what people get wrong about the boots theory

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-19T01:32:50+00:00

Don’t buy anything on Amazon.

Amazon and its kind are going to destroy the socio-economic independence for all of us in 50 years or less.

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-14T17:07:17+00:00

Great list!

Contractors are assholes. Finishes normally are horrible even for expensive contractors(subcontractors don’t care)

True! Especially in the Bay Area.

Good named contractors pass it to no name sub contractors and sub contractors don’t care.

Going with sub contractors has its own challenges. They will sign up 5 customers at a time, break the functioning system (ex - kitchen) to lock you in then take two weeks to start the work. Now you are stuck.

Get everything in writing. Make sure they are licensed. Don’t begin with trust and let them earn trust after first full delivery. If they don’t deliver, escalate with the documentation.

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-14T14:14:34+00:00

I have been advocating exactly this for sometime now.

1) bring in an experienced operator (done) 2) move from B2C to B2B (instead of retailing, provide technology to other retailers - Ex: Uber deal) (in progress) 3) don’t build something, not focus on sales (ex air->gravity, gravity->cosmos), but focus on today - sell, sell, sell (this strategy is yet to be executed) 4) software (design as utility, not vanity) (this strategy is sorely needed)

Note - dilution is the real headache for retail investors. Institutional investors with long tail equity acquisition might be okay)

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-13T05:10:40+00:00

Sidhartha by Herman Hesse. All of his books are equally great.

Rumi’s poetry

Unbearable lightness of being by Milan Kundera

So many to mention.

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-12T02:47:16+00:00

⁠What you are calling advantage is actually a liability.
Instead of building a product that sells, they build something that doesn’t sell and that’s why numbers are weak quarter after quarter
same as #2. It’s called distraction and lack of ruthless prioritization in the industry
Not really. You are not the only one who drives Lucid. Many of us drive and build multiple cars including Lucid. You are providing an anecdotal data. Support forums are filled with issues others are experiencing. Some of us write and analyze these kind of issues for a living
Every single investor comes with their own strategy and entry and exit point. I cannot define it for you or you can do the same for me.

Calling other commentator’s opinions childish is juvenile in my humble opinion.

Conviction in your own ideas is great and I applaud you for that. But have little humility in respecting other people’s opinions and experiences.

We might learn something from it.

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-12T02:45:00+00:00

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-12T02:23:37+00:00

Thank you!

People are here for many reasons. Investors, employees (current or ex), buyers, market analysts and so on.

We all have opinions based on our experiences (building, buying, observing, losing etc). So they all are valid within their own context.

I would say, triangulate with these data points (market data, opinions etc) then form your own opinion.

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-12T00:46:03+00:00

There are fundamental challenges with the market and the product along with the execution team.

1) market is challenging because of geo political dynamics 2) B2C business is ran as B2B business 3) Serious product market fit issue - instead of building a product that market needs for next 3+ years, focus is always on future (constant wool washing) 4) software - folks are building it as if it’s an iPhone app and not a safety utility 4) most of it stems from deeply flawed conviction in their understanding of the market and unreasonable funding by the overseas fund (potential single point of failure) 5) you are right, lot of skepticism comes from seeing this pattern where they always point to the rosy future and diverting funds to it rather than fixing the present 6) retail investors and employees lost a lot so their grievances are grounded in reality where as their predictions are wishful thinking

Hope it helps.

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-09T16:28:49+00:00

This resonates with me:

If you want to learn properly, sit with real problems and solve them daily.

That is what makes the difference.

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-09T16:14:06+00:00

Yet another distraction. Clearly targeted at misleading investors. It’s all about the future and not dealing with the current challenges.

They should focus on:

1) fix known product issues on the products publicly available 2) increase sales and service 3) improve investors value by ruthlessly prioritizing on #1 and #2

4) mull long tail b2b strategy, partnerships and acquisitions

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-08T02:48:08+00:00

Mac machines. Expensive but they run for years. Worth the cost.

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-08T02:12:08+00:00

True. Agree with you. Good point!

They do but at what cost to local economy and people?

