Schedule update (December '16)

Yeah, pretty clear, but at the same time unlikely to be provided. Dan can’t give a guarantee due to the number of things outside his control. He is also careful to caveat any assurances (I try not to characterize them as promises due to the inherent uncertainty) with the statement that things unforseen may change and cause him not to meet whatever goal he sets (except that when it ships it will be wonderful).

It’s likely the delays, and any others as they come, will cost them some current customers. But I don’t believe that’s material anymore. They could lose a third of the current pre-order and still ship to 10,000 new laser users (based on most recently reported numbers). That’s an awful lot of new lasers. In fact it’s a pretty extraordinary number.

The 5,000 dissatisfied voices won’t substantially impact future sales either I wouldn’t expect. Hard to argue with the upbeat cheerleading of 10,000 excited newbies. The 5,000 would simply be put in a position of second guessing and complaining about the past while the 10,000 cheerleaders will be gushing about the present & the future.

There really isn’t a substantial downside to delaying it as long as there continues to be progress forward until the competition catches up. If they do, it will have been an expensive mistake. If they don’t then it’s brilliant management.

3 Likes

I’m saying your are getting between him and the company he dropped thousands of dollars into. He asked the face of the business why he shouldn’t cancel.

That’s considerably different than me pointing out that your dismissive response to someone honestly expressing their disappointment is not only disrespectful but damaging. Community is in large part about support, and I support how he feels about this. That would hold true if I agreed or not.

I’m not the first person to call you out on that. I believe @jdodds beat me to it.

1 Like

I agree with all of the logic. I still think he’d benefit from hearing that from Dan.

I was a bit of a wreck till Dan answered a couple of my questions.

Humans.

1 Like

I’m getting extremely aggravated with people telling other member what they can and can not say in response to a question on a public forum. You telling them that the response they gave is wrong because it isn’t that persons place to answer is just as much you sticking your nose in that persons business. The hypocritical nature of your attitude can not be overstated. Some people on here are acting like they are the polite police and use some of the most condescending language themselves.

If you post on a public forum and someone tried to help and you don’t like it then you have every right to respond to them and let them know, but why some people feel the need to attack people for responding to a question in a way they think is wrong is annoying. If you don’t like the response who cares! It’s none of your business.

I don’t think any kids payed for a glowforge so no one on here needs a savior to come to help when someone responds to them even if it is mean or condescending. Just stay out of it and mind your own business. If you think it is wrong, mean, or whatever then flag it and let the discourse people decide and quit attacking fellow members.

9 Likes

I respect your opinion :wink:

1 Like

Dan isn’t checking the boards as regularly now, but he doesn’t want people to sit and think that they are being ignored. He will probably respond when he gets a chance. (He’s a CEO trying to run a company though, so it has to be squeezed in among a lot of other duties.)

It’s okay to be disappointed and nothing wrong with expressing displeasure over the delay…we all feel it.

And in point of fact, the international customers aren’t getting as much of an “I’m sorry” as the stateside ones. That’s not because Glowforge values them less. It’s just logistics.

(Brilliant idea of selling the international gift certificates to those stateside at a bit of a discount so that the international customers can still get some benefit from it and then use the money to buy locally. Maybe that is something we can look into if GF can’t pull a rabbit out of the hat.)

Those of us who have been hanging around all year are trying to help. We’re not trying to rub anyone’s nose in anything.

Sometimes it doesn’t initially come across that way, but I truly believe it’s what is intended in most cases. Our egos just keep getting in the way.

So before another hockey game breaks out, I can offer an alternative to expell some energy and actually accomplish something at the same time…

I’ll bet there are some serious weeds in need of removal somewhere…mine have been beaten into complete submission this year.

11 Likes

I take offence to your hockey comment :wink: (no, not really)

Tone. It takes more effort but sharing a quote from Dan on the subject achieves the same goal without the “you’re an idiot” snipe. I believe @confezioni_clever deserved better, I’m going to say so… in this forum.

3 Likes

Oh, I don’t believe the original comment intended that at all. :slight_smile:

Some folks are multi-lingual, and the intent doesn’t come across the same as it does for those of us who use just English.

