Lessons I learned from the failure of my first startup, Dinnr

Re:Lessons I learned from the failure of my first startup, D... by WoodenChair on Saturday September 06, 2014 @05:30PM (#8279545)

Plated uses a subscription model - which in my mind makes a lot more sense for this.

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Re:Lessons I learned from the failure of my first startup, D... by gkmoyn on Saturday September 06, 2014 @03:37PM (#8279251)

Why don't you go out and do the research, find out if Plated is, actually, doing so well, and then come back with some actual findings, rather than a flippant dismissal of this article?

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Re:Lessons I learned from the failure of my first startup, D... by aye on Saturday September 06, 2014 @03:59PM (#8279301)

According to CrunchBase [1]:

    Most Recent Funding
    $15 Million Series A on August 9, 2014

Not bad!

[1] http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/plated

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Re:Lessons I learned from the failure of my first startup, D... by brianstorms on Saturday September 06, 2014 @04:23PM (#8279358)

Doesn't necessarily mean they are doing well. After all, Color got $41 million and . . . Color, remember them? http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/color-labs

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Re:Lessons I learned from the failure of my first startup, D... by theflyingkiwi42 on Saturday September 06, 2014 @05:11PM (#8279501)

We tried plated as well as blue apron.

In reality, both of them were way too much work. We were excited to try them but don't miss them at all. I think the blog describes it well: this is not a real pain point (at least for us - 2 adults, one baby).

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Re:Lessons I learned from the failure of my first startup, D... by idlewords on Saturday September 06, 2014 @06:04PM (#8279635)

Blue apron freaked me out because they deliver a huge box that is 80% packaging and cold packs. Inside that box are many other little boxes that contain, for example, a single tomato.

They require you to be pretty adept with a chopping knife and good at prep work, while assuming that the only ingredient you own is cooking oil. So you get cocaine-like bags full of two tablespoons of flour.

It's like a sous chef simulator that fills your house with packaging. I buy as much as I can from them, since I figure they are running at a loss and I want venture capitalists subsidizing my dinner.

But it freaks me out to stab all those melted cold packs and bleed them out into the sink every night.

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Re:Lessons I learned from the failure of my first startup, D... by theflyingkiwi42 on Saturday September 06, 2014 @06:14PM (#8279664)

"They require you to be pretty adept with a chopping knife and good at prep work, while assuming that the only ingredient you own is cooking oil."

Yes, that was pretty much what we experienced as well. The prep time was often much longer than 20~30 minutes, and really took the fun out of it.

Admittedly, it was all very tasty but for us, it created more pain than it solved. We tried Plated to see if it was better but it pretty much was the same experience.

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Re:Lessons I learned from the failure of my first startup, D... by idlewords on Saturday September 06, 2014 @06:30PM (#8279704)

I found both prep time and quantity of food varied really widely. Sometimes I was chopping for what felt like hours, other times you just had to mix stuff together and fry it for five minutes. And then make a second dinner, because you'd been given two spoonfuls of seeds and a pearl onion.

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Re:Lessons I learned from the failure of my first startup, D... by tdicola on Saturday September 06, 2014 @06:24PM (#8279694)

I think a lot of people like the idea of a fresh cooked meal a lot more than the reality of actually making it.

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Re:Lessons I learned from the failure of my first startup, D... by justincormack on Sunday September 07, 2014 @10:18AM (#8281180)

I think those of us who like fresh cooked meals have already adapted to how to make them, the market for people who need and want to convert to that stage is small.

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Re:Lessons I learned from the failure of my first startup, D... by benaiah on Saturday September 06, 2014 @04:21PM (#8279356)

VC investment does not a successful business make...

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Re:Lessons I learned from the failure of my first startup, D... by frozenport on Saturday September 06, 2014 @04:29PM (#8279371)

That's precious. Dude, its about the journey, man. Take the 40 Mil spend it on booze. Live fast, pivot and ride the wave to the soft landing. Then do it again. Beats a real coding job any day.

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Re:Lessons I learned from the failure of my first startup, D... by benaiah on Wednesday September 10, 2014 @01:24AM (#8295063)

Well, that may be true, but I doubt that process is gonna make successful businesses, unless you lace that booze with copious amounts of adderall.

I am not responsible for the state of your liver if you follow the implied advice.

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