
Juicero's CEO responds - virtuabhi
https://medium.com/@Juicero/a-note-from-juiceros-new-ceo-cb23a1462b03
======
winteriscoming
When I read about Juicero yesterday[1] I thought the product was worthless.
People however do sometimes chase after things which they feel to either make
them rich or they have passion about.

But this statement by their CEO:

>> So when I saw this week’s headlines about hacking and hand-squeezing
Produce Packs, I had a one overriding thought: ”We know hacking consumer
products is nothing new. But how can we better demonstrate the incredible
value we know our connected system delivers?

is not just ridiculous but even mocking their own customer and investors.
Squeezing a pack of fruits is hacking? Someone here yesterday mentioned, in a
lighter vein, Juicero adding DRM tech to their juicer. With statements like
this from their CEO, they might very well make it true.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14148216](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14148216)

~~~
fgandiya
Even worse >>>The journey from Coca-Cola to carrots to Juicero’s rainbow of
fruits and vegetables has let me connect my work to my personal mission and
passion: solving some of our nation’s nutrition and obesity challenges.

By selling a $400 blender which needs $8 for each glass of juice?

~~~
AstralStorm
If you cannot afford food, you can't eat it. /s

~~~
sogen
Let them eat cakes.

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quizme2000
This should and will probably become a case study on how flawed the startup
funding ethos of creating a monopoly for your billion dollar business creates
an environment that encourages fraudulent products and services. In fact
Juicero can and has easily ticked off all the boxes of a perfect startup model
company to the tune of $120MM. The biggest weakness of a water monopoly is
being destroyed by foreign conquerors. In all the cases where the primary
resource for a startup is individual users, no one has a monopoly and ergo is
not immune to negative value perception, ethics concerns, or bad press.
Startups even with a 90% market share, huge users bases, and/or great revenue
should never be run or funded like they will never face market competition
because users will just abandon them and the market segment all together.

------
_pmf_
> The first closed loop food safety system that allows us to remotely disable
> Produce Packs if there is, for example, a spinach recall. In these
> scenarios, we’re able to protect our consumers in real-time.

SV really is the best parody of itself. This guy sounds as credible as a stock
photo of a laughing woman eating salad looks.

As a side note: some German article called the issue "Lügenpresse", which is
pretty hilarious (it's also the term for "fake news media" before the English
term gained traction here; presse == media and presse = press).

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fusiongyro
Pretty weak response. I fail to see how their machine's "consistent pressing"
improves on a blender or juicer in the "taste and nutrition" department, and
that is the point that sells the $400 machine. Point 3 about the "connected
supply chain" is just a boast. On point 1, are people dying left and right
from eating recalled food? I'm not convinced there's enough of a problem there
to warrant such defenses, especially when it looks a lot more like a market
capture tool.

~~~
SOLAR_FIELDS
If someone wants to corner the juicer market, all they have to do is engineer
one that can be completely cleaned in under 30 seconds. The best ones I have
seen still take several minutes to fully clean.

~~~
fusiongyro
I had a Breville something-or-other. Using it was such a project because of
the washing ritual. After a month or so I gave it to my mother, who I don't
think has ever used it. I agree completely.

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pedalpete
I was completely unaware of what the response was to.

For those who also have no idea, apparently they are refunding all purchases.

[http://www.theverge.com/2017/4/20/15375940/juicero-full-
refu...](http://www.theverge.com/2017/4/20/15375940/juicero-full-refund-
customers-ceo-jeff-dunn)

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jmcdiesel
This guy is squirming.

And he sounds like a gross used car salesman.

And he epitomizes the startup CEO, delusions of grandeur and all...

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Neliquat
So basically, it seems like part of their business is metrics and control.
Anyone can juice fruit. They don't actually proport any more safety, just the
possibility of better response to recalls.

Unless their system can be proven to reduce, as opposed to increase, wastage
and spoilage, the entire point is moot.

But I cannot see this ever taking off, so this is moot as well. If you are
into raw smoothies, you are probally into knowing where your food comes from
and getting it in its natural state.

~~~
rpmcmurphy
We also have these magical devices called blenders, invented many decades ago,
and available for $20 or so. Toss in your preferred mix of fruit, juice, ice
cream etc, and hit BLEND.

This product is solving what problem exactly? I had to ask if this was satire,
but sadly it is an example of how some people in the tech industry are so
helpless they can't even seem to manage feeding themselves.

~~~
HappyTypist
Blender blades produce heat which damages nutrition in juice.

~~~
Crito
Throw in some ice. Juice isn't rocket science, I'm sure you can figure this
out if you _really_ apply yourself...

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bane
Goodness gracious, get a $50 blender and just toss a bunch of random plants in
it. 10 seconds clean up, tastes good, lots of fiber and is filling.

I've realized now why I'll never be a startup billionaire, I'll never be able
to come up with a stupid idea nobody needs and doesn't work well and makes the
planet and humanity worse off while telling everybody around me I'm making the
world a better place.

The video the company produced on how to use the machine is also ridiculous
[1]. There's how many steps involved setting up and using the machine? I need
an app on a phone and wi-fi to set it up? And after I go through all these
steps and get my juice, there's even more steps?

"cut the pack open and empty the pulp into your compost"

"rinse thoroughly"

"keep the packs in a box"

"when you're ready to send them back come to our site for a shipping label"

"burn some dinosaurs on your way to the UPS store to drop off your processed,
empty, rinsed juice packs"

This can't possibly be real life.

1 -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i0UugILBJg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i0UugILBJg)

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davidgerard
Proving their machine is literally superfluous is a "hack" now. OK.

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j-walker
How long until they pivot and ditch the pressing machine all together and just
go to a model of shipping juice packs with an app that scans the code and
tells you if there's a recall or not?

~~~
PacketPaul
Or a competitor comes along with a self squeezing pack.

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snickerbockers
Does anybody else think that "Juicero" sounds like a great name for a company
that sells steroids?

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dikdik
This guy cannot honestly be as dumb as he presented himself in this article.

I guess if he thinks people will buy his explanation he very well might be.

~~~
fusiongyro
"You won't get this value if you just hand-squeeze our product bags." Of
course, if you manually pour boiling water through a Keurig k-cup, you will
not get the "value" of the k-cup. But it's a disingenuous response, because
the alternative to using the machine with the packs isn't using the packs
without the machine, it's using _neither_.

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joezydeco
_...Produce Packs, which to be clear, contain nothing but fresh, raw, organic
chopped produce, not juice_

...and then posts a video of a disassembled pack of mushy carrot pulp. That
was really your best option here?

~~~
TillE
Right, the difference seems minimal. When you start with a whole carrot, or a
whole orange, there's the obvious advantage of greatly reduced surface area
plus the plant's natural outer layer. Keeps everything fresh.

Blending it into fine pieces removes all that. The bags apparently aren't even
vacuum-sealed (there's a "breathing hole"), so everything will be oxidizing
and degrading pretty quickly. That's _worse_ than bottled juice.

~~~
Kristine1975
* The bags apparently aren't even vacuum-sealed (there's a "breathing hole")*

Wouldn't the content (at least the liquid part of it) leak through the hole?

But they don't pasteurize the bag's content, so it will spoil a lot faster
than, say, juice you buy at a supermarket. They use their fancy QR code to
make sure a bag hasn't expired, essentially providing an over-engineered
solution to a problem they created in the first place.

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Justin_K
So they sell 3 pre-pulverized carrots for $8?

~~~
calbear81
You might say that they're a... CHOP SHOP.

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ouid
my favorite part was how he explained that they "source organic produce
directly from farms".

which I think means, "We buy food"