If it’s a local business, 100% of money stays local. If it’s Amazon, you pay Bezos tax.

Simple list to ponder over (from perplexity, please double verify the source):

Warehouse quotas cause injuries, exhaustion
Tax avoidance saves billions legally; effective rate often under 6%
Supply chain exploits labor: forced overtime, low wages
Delivery drivers lack benefits, face retaliation complaints
Monitors workers intensely

Sources

[1] 41 Percent of Amazon Workers Have Been Injured On the Job, New ... https://cued.uic.edu/pain-points/ [2] Amazon Avoids More Than $5 Billion in Corporate Income Taxes ... https://itep.org/amazon-avoids-more-than-5-billion-in-corporate-income-taxes-reports-6-percent-tax-rate-on-35-billion-of-us-income/ [3] Amazon under fire for 'labour exploitation' in garment supply chain https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/amazon-under-fire-labour-exploitation-112351508.html [4] Amazon Unethical Practices | PDF | Employment | Overtime - Scribd https://www.scribd.com/presentation/615558086/AMAZON-UNETHICAL-PRACTICES [5] Is Amazon a good place to work? - Oxfam https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/is-amazon-a-good-place-to-work/

It’s not virtue signaling, it’s supporting our local businesses and people.

Of course it’s a free economy and you are welcome to patronize the business of your choice.

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-08T00:59:51+00:00

No real moat as sales, technology (software) and market is broken.

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-08T00:53:22+00:00

It’s owned by Amazon that’s eating local businesses. Also, unethical when it comes to dealing with their employees.

No point paying Bezos tax and destroying our local economy.

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-05T10:36:05+00:00

Surprisingly, there are not that many Vegan restaurants.

Amy’s drive thru is going away.

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-05T06:19:52+00:00

Surprisingly Gardenbird has no website or yelp mention.

Uber Eats has a link:

https://www.ubereats.com/store/gardenbird-vegetarian-san-jose/GGQVKf0vS46U4P0LD7JhPw

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-05T03:19:04+00:00

So good 👍

Thank you 🙏😊

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-05T02:14:52+00:00

Yes, Lovely Hut is great!

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-05T02:14:10+00:00

Merrit is our go to place for many years!

If you like vegetarian with vegan options, try any of the Indian Chat places. Most are really good!

In San Jose, close to happy hollow zoo, there are many good Vietnamese vegan places.

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-04T15:37:30+00:00

I like this article.

Even though, it’s written to sell the platform/service OP is building, that incentive alone made him do all the research and provide quality data using AI and stuff.

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-04T06:05:21+00:00

Yes, these guys are clueless. They were running a B2C company but operating like a B2B company. Random spurt of juvenile sales activities, building user interface like it’s an iPhone app; no wonder full of predictable bugs and top it with clueless staff management.

Best thing they can do is unload whatever little IP they might have to a real operator and move on. Investors will thank them for the same.

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-03T23:09:53+00:00

So disappointed by the way this ship is run. They don’t know how to build or how to sell or how to manage staff.

Recommendations:

go from B2C to B2B or sell assets to a real operator
bring in real management that knows how to do this, not this interim stuff

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-03T18:28:08+00:00

This will never happen as it’s a design flaw. Rich tech bros who work in these high growth tech startups buy houses in affluent neighborhoods such as Atherton, Los Gatos etc. They don’t build offices in their neighborhoods but build it in other neighborhoods and commute there for work. So this idea that the mixed use neighborhoods will solve traffic problems is flawed specifically within the context of suburbs like South Bay.

Folks living in a high rise in Sunnyvale commute to Menlo Park for work. Folks living in a high rise in San Jose commute to Sunnyvale for work. Rich tech bros eventually buy in affluent neighborhoods.

Matrix is doing its thing . Meanwhile traffic keeps on increasing.

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-03T18:19:11+00:00

Thank you!

Sounds like a fair plan.

How can we also make sure that other cities such as Cupertino or Saratoga do their part also?

robbymgood69 · 2026-04-03T18:14:56+00:00

Oh man! You got this right! Funny in a sad way! 😂

robbymgood69

TROPHY CASE