Postmortem.hk

[Nils Hitze]

I thought maybe some of you might want to see this

http://www.wsj.com/video/an-important-lesson-in-startup-failure/038DAD7F-7058-4F70-98B8-CA50B57EF9BA.html

Jon Buford talking about his "failures" ... 

I think we should do a survey about what we do see as his failures.

[NarimaanV]

I guess this might just be the closest thing to an official "that's it, show's over, Makible's dead" we'll get until.....well, I would say until the website goes down, but that's been down for months now with about a week of it working in the middle before breaking again. It's a shame, really, and not because I personally lost almost $400. Company had some real potential, seems it was all a waste.

[NarimaanV]

Oh yah, and in terms of Jon's failures, in addition to what he said, hyperbolic optimism probably was close to the top.

On Tuesday, December 2, 2014 5:50:19 PM UTC-5, Nils (Kojote) Hitze wrote:

[Austin Peasley]

I feel like the biggest failing was not having anyone managing them and "applying the thumbscrews," as it were. There was huge potential and seeming ability to fulfill that potential upon launch, but after getting bogged down for the better part of a year and a half while dicking about trying to develop the unasked-for pellet drive and ramen doodle pen, I think they whittled away their money, and by the time they realized it (And started shoving out Betas and then shipping) they had already chewed through any assets and/or goodwill they had left.

--
-- Get more Updates from the Makibox on http://www.makibox.com/ or join the discussion on our Forum: http://www.makibox.com/forum
 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Makibox group. To post to this group, send email to mak...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to makibox+u...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/makibox?hl=en
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Makibox" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to makibox+u...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Nigel Thompson]

Thanks Austin, I think you nailed it there. Sadly most of us saw this at the time and pleaded against it.

[Austin Peasley]

I actually think the pellet drive could have been a fantastic idea if they'd completed it within the 1-2 month timeline they had originally (optimistically) said it would take, but when that became 9 months, it really showed where having a firm hand from a group manager saying "Let's cut our losses and move on" would have helped.

[Nigel Thompson]

Sorry Austin but I can't agree, the pellet drive would be a fantastic add-on to a functioning printer and that's all we wanted when we put up the start-up money. Now I can't complain, I got my printer, but many didn't, and I feel bad for them. The time, money and focus should have been on the printer. Adding more variables, more complexity before the first printer was even shipped, that (IMO) was the mistake.

[Cozmic Ray]

Why are there 800 paid Makiboxes sitting in a shipping container

in the US someplace that are not being delivered ?

And the "Board" gets no blame for this?

Just BAD BAD Business?

How many failures do WE have to pay for?

IMHO  -- they should be breaking rocks or getting lashes in a prision!

[Bill Fleming]

Where did you hear that 800 boxes are waiting in the US?

[Mike Seidel]

LOL!  "SEVERAL THOUSAND"  units! 

[Kristian Blåsol]

I find it funny that their video post processing seems to be a failure as well ;) I tweeted to ask when we could all see the videos that they claim to be online "soon"... :)

[Cozmic Ray]

I got a message that my units were part of a seavan delivery to the US west coast

The US shipper (Take units out of sea container and ship to US locations)

was not given  but a tracking number was stated (the number never gave any info).

So a buch of Makibox's are in a sea container, on a boat, in a port, on the bottom of the sea

or in the shippers surplus sell off.

[jason summer]

LOL I've give him plently of warning very early in the game - He does not know how to run a business - period.

[a a]

Did anyone pressed charges on HK police ? Cause I did twice, but no reply so far, so no hopes there either :(

[aaron ramsey]

There wasn't anything criminal here. Yes, things were mismanaged and overly optimistic, but that's the way it goes. Sometimes companies fail... actually, very often companies fail. This wasn't some sort of scam. Jon and Makibox were working their asses off trying to make this thing happen. 

According to Forbes, 8 out of 10 entrenpreneurs fail (http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericwagner/2013/09/12/five-reasons-8-out-of-10-businesses-fail/). I'm guessing that at least 3 of those 5 bit Jon and co. 

Yes, it sucks for the people that put their money in. That was the risk though. The reward (a super cheap machine) was worth that risk to the people who sent their money to Makibox, or we wouldn't have done it.

Ranting now won't change anything. Chalk it up to experience and move on. You'll be happier.

Aaron

--

[Laurie Baggio]

Aaron - totally agree.  I don't know how MakiBox was marketed later on, but when I purchased - I knew it was a serious risk if it would even be completed but I was supporting some engineers with a vision to create a low priced printer.

[Cozmic Ray]

Who has design license for makibox?

Only inexpensive leadscrew driven printer.

Perhaps some could take the design and produce it.

Probably at 3X price?

[a a]

@Aron: I definately not agree. When you pay cash upfront and you still go bankrupt something is not right. 

[Carter Adams]

IMO, the CRIMINAL part is that units were produced and PAID for and now are being SOLD by some 3rd party.

BTW, about a year ago, I requested and RECEIVED a full REFUND. AFAIK, I was one of the last ones to successfully do that. I have just followed the list to see how things worked out...

Regards,

Carter Adams

poolp...@gmail.com
www.LibraryThing.com/catalog/carteradams
www. LeagueOperator.org
www. CartersBilliardsLibrary.com

Sent from my Nexus 4 by Google via StraightTalk.com

[Sebastian Herp]

About early warnings ... my first post on this mailing list was late in 2012, when Jon asked if we want our printer by the end of the year or not. The options were
a) filament printer + pellet upgrade later
b) filament printer + more printing material as thank you for our patience
c) wait until there is a pellet printer "early in Q1 2013"

Jon's failure was believing - for a whole year - that they could somehow make the pellet thing work *without* actually having a working filament printer prototype. The early 2012 promise was "cheap printers only months away" and we all know how it ended ... too much money came in, they thought they could produce a better product without even trying to get the basic filament printer - they showed in 3D renders only - working first. And then problems with the extruder kept us waiting even longer. Problems which weren't really solved in the units that were finally produced a whole year after the first beta unit was sent to Nils Hitze in March 2013.

I got my unit earlier this year and I printed some stuff. It kind of works, but it took way too long to get here and even if Jon didn't pay himself out of these funds, that delay likely cost a lot of money.

Have a good start into the new year, forget about the Makibox! It wasn't a good investment even for those who received the box ... next time don't invest in products that can not show working prototypes when asking for your money ... a rule kickstarter had to include late in 2012 ...

Sebastian

--

[Flyby Wire]

Hyperbolic optimism. I like that phrase ! Thumbs up!