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Magic

getmagicnow.com

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Re: Magic

#501

Post by grecy »

vacri wrote: post #465
grecy wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think "here's a ridiculously expensive, late, cold pizza" answers the spirit of "I'd like a pizza". It does for someone in a town that doesn't have pizza.

No, it answers the letter of the request, not the spirit of it. And if you think that's good enough (consumers won't), then just change the request to "I'd like a hot pizza in the next hour, because I'm hungry now and have an appointment".

You're really not getting it are you?

Magic will do the best they can for whatever price they can. If the consumer doesn't like it, they won't order the thing. No big deal. If it turns out that the vast majority of people are not satisfied with what Magic offers, then Magic won't be a success - just like the other ten million business out there trying to get a foot hold. In all honesty we know the very vast majority of people live in places where (for a fee) Magic will be able to do some neat stuff. Who cares about the people that live in towns with no pizza.

> And if you think that's good enough (consumers won't)

A consumer in a town that doesn't have pizza is going to be disappointed they asked a service to deliver pizza and that service said "We can do that" ?

> "I'd like a hot pizza in the next hour, because I'm hungry now and have an appointment".

And Magic will say, "Sorry, no can do".

Consumers can't get everything they want now for the price they want. Stores turn people away all the time for requests that are impossible. Magic won't be doing anything new with regard to that.

Re: Magic

#502

Post by frostnovazzz »

My first thought to this is: How is it going to scale? This requires human labor to be behind every service requests!

And then I was reminded of Uber. Isn't Uber in the same sort of service model that requires a human driver for every request, but is doing super successful? (let's not talk about regulation.)

The more I think about it, the more it appears a good business model. It definitely helps users save time and worry, and as demand is growing, it can simply hire more trained service men, and creates huge job opportunities.

This is a platform that enables/accelerates service to people by people. I'm optimistic of its future.

Re: Magic

#503

Post by [deleted] »

monochromatic wrote: post #495
jwatte wrote: post #475

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Mountain View, California minimum wage is below a living wage. I understand the sentiment: The scarcest resource for me is my time. Money is how we let people decide who gets to tell whom what to do with their time. A system where 0.1% tell 99.9% how to spend their precious time alive is not morally just. (I'm not saying we're quite that bad as a society -- at least not yet.)

> A system where 0.1% tell 99.9% how to spend their precious time alive is not morally just. Says who? Where's the cutoff between just and unjust?

[deleted]

Re: Magic

#504

Post by Retra »

monochromatic wrote: post #495
jwatte wrote: post #475

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Mountain View, California minimum wage is below a living wage. I understand the sentiment: The scarcest resource for me is my time. Money is how we let people decide who gets to tell whom what to do with their time. A system where 0.1% tell 99.9% how to spend their precious time alive is not morally just. (I'm not saying we're quite that bad as a society -- at least not yet.)

> A system where 0.1% tell 99.9% how to spend their precious time alive is not morally just. Says who? Where's the cutoff between just and unjust?

"There are over a hundred million grains of sand on the beach."

"Say's who? Where's the cutoff between a grain of sand and a pebble?"

I'm wondering where the cutoff is between a pointless question and a stupid question.

Re: Magic

#505

Post by weisser »

frostnovazzz wrote: post #502

My first thought to this is: How is it going to scale? This requires human labor to be behind every service requests! And then I was reminded of Uber. Isn't Uber in the same sort of service model that requires a human driver for every request, but is doing super successful? (let's not talk about regulation.) The more I think about it, the more it appears a good business model. It definitely helps users save time and…

Eventually Uber will fire all drivers and replace them with self-driving cars. In many ways Uber is currently doing things that don't scale with regard to relying on humans to drive customers. Eventually the cost-intensive humans won't be needed and Uber will grow massively.

I could see this happening in many business models. Obviously Magic may fail entirely (it appears to be pretty much just an idea currently) but I could see AI replacing the human components.

I'm not sure how I feel about all of this.

Re: Magic

#506

Post by nugget »

frostnovazzz wrote: post #502

My first thought to this is: How is it going to scale? This requires human labor to be behind every service requests! And then I was reminded of Uber. Isn't Uber in the same sort of service model that requires a human driver for every request, but is doing super successful? (let's not talk about regulation.) The more I think about it, the more it appears a good business model. It definitely helps users save time and…

There are a few differences but basically yes, physical ops execution to scale the business profitably (or with the promise of profitability some day) is key to a business like this. Physical ops (e.g. running a call center, which is a comparable model) is a LOT harder than it sounds.

Unlike Uber, this service doesn't require any physical presence in a city, just knowledge of services available in that city. So in theory they could launch in Mongolia next week. But, so could a competitor. Unlike Uber's (contracted) fleet of physical cars which provide a material barrier to competition, all you need here is knowledge and a Twilio account and you're in business.

There is a risk here that whatever they (and other startups) do in this space, the gorillas just come along and clone them - e.g. Amex, Visa/MC, etc - but offer the service for free. They can run their concierge services at a loss since they are attached to a profitable card services business. This is similar to robo advisory financial services where Wealthfront etc now face margin squeezing, maybe even life threatening competition from Vanguard and Fidelity.

I've used services like this for years and this exact business model (sms concierge) pops up every few months. I've worked out the per unit economics and it's a tough business. At some point due to automation of background services it will become possible. Maybe these guys will raise a huge round and take that gamble. Maybe the timing is right and they will succeed (along with many competitors rushing into a new industry), or maybe it's still too early by a decade and they will fail. But some day with AI and automation I think this model will work.

Re: Magic

#507

Post by Aeolun »

monochromatic wrote: post #495
jwatte wrote: post #475

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Mountain View, California minimum wage is below a living wage. I understand the sentiment: The scarcest resource for me is my time. Money is how we let people decide who gets to tell whom what to do with their time. A system where 0.1% tell 99.9% how to spend their precious time alive is not morally just. (I'm not saying we're quite that bad as a society -- at least not yet.)

> A system where 0.1% tell 99.9% how to spend their precious time alive is not morally just. Says who? Where's the cutoff between just and unjust?

Exactly at the point where I place it.

Re: Magic

#508

Post by edmack »

jboggan wrote: post #423
codygman wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoa, seriously? I'm going to guess you're joking since they probably implemented "customer order of amount x".

Edit: they've fixed this now. I'm not joking, click on it and try to pay. It shows an invoice of ($5,000), a.k.a. $5000 negative dollars. I didn't enter real payment information to see what happens next because of really idiotic interpretations of what constitutes "hacking", but it is a really bad design choice on their part that took me about half a second to find. Founder, if you're reading this: was this an in-hou…

The answer is probably they spent around two days building this before demand grew left them zero time to improve infrastructure. Which is more or less good.

Re: Magic

#510

Post by gosmart4u »

smoyer wrote: post #490
gosmart4u wrote: post #471

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see both sides. Seems like there are way more low wage jobs out there though. Plenty to choose from.

Does it have to be low wage? What if people are paid a base wage but also got a percentage of the fee? Those that truly became experts at finding a service/product that matched the customer's request could become increasingly proficient. As for the "low wage jobs" comments, I'd pick this over being an Amazon warehouse automaton!

"What if people are paid a base wage but also got a percentage of the fee"

That would be great!

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