It’s just too damned easy for misunderstandings to occur on forums. Gotta love it. :wink:

3 Likes

Yes, Inventables shipping is expensive for we international buyers, and I would also be extremely happy to see an alternative (better) option for us if they could swing it. However, even if Glowforge can’t manage anything better for us, the fact remains that $50 is $50. In other words, no matter what we get from them, it will still cost us $50 less than it would have cost without that perk, and getting $50 worth of high quality materials shipped to us for $32-$40 total (plus local tax/duty if applicable) is still a pretty good deal, even though it’s not as good of a deal as the Americans are getting. I get it that most international buyers wouldn’t have considered anything from Inventables otherwise, so this perspective is not going to be popular for all, but it still makes a one-time purchase form them a lot more affordable than it would have been otherwise.

5 Likes

Possible. Not how I saw it but no real benefit in chasing it.

I’ve contended before that this forum is disproportionally optimistic about the product delivery and often don’t want to hear the negative. I’ve seen negative views get… swarmed? Not sure that’s the right word.

I get human nature, i’d just like to see the “tails” in the coin toss of an argument be just as valid as “heads”. Being mad about this schedule update is perfectly normal in this thread (“Schedule Update”).

So what weeding are you referring to? This something you need help with?

7 Likes

The kind that infest flower beds…you can get really vicious with the suckers when you’ve got a mad on.

Might win Garden Club trophy this year as a matter of fact…one benefit to the delays. :wink:

4 Likes

Oh, thought you meant forum weeding :grimacing:

I’m in a place where we measure snow in meters. No more weeding for me for a while.

8 Likes

I’ve never seen a white Christmas. Weeds are a year round problem here. You’re lucky. (Well maybe not…I’m sure snow has it’s downsides.)

3 Likes

That’s an interesting concept actually, especially since the crowdfunding money is not held in escrow. I’ve often wondered what would happen if the Glowforge team blew through the $31M of VC$ before the Glowforge was ready for prime time. You know, no more money for GF staff salaries, no more money for rent. . . I guess it’s possible that the VC’s could pony up an additional $10 or $20 million. I guess it’s possible the VC’s could say, “you know what, we’re enjoyed the ride, all our investment is gone, so I guess it’s time to reimburse all the crowdfunders 100% of the money they put down.”

I guess that could happen. . . But let me ask, anyone here bought into a crowdfunded product that ultimately “failed to launch”? Did you get all your purchase price back?

Personally, I believe they will get the product to the deliver point and out the door into our hands or I wouldn’t still be here until the July 2017 delivery date. If I didn’t believe that I’d be an idiot to still be hanging out here. However, I also believe that if the product was failing, every last crowdfunding dollar would be put towards making the product succeed until such time the bailiff changed the locks on the door. That has been my experience with multiple startups (during my days in finance before retirement) that didn’t make it, every last penny gone and the bailiff at the door.

2 Likes

Never been a big fan of pouring salt into fresh wounds or tearing scabs off of those that are starting to heal.:no_mouth:

9 Likes

And I yours

@melliott716… This is an outstanding idea! Maybe GF can work something else out, but if not, at least the international customers can get something out of the deal that they can use locally. Maybe a trading post or something can be set up on the forum next year.

Great way to think outside of the box. :wink:

@dan will see it when he checks in next time. :relaxed:

5 Likes

Better way to put we non-U.S. purchasers on the same ground as the the U.S. purchasers is to simply offer us $50 off the price of their Glowforge unit in lieu of buying them a $50 gift certificate for the Inventables website.

Everybody goes home happy. Well, unless that potentially gets in the way of some future/pending business relationship with the crew at Inventables . :pensive:

3 Likes

In that case, there will probably be more than a few US buyers that will also want $50 off instead of the merchandise. I agree with the sentiment, but it’s going to be hard to make every one happy on this issue.

2 Likes

And $50 is not always $50. The company would understand that only a percentage of it’s customers will use the $50 discount. But if it is $50 off the purchase price of the unit then it definitely would be $50 X 10,000.

5 Likes