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Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

techcrunch.com

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Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#81

Post by nostrademons »

throwawaymath wrote: post #71
nostrademons wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also that they have no clue what the real needs within the market are, and so would rather spread their bets around a portfolio of other entrepreneurs who they hope have better information than them rather than focus on one single market opportunity. I know of at least two really prominent cryptocurrency ICOs that are in this boat. (As a side note, I wonder how often the opposite situation - an investor who gets so e…

> I know of at least two really prominent cryptocurrency ICOs that are in this boat. Which two are you talking about?

EOS and Tron. There are probably others. I went to a couple cryptocurrency meetups recently that were sponsored by a startup, 6 months old, which had offices in 3 cities, 2 different product lines, and was launching a venture capital fund. To me, that's a red flag that they have too much money and no idea how to deploy it.

Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#82

Post by roymurdock »

nostrademons wrote: post #81
throwawaymath wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I know of at least two really prominent cryptocurrency ICOs that are in this boat. Which two are you talking about?

EOS and Tron. There are probably others. I went to a couple cryptocurrency meetups recently that were sponsored by a startup, 6 months old, which had offices in 3 cities, 2 different product lines, and was launching a venture capital fund. To me, that's a red flag that they have too much money and no idea how to deploy it.

Off topic, but is there anything interesting going on in the cryptocurrency space? I stopped following circa 2015 after seeing Bitcoin/blockchain co-opted by a bunch of hucksters for a bunch of get-rich-quick schemes (including internal projects at more than a few major technology companies). I've heard stirrings about a few "stablecoin" project with more solid economic underpinnings, but am skeptical anyone can come up with a better design than the USD, EUR, or CHF for keeping a currency pegged to a broad basket of goods.

I ask because you're clearly not a crypto shill and it's hard to find unbiased opinions on cryptocurrencies these days.

Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#83

Post by jiveturkey »

shpx wrote: post #76
fipple wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s because 1) nobody gives a shit and 2) it would need legal review to make sure that it wouldn’t expose the defunct company to further lawsuits over copyright or patent infringement. That’s expensive and not worth it for a dead company

Would it be legal to release an encrypted archive and then release the key after 6 years (or whatever the statue of limitations for patent infringement/copyright is)?

copyright is many years, too many. and NDAs generally never expire.

Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#84

Post by captain_perl »

jedberg wrote: post #24
jgh wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i guess it depends on if they have anything to sell...i bet most software startups would have a pretty significant drawdown unless they've made some unique ip that's worth something.

If they have an office they have stuff like chairs and desks and computers that are at least worth a little bit. But it’s true most of the money went to employees.

Office liquidators typically offer 2% to 5% of retail on office furniture, although an office manager can try to direct sell the Aerons or new modular units.

Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#86

Post by toss1 »

anonairwavedev wrote: post #47
danso wrote: post #2

I know the article says Airware attempted to go into hardware, but did its operating system (ostensibly its main product) have users?

Nope, never did. We build 2 OS(s): the first was based on linux with a rtos package (2013-14?). That was scrapped and a new fully custom hardware package was built with a fully custom OS (built by a team that never had done this) and was built for a low power arm processor. We were plagued by huge issues most of the time due to that OS being nearly impossible to debug or work with. Also doing that prevented any third…

So, as of the shutdown, is there anything even close to a usable software stack, or is it all just prototype stuff?

Why, if they had all that funding, and assuming that they had good reasons for a custom OS, would they fail to hire an experienced team to build one -- it seems that the time saved by experience would be well worth it?

Bottom line, is there any software of value that some other drone company might want to purchase?

(edit: add last line)

Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#87

Post by bsder »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #50
chris11 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think automated drone inspection may be a more profitable niche than it first appears. My school had a couple grad students start up doing NDT analysis with drones. There seems to be a lot of interesting problems that could be solved with drones when they are treated as a platform for specialized equipment. And the specialization in equipment and analysis is good protection against commoditization. But I do agree w…

NDT - Non destructive testing? So coupled with "specialised equipment" I assume something like scanning the steel in a bridge for corrosion? Is that feasible - the noise in any feed from distance / stability must mean "usual" specialised equipment cannot be used?

You are probably overthinking this.

Simply being able to fly a high resolution camera with a bright light up underneath a bridge probably saves an enormous amount of time.

Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#88

Post by helper »

romski wrote: post #40
teraflop wrote: post #33

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why is Techcrunch using a screenshot of Airwave's Slack channel in a news article about Airware ? Is there some connection between the two companies that I'm not aware of? Or did they just not bother to read what their "source" sent them?

Slack of Airware alumni

I wonder what the slack channel for Airwave alumni is.

Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#89

Post by bigbadgoose »

gatsby wrote: post #52
mvpu wrote: post #51

A VC friend once told me that _all_ money coming into VC via LPs represents <5% of their total assets, so even if all the VCs loose all the money their raised from their LPs nobody loses breath - only damage is to reputation. So fund raising is mostly about storytelling and showtime. Fund losing is about back luck. Better luck. Next time.

Huh?

VCs take money from Limited Partners (LPs). For the LPs, they spread less than 5% of their investable assets across a venture strategy. If it doesn't pan out, no big deal.

So from their perspective, fundraising is spectacle and excitement, and losing investments are part of the loss model.

--

Side note, a return model heuristic for LPs: 1 in 10 yields 10x, 1 in 100 yields 1000x

Re: Airware is shutting down after raising $118M

#90

Post by person_of_color »

anonairwavedev wrote: post #47
danso wrote: post #2

I know the article says Airware attempted to go into hardware, but did its operating system (ostensibly its main product) have users?

Nope, never did. We build 2 OS(s): the first was based on linux with a rtos package (2013-14?). That was scrapped and a new fully custom hardware package was built with a fully custom OS (built by a team that never had done this) and was built for a low power arm processor. We were plagued by huge issues most of the time due to that OS being nearly impossible to debug or work with. Also doing that prevented any third…

Have you considered joining Propeller Aero?
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