. What I don't understand: the REI market is the one place where Soylent is inarguably better than any other product in its niche, and nobody seems to give a shit about that. I carry a bag of dry Soylent in my SAR pack. When I get sent out on an assignment, I have no idea how long I might be out for. For less weight than any other option, I have dinne…

> What I don't understand: the REI market is the one place where Soylent is inarguably better than any other product in its niche, and nobody seems to give a shit about that. I guess it depends on what you mean by "better". SAR is a niche within a niche. I can totally understand why Soylent is 1000x better than other options. But most backpackers are doing it for fun. Reducing weight and space is great, but there are…

> Young folks with few savings taking a few months off work don't have three months of Soylent money ;-)

thru-hiker here. I did it on $2k of credit cards, which is the least of anyone i met personally. a dehydrated meal with 350 calories costs $5 minimum, requires cooking (fuel cost/weight), and requires time/energy for your body to digest.

a soylent powder meal costs $2.

Re: Soylent Closes $50M Series B Round Led by GV

#310

Post by brilliantcode » Thu, May 04, 2017, 5:21 PM UTC

Judgmentality wrote: post #210

mojowo11 wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment is kinda silly. Like, the problem here isn't Soylent, it's that you were depressed. And the problem with your friend using Soylent to watch her weight isn't Soylent, it's that she ate more of other crap when she drank Soylent as a meal replacement. I drink Soylent occasionally -- once every two or three weeks, maybe. Normally I use it if I know I'm going to eat a huge dinner, or if I ate a giant lunch an…

Sure, but some things are more likely to be misused than others. For instance, Facebook. It's obviously a wildly popular and profitable product, but studies show that the more you use it the more likely you are to be depressed - but Facebook has a financial incentive to addict those users regardless. Anyway, I'm not really a fan of Soylent. I disagree with its health benefits. I think the company is pushing it as a f…

Soylent's behavior needs to be brought to the attention of the FDA and you can do so with the following link:

https://www.fda.gov/safety/reportaproblem/

Let's not forget about alleged mold in Soylent not that long ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/soylent/comments/53eikw/mold_on_soy...

This is yet another example of how dangerous VC money is because it enables idiots to push their garbage with little to no oversight.