Comment by MikeTheGreat | Hacker News Reader

Comment by MikeTheGreat | Hacker News Reader

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I've never run a start-up (successful or otherwise :) ) but I've also heard that being able to pivot can be really useful - Flickr is often cited as an example.

Also, "GPU on demand" sounds _a_lot_ easier than "drone-based delivery". Between Seti@Home/Folding@Home/etc, various grid-computing/clustering/orchestration stacks that already exist, etc it seems reasonably doable to implement in a year or so. "drone-based delivery" sounds capital-intensive, sounds like you'll need to spend a lot of time building a professional network of business people who might use the service (so there's a 'cultural friction' between techie founders and business folks, potentially), plus the ever-looming threat of Amazon/etc figuring this out first.

tl;dr: I agree it's weird pivot, and good on the founders for being able to make the change! :)

While most people think it's cool and some think it's scary, drone delivery is ultimately something that people (that is: companies with money) don't need.

Turns out, using drones to deliver is also not that competitive either. Delivery vans are very cost-efficient, and for food delivery / on-demand delivery, drones are not able to carry most orders. So it's not even the regulatory pains that make this difficult, which are unbearable in their own right.

It was a lot of fun to work on and we would have definitely stuck with it if there was any interest. There was none, so we had to admit that to ourselves.

This is a hard pivot, but it's been very stimulating to work on.

Btw thanks for this honest insight. When I read the bit about your pivot, I sort of rolled my eyes. But this is a really nice, sober reflection that actually builds credibility with people like me who might make snap judgements at first.

I hope you guys find traction.

To add to "capital-intensive": the regulatory framework right now (in the US) for drone delivery is uncertain at best. While most of the rules & regs to enable drone delivery is already finalized & published, a few very important ones (such as BVLOS - beyond visual line-of-sight) have yet been finalized, and thus need one-off waivers from the FAA to allow. And getting those one-off waivers is what eats a lot of time & money.

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