NYCounihan

Torch, Chicago

- Full-time, lead principal engineer - Venture-backed company led by industry veteran

apply here: https://forms.gle/roE74wBznxkNRTKM6 or here: [email protected]

Posting for two companies in Schematic portfolio.

Torch : Short haul Freight Platform : Full-Time CTO in Chicago

Stealth : E-commerce Returns Platform : Full-Time CTO in Austin

Both companies funded in the past quarter. Capitalized well into next year. Must be onsite (not remote).

[email protected]

It's an unusual term that I haven't seen before.

I'm of two minds here:

1. If the investor is a former rainmaker banker who will go above & beyond in the transaction, effort that would normally cost you $mm's, she might be justified. She could also have factored that "value add" into a lower valuation rather than in a separate right.

2. Ascribe a monetary value to the term and adjust other areas of the financing (valuation, control rights, etc) accordingly. There is nothing unethical about issuing unusual terms as long as all parties are informed and it is done transparently.

Two start-ups, Exotec & CommonSense, have recently unveiled small footprint AS/RS and mobile robot combinations.

CommonSense has built a more familiar gantry crane system on rack with a single purpose mobile robot on the ground (albeit in a much smaller form factor than found in a normal distribution center).

Exotec appears to be filling both storage / retrieval and transportation functions with a single general purpose robot that can traverse rack on tracks and move freely on the ground.

In high throughput applications, Exotec's loss of specialization will lead to lower speeds (i.e. an AS/RS robot designed only to move on rack will outperform a robot design to move on rack & the ground). In low throughput applications, the design could save money by reducing the total number of servos and motors that the system would require.

Both start-ups appear to be layering additional business models (fulfillment service or third party logistics) into their business model so the unit economics may not make sense to purchase one of these automation solutions on a capex business case. It will be interesting to see if the AS/RS incumbents begin exploring similar mini-solutions.

Pretty sure any thoughts of monetization are a long way off. Need to worry about building network density first.

Ad-free social network with one-to-one, one-to-group and one-to-many communication.

and one server to rule them all...

Been using for a while. Much faster than copy/past/email and I share articles without worrying about clogging inbox's.

Can't wait for mobile!