

Startups That Launched at YC S15 Demo Day 1 - noteloop
http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/18/hardware-demo-day/

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Animats
Circle Medical is "Uber for doctors". That's going to be interesting.

The tea-making robot seems to come with overoptimistic numbers.

The sandwich-making robot is a good idea, but it will need a complete redesign
to make it cleanable. All stainless and Teflon, no food trap points, machine-
washable, steam-cleanable. Whether it's cost effective is another issue. That
idea has been tried many times. Here's AMFare, from American Machine and
Foundry, in 1964.[1] That system worked quite well, but needed a constantly
busy fast food outlet to justify the expense.

Then there's the version for the 1%[2].

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmXLqImT1wE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmXLqImT1wE)
[2] [http://factor-tech.com/robotics/17437-robot-chef-that-can-
co...](http://factor-tech.com/robotics/17437-robot-chef-that-can-cook-any-
of-2000-meals-at-tap-of-a-button-to-go-on-sale-in-2017/)

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IsaacL
I was quite surprised to see the tea-making and sandwich-making robots.

I met a startup in Hong Kong, CafeX, who were working on a coffee-making
robot, and my first reaction was that they were using cutting-edge technology
to solve a trivial problem. I do like good coffee though, so I thought through
the business case.

It seemed to fit into an awkward gap between "cheap coffee vending machine"
and "cafe kiosk with trained barista". People grabbing a convenient coffee in
places like gas stations and convenience stores, care about price over quality
and will be fine with a cheap machine. People who like quality coffee will
usually prefer a trained barista if one is available, unless they want to try
the novelty of a robot.

The two niches I can see are:

1) Inside fancy office buildings, where the drones don't want to walk outside
to get good coffee. (The robot is also good for impressing visitors).

2) Places without decent cafes around, i.e. shopping malls, theme parks,
airports, where the robot might be as good or better than Starfucks burned-
for-consistency beans.

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Animats
_" People who like quality coffee will usually prefer a trained barista if one
is available, unless they want to try the novelty of a robot."_

That's not why Starbucks is so labor-intensive.

Starbucks developed a good automated coffee-making machine, but decided not to
deploy it. Instead, they built a lower-profile manual machine which allows
their employees to maintain eye contact with the customer. The whole point of
Starbucks, the thing that justifies their high prices, is the ego boost the
customer gets from making the barista perform. Starbucks is about sucking up.
All their employees know this; it's in their training. Starbucks is a fast
food operation with the sucking-up level of a sit-down restaurant.

Read what their CEO has to say on the subject.[1]

[1] [http://www.kplu.org/post/robot-baristas-heres-starbucks-
ceo-...](http://www.kplu.org/post/robot-baristas-heres-starbucks-ceo-schultzs-
take)

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IsaacL
I've only just seen this comment; all I wanted to say is that your
interpretation sounds far too cynical. Maybe I just can't fathom what kind of
mind gets an ego boost from "making the barista perform".

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tristanho
New startup idea: self-driving solar-powered bikes which make sandwiches for
you and collect payment via smartphone app.

~~~
danieltillett
You must own a time machine. How was the YC16 launch?

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tinkerdol
Perhaps I am nit-picking but....

ROSS "is a digital legal expert" that managed not to attribute its landing
page's photo legally.

The photo is from here:
[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stuttgart_Bibliothek...](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stuttgart_Bibliothek_amk.jpg?uselang=en)

And according to the licence ([http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
sa/3.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)), attribution credit
as well as link to the cc license should be provided.

I think the idea is very cool by the way -- just trying to help!

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ojbyrne
The wikipedia page, under "Permission" says "If you use this picture somewhere
outside the wiki-world, I'd be happy to get a short eMail from you."

I believe that's the attribution. As it says in the license section below:

"attribution – You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the
author or licensor"

So you can't really say if its not attributed properly.

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prawn
For those interested, here are the Summer 2015 startups ranked on Product
Hunt: [http://www.producthunt.com/e/y-combinator-
summer-15](http://www.producthunt.com/e/y-combinator-summer-15)

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bakztfuture
If you'd like to see how many of the startups in the current YC batch have
evolved over time, I have created a special collection on the S15 group of
companies (using content from the Internet Archive):

[http://www.startuptimelines.org/collections/ycombinator_summ...](http://www.startuptimelines.org/collections/ycombinator_summer_2015_batch_s15/)

The companies I have personally found most surprising have been Wheely's Cafe,
Nebia, L., Luna, and Scentbird [1] ... great to see YC supporting such unique
kinds of companies.

[http://www.davidxgoliath.com/five-crazy-startups-from-the-
cu...](http://www.davidxgoliath.com/five-crazy-startups-from-the-current-yc-
batch/)

