I was expecting more detail on how they found <i>"the point where our product would deliver exceptional value relative to competing products"</i> - that's always a tricky and important conversation, and I'd love a follow-up post on their process for doing so.<p>Instead, this was a great explanation on cash flow and the impact of pricing (and other, more significant, factors) on that cash flow. Which is probably even more valuable a discussion for growing businesses - it doesn't feel like it in the early days (when lack of clients will kill you) but in established companies it's often accelerated growth and unexpected cash flow hits that can kill a profitable business.
I have often said, one of the worst things that can happen to a physical goods start-up is to get a huge order from a single customer. Finding the working capital to pay for millions of dollars in raw materials can be nigh on impossible. Banks won't loan you the money without a track record of delivering similarly sized orders, and raising a round is an incredibly expensive way to float your receivables.
I am kind of surprised they are still in business, having missed the point that most people actually enjoy actual food and beverages, versus chugging a flavorless Ensure 2.0 slurry while staring at a monitor.<p>It's called a lunch break for a reason. Lunch is part of it, but its mostly about the break.
Solid advice, but this part was a little cringeworthy:<p>"At the same time, we also needed sufficient cash flows to fund our aggressive growth strategy and invest in technologies that will change the world."<p>I hope that is tongue-in-cheek because world-changing ideas aren't a dime a dozen.
What a weird post. There's no reason whatsoever for a company like Soylent to get in the cash flow weeds like that. It has plenty of growth capital. With interest rates so low, "interest-free" loans are comparably less valuable. They should be spending almost all their energy on R&D and marketing. Not financial shenanigans.