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Buried in 2017

don’t blame it on the juicer

Juicero’s failure

$699 - That's how much early adopters paid for a high-tech cold-press juicer that ultimately proved to be an expensive way to squeeze pre-packaged juice bags.

This video will take you through the rise and fall of Juicero in 60 seconds.


Juicero is the first company to make cold-pressed juice something that people can make themselves at home. The challenges to design and engineer a press that can deliver 8,000 pounds of force are tremendous.

Yves Behar, former Chief of Design at Juicero

What’s wrong with Juicero?

Shortly after its launch, it became clear that the Juicero had several critical flaws that ultimately led to the company’s downfall. Let’s take a closer look at what went wrong with this startup.

3 issues that buried juicero
An over-engineering juicer. Juicero Press, a $699 cold-press juicer, incorporates cutting-edge technologies but also has some... tragic flaw.
No wifi, no run. Juicero Press won’t run until it’s connected to Internet and the mobile app.
No QR code, no run. Juicero Press won’t press the juice if you don’t scan the QR code on the juice pack.
EXPIRED? no run . Juicero Press won’t press the juice if the Expiry date on the package is passed.
No press ?no problem. Juicero Press is a perfect engineering machine that provides similar outcomes compared to hand-squeezing.
However, juicero press is not the real villain. Juicero Press is a cold-press juicer built with extremely high quality materials like aircraft-grade aluminum. But it was designed to coordinate 2 things - the real villains of this story.
Proprietary Juice Packs. Juicero Packs contain fresh chopped fruits, priced from $5 to $8, and require the Juicero Press to extract juice from the pack.
Too ExpeNSIVE. However, as Bolt's partner, Ben Einstein, said "the product is too expensive for its demographic objective."
very short life. The juicero packet has a limited life of only 8 days.
very easy to squeeze By hand. The packaging design is the fatal kill when it ultimately proved consumers didn’t need Juicero Press.
However, Squeezing by hand still is a problem. It takes you 2 minutes to squeeze a pack by hands. Now, imagine if you have to squeeze 10 packs at once. Clearly, there was still a market for Juicero. So, what else did go wrong?
Misaligned target market, Following the success of previous business, Doug Evans, Juicer founder, targeted health-conscious consumers willing to pay a premium for convenience.
No QR code, no run. Juicero Press won’t press the juice if you don’t scan the QR code on the juice pack.
wrong Target. In Juicero ads, the use case targets families of four or couples. They really have to love juice to be willing to pay $400 just to have 2-3 glasses of juice every day.
16
3 issues that buried juicero
An over-engineering juicer. Juicero Press, a $699 cold-press juicer, incorporates cutting-edge technologies but also has some... tragic flaw.
No wifi, no run. Juicero Press won’t run until it’s connected to Internet and the mobile app.
No QR code, no run. Juicero Press won’t press the juice if you don’t scan the QR code on the juice pack.
EXPIRED? no run . Juicero Press won’t press the juice if the Expiry date on the package is passed.
No press ?no problem. Juicero Press is a perfect engineering machine that provides similar outcomes compared to hand-squeezing.
However, juicero press is not the real villain. Juicero Press is a cold-press juicer built with extremely high quality materials like aircraft-grade aluminum. But it was designed to coordinate 2 things - the real villains of this story.
Proprietary Juice Packs. Juicero Packs contain fresh chopped fruits, priced from $5 to $8, and require the Juicero Press to extract juice from the pack.
Too ExpeNSIVE. However, as Bolt's partner, Ben Einstein, said "the product is too expensive for its demographic objective."
very short life. The juicero packet has a limited life of only 8 days.
very easy to squeeze By hand. The packaging design is the fatal kill when it ultimately proved consumers didn’t need Juicero Press.
However, Squeezing by hand still is a problem. It takes you 2 minutes to squeeze a pack by hands. Now, imagine if you have to squeeze 10 packs at once. Clearly, there was still a market for Juicero. So, what else did go wrong?
Misaligned target market, Following the success of previous business, Doug Evans, Juicer founder, targeted health-conscious consumers willing to pay a premium for convenience.
No QR code, no run. Juicero Press won’t press the juice if you don’t scan the QR code on the juice pack.
wrong Target. In Juicero ads, the use case targets families of four or couples. They really have to love juice to be willing to pay $400 just to have 2-3 glasses of juice every day.
16

What might
happen if....​

Juicero’s downfall could have been avoided. What if the company had made different choices? Let’s explore some alternative scenarios that might have led to a different outcome for this once-promising startup.

