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I think Soylant suffers from change-the-world syndrome, common in SV. As a result no space between taking it very seriously vs not at all
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I prefer not to criticize things I haven't tried, so I've tried 2 vers of Soylant powder & got a box of Coffiest (or however its spelled)
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The pre-made bottles are pretty close to making sense as a product, as opposed to weird hobby/save the world through biohacking BS.
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Once you put aside its frankly baffling need to portray itself as some sort of critical world saver and the fact that it isn't a new idea
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(because meal replacement powders and drinks have been around forever, but marketed at women)
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You can see a cheap relatively healthy product that has a market outside of weird geeks like me...
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With some relatively interesting and new ideas that can be dug out of the PR nonsense...
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Soylant is smart at: Versioning & developing the food in public, it gives them UGC recipes and re-formulations. Integrating their community
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Soylant's problem is that by dressing up their product in SV-savior-complex they are building a community that offends and repels outsiders.
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Community building note: "Compensation effect" means: build a community & say they are saving the world, they'll be toxic eventually.
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It's fun to imagine what Soylant could have been if their initial premise was just "We want to work with you to make a really good product"
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(Instead of "We're going to save the world, come along for the ride")
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Sadly, probably would not have been nearly as successful in scale, but mby more stable as a company, w/better product faster.
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Fun example in gaming world: Endless series by Iceberg Interactive (which took the 'let's build better together' approach) vs Star Citizen.
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Iceberg has a series of excellent products with middle-of-the-road sales. Star Citizen has millions of dollars & still no completed product.
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What an excellent metaphor for the state of small businesses in America today, eh? Hype makes much more money and shittier results.
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