~~~
vineetraja
Description for Tesorio, mentions Tenant Turner

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TazeTSchnitzel
Nice to see at least some of these are building things which aren't just
smartphone apps solving first-world problems.

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Rainymood
I would love to try out the Nebia shower, just a shame they didn't name it
Nebula ... seems more fitting imo.

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skrebbel
They used to be called that but then PG wrote a blog post about what to do
when the .com is already taken.

~~~
Rainymood
nebula-showers.com?

But you have a point indeed.

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sydneyliu
Congratulations to all of the startups who launched!!

A lot more health, bio, and food related startups in this batch.

Tea and sandwich making robots makes me think that one day YC will open its
own automated coffeeshop or restaurant. Theoretically lower operating costs,
making the business much higher margin. Call9 and Circle Medical look very
interesting in the medical space.

And of course, gotta cheer for onboardiq. Their users really love them.
They're bringing on clients so quickly and are some of the hardest and
smartest workers I've met.

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bkjelden
ShapeScale definitely caught my eye!

I feel like that level of data about my body would really help motivate me to
eat better and exercise more.

~~~
onion2k
There's no evidence that data motivates people to start doing anything.
There's plenty that shows data helps you _continue_ once you've started (if
you're succeeding, otherwise data works as a negative reinforcer), but if you
haven't started yet, additional data won't help.

~~~
bsbechtel
There's plenty of evidence that shows those signs on highways that show you
your speed cause you to slow down.

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onion2k
There's evidence that the threat of punishment for not slowing down makes you
slow down. The signs act as a reminder of that. If it weren't for the law,
would many people who are already speeding pay attention to the signs? That
would be an interesting thing to test.

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swalsh
I haven't heard of Circle Medical before, but one thing that might be really
useful is if they were to "contract" out. Hear me out here :D

There's a big shift moving "risk" to the provider. As a result there's a big
focus on not only metrics, but also "care management". I used to work for a
company that did metrics, and would look for high cost patients that had
"opportunities" for cost savings. Their cases would be transferred to a care
management team who would then on a case by case basis investigate ways to
help the patient.

From what I've heard a lot of times, the patient would become more expensive
because they skipped simple follow up visits due to an issue just getting to
the office.

This might be a really easy way to get a patient the followup they need.

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spitfire
I really like the sandwich maker. That seems like one of those quiet
billionaire makers.

Also the shower-head looks neat, but not at $300. and why the hell are they
even thinking about an electronic version?

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prawn
I wondered if the misting shower head might feel great but be a bit annoying
at rinsing suds? I've noticed that feeling unsatisfying in some showers I've
had in hotels.

The water saving aspect is great though. Could there be a similar application
with washing dishes?

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Toast_
>The garden consists of “smart capsules” that contain seeds, nutrients and
soil that’s geared toward the specific plant. (It’s kind of like a Keurig
capsule, but for plants.)

REALLY?

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aesthetics1
Hopefully there isn't any DRM ;).

I think this could work. There could be a decent aftermarket sales
opportunity, too. The ability to sell 'prettier' planters/etc.

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zstiefler
Xendit — Venmo for Southeast Asia

Xfers — PayPal for Southeast Asia

Seems like a direct conflict?

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roymurdock
Fun fact: PayPal owns Venmo. They've tried to keep it quiet because the Venmo
brand is much stronger independent from the various screw-ups and annoyances
of PayPal.

The big difference: PayPal is for the computer, Venmo is for the smartphone.

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aberkowitz
I do all my Venmo-ing on a computer. I'd be curious to know if I was just an
isolated case.

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jayacon
some serious tea making!

