Lily Drone Dead

[Eurus]

Wow. $34M in pre-orders and they couldn't get it done. I wonder how many people will not get their refund. This is one of the downsides to getting in on crowd funded projects like this.

https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/12/lil ... re-orders/

Article:
Lily Robotics stormed into the world with a follow-along camera drone that earned $34 million in pre-orders. But the company has now admitted that it can't deliver the product, and will wind down in the near future. In a blog post, co-founders Antoine Balaresque and Henry Bradlow explained that they've run out of money.

The devices are, apparently, pretty much ready to go after lots of testing, but extensive R&D costs cleaned out Lily's bank accounts. That meant that there was no cash left over to fund the production run and outside investment was not forthcoming.

Thankfully, the remaining money will be used to reimburse those people who pre-ordered the device, so the blog post claims. If you still own the card that was used in the initial transactions, you don't have to do anything, but those who've switched will need to fill out this form.

[tautologies]

Yeah there will be a fallout from this for sure.
The reason they will not get an investment is that they have wasted $34m and product isn;t there...but the debt is, so most of the investment would be spent fulfilling orders and not producing inventory for new customers. There just aren't many upsides in for investors in this.

[Toby]

Too bad, such a nice product the market needed.
Waterproof and follow me...hopefully someone else can fulfill this.

I don't think preorder in general is a bad thing. Makes projects possible. Yes they delay, but most of the time they become real.
Currently I am waiting for my Soloshot 3...preordered in September 2015, should have been shipped in spring 2016...they keep post-boning. They say March now...let's see, but they keep their customers updated...if it works out, it was a sweet deal with 50% discount.

[alamos_kiter]

Too bad, such a nice product the market needed. Waterproof and follow me...hopefully someone else can fulfill this..

Just get a great white shark. They are waterproof and follow you.

[Toby]

Where would you put the cam?

[BudhaNl]

Just unscrew the laser and put it there?

[Laughingman]

Just unscrew the laser and put it there?

[lovethepirk]

That must have been one hell of a party

[CaptainArgh]

That must have been one hell of a party

yeah, no doubt.
"...before we give everyone their money back, let's all go to Cabo for one final team building trip!! "


I can't tell you how many people sent me these kickstarter drone videos and Lily was one of the links I received most often.
There was this mindset that once a company had a fancy marketing video, the product was as good as finished! For a while I swear there was a new kickstarter drone every 2 weeks, each better looking than the last.

Look how long it took a well established company like DJI to come out with the Mavic. It may not be waterproof, and it may not have perfect follow-me mode, but it's pretty damn close to what most of the start-ups were aiming for. (small, foldable, easty to fly) For something like this, it's best to stick with a company that already has an established manufacturing process and distribution channel. Lot of complexities there which are easy to overlook.

[TomW]

I'm working in tech for last 40 years. Since I was 17 years old. Check, Captain
Stuff is really, really hard to do, easy to imagine.