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Skully has crashed and burned

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Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#51

Post by sanderjd »

dharmon wrote: post #48
api wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"management is throwing away investors' money on hot cars, bikes, parties and travels etc (only for themselves of course)" Can't comment on whether this is true in this case but I've seen it before and I always wonder how, and where are the investors, and aren't they paying attention, and ....?

Investors will look at financial statements (in whatever sad form they exist at most startups), but they don't look at itemized expenses. They also expect lots of money to be spent. For example, let's say I wanted to take an expensive vacation. I would fly to Europe (1st class, of course), stay in nice hotels, and basically live it up. I would mark this down as a "recruiting expense", or "customer acquisition cost".…

I'm not sure if you're being tongue in cheek, but if not, honest question: aren't those examples of actual fraud rather than "just" frivolous spending?

Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#52

Post by aoki »

abtinf wrote: post #43
ChuckMcM wrote: post #3

For those of you going through this for the first time, this is what the loss of "loose money" feels like. For some it will feel "sudden" but it started last year. "Big name" startups were getting re-valued downward by their investors and founders trying to raise a series A or B kept getting "we would prefer to follow in this round, rather than lead it." I feel for the employees. One of my friends in the dot com bust…

> No linkedin or big social media at the time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fucked_Company

well that's a blast from the past, thanks. though it did totally jump the shark when any bad news at any company of any size got to be "newsworthy."

Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#53

Post by dav »

encore2097 wrote: post #44

Anyone who actually and seriously (more than 30min per day in diffetrnt conditions) knows this is a gimmick. Visual focus on your enviornment is priority one, the HUD is distracting unless done very carefully. I was thnking of getting one to test but after meeting some of their exec team and senior management decided against it. Honestlly not surprised but sad to hear it for the rank and file enginner who genuinely b…

The helmet is actually very nice. The HUD (actually technically a HMD not a HUD) is not distracting at all. it's the size and position of a typical right hand rear view mirror, and hardly anything visual happens on it except the rear camera display, which is has been a fantastic enhancement to my riding safety, although it does take some getting used to.

Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#54

Post by dav »

cdibona wrote: post #25

So having used the recon line of products (which this is a spiritual cousin of) I can only say that these kinds of displays are kinda dodgy. When skiing anything resembling challenging terrain, the stuff is bouncing around and my ability to focus universally across on the then 2nd gen recon displays was simply not possible. I'm a decent skier, but not that crazy and I ended up returning the smith io/x using the recon…

I really don't think the HMD would be a problem in a crash. If it somehow came into contact with my face, it would basically mean the helmet caved in, in which case I already am in plenty of trouble so who cares about the HMD.

Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#55

Post by vkou »

sanderjd wrote: post #51
dharmon wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Investors will look at financial statements (in whatever sad form they exist at most startups), but they don't look at itemized expenses. They also expect lots of money to be spent. For example, let's say I wanted to take an expensive vacation. I would fly to Europe (1st class, of course), stay in nice hotels, and basically live it up. I would mark this down as a "recruiting expense", or "customer acquisition cost".…

I'm not sure if you're being tongue in cheek, but if not, honest question: aren't those examples of actual fraud rather than "just" frivolous spending?

They are actually fraud, and nobody should do any of them.

Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#56

Post by dav »

honkhonkpants wrote: post #45
AcerbicZero wrote: post #34

The idea of buying a helmet with the tech built in, from a no-name startup is ridiculous when there are so many other factors in play. I think the folks over at NUVIZ came up with a better stand alone solution, as its just an external attachment that projects the HUD for any normal full face helmet. That said, its been awhile since I've heard any updates so I'm not exactly hopeful.

Yeah I think that's the thing that doesn't make sense to many motorcyclists including myself. A helmet is a personal item and you want the fit, noise level, airflow, and features that suit you exactly, especially if you ride daily. Skully could have had interesting standalone technology (could have had, but actually didn't) but it's nuts to marry that to a helmet since that dramatically narrows the market only to peo…

> Honestly who wants to sysadmin their helmet?

You sound like someone at the advent of the smart phone who says "who would want to sysadmin their phone?"

Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#57

Post by dharmon »

sanderjd wrote: post #51
dharmon wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Investors will look at financial statements (in whatever sad form they exist at most startups), but they don't look at itemized expenses. They also expect lots of money to be spent. For example, let's say I wanted to take an expensive vacation. I would fly to Europe (1st class, of course), stay in nice hotels, and basically live it up. I would mark this down as a "recruiting expense", or "customer acquisition cost".…

I'm not sure if you're being tongue in cheek, but if not, honest question: aren't those examples of actual fraud rather than "just" frivolous spending?

Most definitely is fraud, and of course I wouldn't actually recommend doing it!!

But that's what parent was talking about, buying toys and parties and such and why investors don't notice. Cause they call it by a different name.

Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#59

Post by ansible »

mikestew wrote: post #38
cdibona wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article says that there were 3000 units pre-ordered. That's a fair amount of cash, but spinning up a hardware line where there are real safety and fit questions at hand is not trivial. Maybe they would have been better off making something that would replace the visor on a popular model of helmet like a shoei.

So, 3.5 million to develop safety equipment with electronics that have to endure wind, rain (at 90mph), shock, and general misuse (I don't treat my helmets with nearly the care I do my iPhone)...and still make a profit. My napkin scribbles say that would be a tall order. EDIT: oh, yeah, and DOT/Snell testing. Don't know how much that is.

I don't treat my helmets with nearly the care I do my iPhone

Just as a note to everyone: If you drop your helmet, you should throw it away. You can't tell if the foam has been cracked, which reduces its protection.

Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#60

Post by rdtsc »

whack wrote: post #24

"Weller ... and his brother were forced out of the company after investors disagreed with the LeSports deal he brought to the table, opting instead for an inside round. Another source familiar with the matter confirms his story that he brought in the LeSports deal but said Skully was rapidly running out of cash and it was down to the eleventh hour determining if the numbers added up. Adding to that, we’ve been told t…

> In what world is shutting down, a superior alternative to selling the company to LeSports for some cold hard cash?

In a world with lots of cash where a companny like Skully is just pocket change and they'd rather not deal with as they have bigger fish to fry.

So you are in the business of buying and selling houses and you do $1M transactions every month. This is like finding a lawn mower in a garage, and yeah you could sell it for $200 on Cragslist, but in the big scheme of things it is not worth your time.

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