Technology
Brilliance or stupidity
Startups trying to disrupt the food sector should think again
Tech startup founders can either be visionaries or idiots. It’s difficult to spot the difference. Langda Tyagi may help. He said in the movie Omkara ,“ The difference between a visionary and idiot is that of a string. If you pull the string, both look similar.” Mike Monteiro is one such Langda Tyagi of the tech world.
Yesterday, he posted a thread about startups getting into the food truck business. He explained that food truck owners are people of colour, and it is labour extensive. Most food truck businesses are bootstrapped. They sell cuisines from all over the world. Pandemic affected them. He observed a new food truck, which did not look like a food truck. He found out that it was a VC funded business, had set up a fully robotic restaurant. It served Mediterranean food bowls. A similar startup, called Stockwell, had tried to automate the local convenience stores, called Bodega. It shut down in 2020.
Tech-enthusiasts responded. VC Ritesh Banglani tweeted, “Please nobody tell him about washing machines and what they’ve done to the laundromat industry.” He explained that US became rich because it increased the productivity. And, robotic kitchens are the step in the same direction.
Another person suggested that robotic kitchens and the restaurants are the future.
Mike replied, “If the only way to make a human activity affordable is by removing the human, then we’ve failed across the board.”
Mike is the co-founder ( Erica Hall is the other co-founder + the author of Just Enough Research) of the design firm Mule Design. His firm has done spectacular work. Designers also know him and his firm for A List Apart books such as Design Is A Job. He gets technology and productivity as much a tech VC would. India is facing a similar onslaught on indie and bootstrapped businesses. Cloud kitchens, dark kitchens, dark stores and food delivery are harming the local businesses. The food may travel quicker, but it exploits the employees as much, if not more. The groceries may reach quicker, but it puts the delivery person may meet accidents. It’s not black or white.
If VCs fail to see the point of view of bootstrappers or small businesses, the technology is aiming for monopoly and not productivity. Thanks to people like Mike, who always stand up for the small guy. In 2012, he gave a famous talk: F#uck You Pay Me. He cites the following instances of bootstrappers having trouble in getting the money due.
- It is really not what we wanted after all.
- We got somebody internal to do it, instead.
- We cancelled the project.
- We did not get the funding.
- We think we have paid you enough.
- It’s not really what we were hoping for.
His simple suggestion for fellow bootstrappers were:
- Do not leave money on the table.
- Sign a contract with the clauses to getting paid, if things do not go as per the plan.
- Hire the lawyer to start the process of recovery
