Instant Pot's Parent Company Files for Bankruptcy

G0ldenSp00n@lemmy.jacaranda.club to Technology@beehaw.org – 33 points – In the bid to grow at all costs, Instant Pot is cooking itself
theverge.com

Honestly quite shocking news given their success, but I guess it's what happens when you chase tech company profits.

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Oh look. Another successful company that couldn't manage their own success. Capitalism is going great.

It's not how they managed success, it's that they ran out of it. Making a successful niche kitchen appliance is not a business, it's one of many things that a successful niche kitchen appliance business does.

Successful businesses also allocate capital optimally, build formidable brand and product moats, hire amazing managers and build fortified balance sheets. They forgot to do all that stuff. (See also: reddit)

I have an instant pot air fryer. They definitely made some attempts. But I imagine they kept trying to be the big mover and shaker and that’s expensive compared to just building a solid trustworthy brand.

undefined> Successful businesses also allocate capital optimally, build formidable brand and product moats, hire amazing managers and build fortified balance sheets. They forgot to do all that stuff. (See also: reddit)

Otherwise known as managing success. Once you have a successful cash flow you need to diversify it and build your business to have multiple cash flows.

I'm undefined? 😟

Otherwise known as managing success. Once you have a successful cash flow you need to diversify it and build your business to have multiple cash flows.

Semantics I guess. Di-worse-ification isn't always the answer. They had a large product lineup, which was probably more expensive for them than it needed to be. They went under because they failed to fortify their balance sheet... rates went up and their debt crushed them.

Capitalism works fine just turning a profit while plenty of companies die chasing growth. It's just part of it.

For some reason the software inserted the "undefined" when I tried to quote your post. Growing pains of a new site I guess.

🤣 I didn't think you were trying to tell me something, I figured the Lemmy code goofed somewhere.

Flowbee still sells 90,000 units a year and has been around since the 80s. Probably a lesson in there for Instant, I think.

Literally just bought one yesterday... Excited to see how well it will work out.

I've been using mine since 2021, and despite the jokes my friends make, no one can actually tell the difference in my hair cut. It does help to have someone that can trim your neck line and ears though

I'd thought about getting one. Had one in the 90s. If you don't have a hair cut that needs a lot of attention then yeah, nobody notices. Clean, easy, no barber.

That's problem with being a one hit wonder. They had a decent product that became popular. Unfortunately there's only so many people who are in the market for a countertop pressure cooker.

Although there's plenty of other companies in the space like KitchenAid that have survived over the years.

Yea, true but there are plenty of companies that only make one product really well. I feel like it is more because they took a bunch of VC funding and had large pressures to grow their employee count that made it so unsustainable. That plus the extreme amount of competition that they have in the space.

I've definitely noticed the cheap imitations of their product. I've even spotted one or two on the shelves at goodwill. I don't really see those as competition. There's plenty of other brands of stand mixers out there, yet KitchenAid is still considered a solid buy.

there’s only so many people who are in the market for a countertop pressure cooker

The article mentions that

in 2021 it canceled $100 million worth of orders from retailers

So it doesn't sound like they just ran out of customers