Comment by netcan | Hacker News Reader

Comment by netcan | Hacker News Reader

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I'm not sure if there's something I'm missing about soylent, but it seems to me like the most remarkable thing in the soylent story is that the company is a product of the tech startup culture.

The product itself fits (in my mind) in the nutritional supplements / meal replacements category and wouldn't have ordinarily gotten the attention of HN and startup investors.*

I wonder if this is an anomaly or first blood. Maybe startup culture is spreading to other areas. Startups haven't themselves been necessarily creators of technology (tricky to define). Many are just something that is enabled by mass adoption of some new technology or the cultural shifts that came with it (eg cloud based enterprise software). The whole world seems to be changing fairly rapidly now. That means there might be room for startup-culture to infiltrate even more areas. Tech savy, risk tolerant, big vision, funded, etc.

*I've got nothing to say about the product itself really. I like eating, personally.

I think this could successfully be marketed to developing countries as a food ration/field ration -- the cost per KG is quite high but it's far superior to other rations.

Imagine if naval explorers of yore had Soylent instead of cured/canned meats.

Canadian military field ration: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_Meal_Pack

American military field ration: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meal,_Ready-to-Eat

While I haven't been in the military, I do alot of backpacking. IMPs are quite tasty, and a welcome meal. Can't say I'd rather have a meal replacement shake after being in the wild for a week...

I think startup culture is breaking into a lot of other spaces, and that's where the press is coming from --

I think of YC alumns like FlightCar who, while sure there's a technology element in how they organize (but what company doesn't have this), are certainly not a "tech" startup -- they're just a good idea.

I think you may be confusing the term "tech startup" with "web development startup."

This isn't inspired by tech startups, it is a tech startup. It bothers me how people equate technology with the web. I guess the Saturn V was a useless piece of crap because it didn't use the latest web stack.

I don't think I am.

Technology is a tricky word (is twitter a new technology?) to define clearly, even for a limited context. We got used to lumping together companies creating technologies with those building on big new technologies like the internet. So, an online store could still be called a tech startup (or dotcom or web startup)

But, imagine this exact same product coming from a company similar to one of the existing nutritional supplement companies. Would you call it a tech startup?

We're dealing with subjective definitions obviously, but I think this is substantially different. One thing that stands out is that there is no good answer to the question "why now?"

As a product of the tech startup culture, I prefer talking about ZeroCater. At least, they provide real food.

How is a personal convenience meal replacement system comparable to a B2B catering service?

ZeroCater doesn't cater individual meals to individuals with the goal of improving meals of convenience, which we have a habit of relying on processed and fast foods for.

It's a tool for businesses to cater popular food to their employees.

I'm not comparing the products/services they offer, I am merely saying that from the two companies coming from the tech startup culture and focusing on food, I find one more interesting than the other.

Fair enough. To me, ZeroCater is boring and Soylent is very interesting, so I guess to each their own.

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