Bodega Shows What Is Wrong With Technology Funding, but It Won’t Kill Your Real Bodega
The founders of Bodega , a new vending machine startup looking to replace convenience stores, probably didn’t expect the Internet to immediately hate them . But they had to do it. The headline for their Fast Company article on launch day – “Two Former Google Employees Want to Make Mum and Dad’s Wine Cellars and Eateries Obsolete ” – isn’t unfair. FC cites co-founder Paul McDonald bluntly: “At the end of the day, there will be no need for centralized retail outlets because there will be 100,000 wine cellars scattered about, with one always 100 feet away.”
Bodega is a network of internet-enabled vending machines located in gyms, dorms and apartment buildings. Each five-foot “pantry” that can be opened with the mobile app contains non-perishable items that you buy simply by picking them up.
A startup probably doesn’t have a chance, in part because most startups don’t have a chance. (But who knows! Nobody knows anything . ) However, whether they succeed or not, they will temporarily dispose of a lot of money as a reward for presenting a certain vision to a certain group of people.
And to most viewers, Bodega’s vision is unpleasant; it is when we leave the house less, when there is one less human interaction on our day. And unlike other disruptive technologies, the only seeming innovation here is fewer trips to the corner store. This is the sum total of new values that Bodega brings to the world. (Bodega also promises “personalized items” that change from place to place – something that wine cellars already do.) This is not a trifle! But what does he ask in return?
In order for Bodega to succeed, to make the kind of money that Silicon Valley investors demand, it will need to collect money from stores that currently sell these items. These are mainly grocery stores and CVS. In some big cities, these are actual wine cellars, after which Bodega has named itself, presumably an attempt to combine the positive and “authentic” associations we create with a friendly wine cellar in the service of corporate profit.
Aside from shockingly bad taste (and trying to divert your money from your local business, which is probably owned by immigrants, back to Silicon Valley), it’s also a dubious business plan at best. As noted on Twitter , actual wine cellars aren’t just giant vending machines, not just keeping money in place. they can sell you a free cigarette, cheap coffee, or a fresh egg sandwich. They may hold your spare key, recall your usual order, or say the first “hello” you hear that day. They can chase away the person who is trying to follow you home . And even as vending machines, they are much better at keeping your favorite brand of toothbrushes, or 12 packs of Cottonelle, or fresh produce.
All of these advantages mean that wine cellars are probably not that easy to beat. A quick response is likely to exaggerate the threat. But this is not an exaggeration of what Bodega, its founders and investors, want to achieve, or the worrying fact that Silicon Valley investors are pouring money over and over again in companies like Bodega that do not create value, but simply mix it up. Among the recent harvest of unicorns, even those that bring new value to the customer are destroying core value elsewhere. Uber is not only the best way to manage taxi rides, but also a monopoly that will eventually ditch its workforce in favor of self-driving cars. Airbnb doesn’t just help people make extra money or find housing; it also leads to higher rents and erosion of the tax base.
This is not shocking. Around ten years ago, we all started using the mobile Internet – a technological innovation so massive that Silicon Valley is still having all the economic repercussions. But by doing so they lose the priority of the next technological innovations. They behave like hedge funds, extracting and reallocating value, redesigning existing industries, and yet demanding to be seen as genius philanthropists fighting to make the world a better place. (See also: Lyft essentially reinvents … the bus .)
But as BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith recently tweeted, we’re all starting to see right through it : “The tech industry has also benefited from its enemies for many years, whom it has referred to – often accurately – as Luddites who sincerely did not understand the pipe series they were talking about. rant, or about protectionist industries not wanting the best for consumers. It’s over too. ” Now politicians on the left and right see these companies and their investors as they are: just another round of robber barons of the gilded age, extolling the once-utopian promise of their main innovation, now squeezing the last breath from the rest. economy.
The founders of Bodega approached this characteristic with their mindless appropriative marketing and a clear threat to the business owners they want to emulate. Bodega wants to kill your wine cellar and they will almost certainly fail; Do not worry about it. But don’t worry about why they didn’t even think you’d be angry and who gave them all that money at all.