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Comment by semireg | Hacker News Reader

The Humane couple were interviewed on “How I Built This” last month. The interview has the “I worked at Apple” vibe because both husband and wife did work at Apple.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-...

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They and the startup seemed to give classic cringe wannabe Steve Jobs vibe. Its not very uncommon to find such people at Apple. They often miss the most the important thing that Jobs was good at, i.e. making things that are actually useful and does its job much better than anything else out there.

This is one of the most pointless products out there that is being marketed with the confidence based on I don't know what.

They were copying the Apple playbook without actually having the history and reputation to back it up, which made them look ridiculous. On their first announcement video the first thing they tell you is that the device comes in a few colors. This strategy might make sense for a product with which you're familiarized, but this is supposed to be a new product category without any prior history. If you're going to introduce a new product, you should start by saying what it is and what it can do. After watching that video I was convinced that the company was run by midwits destined to fail.

I think they missed some of the more important pages in the Apple playbook. Imagine someone presenting Steve Jobs with this product and claiming that it was ready to be released to the public.

Has nothing to do with history and reputation. Has everything to do with solving problems and solving them better.

If Apple gave this demo, they would have received the same backlash.

I should've been clearer. When Apple announces a new laptop or phone, you already know about macOS or iOS and their capabilities, so you can focus on other details. For example, I wouldn't find it surprising if a new Apple Watch announcement focused a bit on the bands and look of the device, since the capabilities of the device itself are fairly well known at this point. When announcing a new product that people don't recognize, you don't start the presentation by focusing on peripheral details (e.g. device color) before explaining the core functionality.

But yes, the focus should always be primarily on solving problems better than the competition and communicating this clearly to potential buyers.

> The interview has the “I worked at Apple” vibe

Is this a well-known meme? or just the general vibe of the Apple Store, calling the employees "geniuses", etc

Whenever I was in a meeting with a former Apple employee who wanted to win quickly. Their next sentence always started with “when I was at Apple…” and ended with “Steve” yelling at someone or proclaiming “this better not break or everyone here is fired”

Oh man this whole worked at Apple vibe is so off putting. I am sure he is very talented but somehow VCs think working at a company = being able to make a similar company which is absolutely false.

similar in some superficial way? sure, especially with enough VC money to burn.

Theranos' Holmes also successfully copied the plain black turtleneck part.

VCs got bamboozled into this whole unicorn hunt during the big SaaS boom (when everything was the Uber of some sector), but the low hanging fruits are mostly gone.

But it's their (mostly the limited partners') money, and there's usually enough fools to offload stuff so that even the clueless funds survive a decade.

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