What might happen if Juicero had done these things instead?
What if Juicero Press squeezed the juice out anyway without Wifi? Data could have been stored offline and uploaded it to the server later.
What if Juicero Press alerted users and let them decide whether they wanted to get the juice?
Though it’s a good intention, the approach could have been more respectful to users if Juicero asked first, and gave users a “remember my choice” option rather than forbidding users by default.
Whatif (4)
I first encountered the Juicero working at a client’s office. Their office had around 500 employees and the 4 Juicero machines were very popular and in constant use. By Wednesday every week, all of the most popular juice packs were long gone. I think a mid-large size office is the best fit for this product.
What if Juicero focused on Juice Packs subscription and gave away Juicero Press when users signed up for a 1 or 2-year contract?
Eastman Kodak got it right with their marketing model of “give away the camera and sell the film”. In contrast, Juicero’s approach of selling an expensive, well engineered juice press, and then sell obscenely priced fruit & vegetable packs seems doomed from the start.
What if Juicero coordinated with existing national fresh food supply chains rather than building up on their own and ended up making the price skyrocket?
Juicero said in September 2017 We must focus on finding a buyer with an existing national fresh food supply chain that can carry out the Juicero mission.
Whatif (10)
What might happen if Juicero had done these things instead?
What if Juicero Press squeezed the juice out anyway without Wifi? Data could have been stored offline and uploaded it to the server later.
What if Juicero Press alerted users and let them decide whether they wanted to get the juice?
Though it’s a good intention, the approach could have been more respectful to users if Juicero asked first, and gave users a “remember my choice” option rather than forbidding users by default.
Whatif (4)
I first encountered the Juicero working at a client’s office. Their office had around 500 employees and the 4 Juicero machines were very popular and in constant use. By Wednesday every week, all of the most popular juice packs were long gone. I think a mid-large size office is the best fit for this product.
What if Juicero focused on Juice Packs subscription and gave away Juicero Press when users signed up for a 1 or 2-year contract?
Eastman Kodak got it right with their marketing model of “give away the camera and sell the film”. In contrast, Juicero’s approach of selling an expensive, well engineered juice press, and then sell obscenely priced fruit & vegetable packs seems doomed from the start.
What if Juicero coordinated with existing national fresh food supply chains rather than building up on their own and ended up making the price skyrocket?
Juicero said in September 2017 We must focus on finding a buyer with an existing national fresh food supply chain that can carry out the Juicero mission.
Whatif (10)

The big lesson is, so far, Juicero can’t pull off an Apple, other than being expensive [...] Juicero’s system is so locked-in that you can’t even use Juicero bags that are one day past the expiry date in the Juicero machine.

[...] And of course you can’t bag your own veggies or veggie pulp. Nor buy a 3rd party bag of veggies.​

— Terrence Yang, Strategic legal & business adviser, angel. Ex-Wall Street.

How Juicero Press works

To make juice from Juicero, users have to go through several steps.
Can’t imagine? No worries, we created a game to walk you through the process.

Spline preview

2013

2014

2016

2017

End

Juicero, founded in 2013 by Doug Evans, the man behind the popular juice bar chain Organic Avenue. Evans’ success with Organic Avenue played a vital role in Juicero’s ability to raise $4.1 million in Seed funding.

The company secured $16.5 million in Series A funding, led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Other investors included big names like Google Ventures and Campbell Soup Company

Juicero raised $70 million in Series B funding, bringing its total funding to $120 million. Juicero Press launches at $699. Later this year, Jeff Dunn replaces Evans as CEO.

Due to slow sales, the price of Juicero Press dropped to $399. In April 2017, Bloomberg video revealed juice packs can be squeezed by hand. 5 months later, Juicero ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy

Swipe right to read again.

Doug Evans
Doug EvansSerial health food entrepreneur
Series A funding
Series A funding$16.5 million
Juicero Press
Juicero Press launched at $699
Viral Video
Viral Videoby Bloomberg
The End of Juicero's timeline
Previous
Next

Lesson learned

Juicero’s story is a treasure trove of lessons for anyone looking to build better products. While there’s much to glean from their missteps, here are our top 4 favourite takeaways:

#1

Focus on finding RIGHT problems.

Focus on finding RIGHT problems

Juicero focused on building a complex juicing machine without fully understanding the core issue: providing access to high-quality juice, not the act of juicing itself.

This misdirected focus led to an expensive, unnecessary product.

#2

Solutions have to be scalable.

Solutions have to be scalable.

Juicero relied on proprietary juice packs and a complex supply chain limited its scalability.
With a very short life of 8 days, having products shipped several time weekly eventually led to high cost.
Even juice lovers stepped back from the price of these juice packs.

#3

There is always a market.
But you have to find the right one.

You have to find the right market

Juicero's marketing initially targeted health-conscious families, but its high price alienated them.
A better understanding of potential users such as busy offices or food courts could have improved their marketing strategy and product-market fit.

#4

Launch, get feedback, improve and...
launch again.

Iterative approach matters

Juicero's focus on a "perfect" launch, rather than continuous improvement, left them vulnerable to criticism and unable to adapt.
Their costly investment in an overengineered product could have been avoided with an iterative approach that allowed for feedback and adjustments.
Previous
Next

#1

Focus on finding RIGHT problems.

Focus on finding RIGHT problems

Juicero focused on building a complex juicing machine without fully understanding the core issue: providing access to high-quality juice, not the act of juicing itself.

This misdirected focus led to an expensive, unnecessary product.

#2

Solutions have to be scalable.

Solutions have to be scalable.

Juicero relied on proprietary juice packs and a complex supply chain limited its scalability.
With a very short life of 8 days, having products shipped several time weekly eventually led to high cost.
Even juice lovers stepped back from the price of these juice packs.

#3

There is always a market.
But you have to find the right one.

You have to find the right market

Juicero's marketing initially targeted health-conscious families, but its high price alienated them.
A better understanding of potential users such as busy offices or food courts could have improved their marketing strategy and product-market fit.

#4

Launch, get feedback, improve and...
launch again.

Iterative approach matters

Juicero's focus on a "perfect" launch, rather than continuous improvement, left them vulnerable to criticism and unable to adapt.
Their costly investment in an overengineered product could have been avoided with an iterative approach that allowed for feedback and adjustments.
Juicepack2

Lesson learned

Juicero’s story is a treasure trove of lessons for anyone looking to build better products. While there’s much to glean from their missteps, here are our top 4 favourite takeaways:

#1

Focus on finding RIGHT problems
Juicero focused on building a complex juicing machine without fully understanding the core issue: providing access to high-quality juice, not the act of juicing itself.

This misdirected focus led to an expensive, unnecessary product.

#2

Solutions have to be scalable.
Juicero relied on proprietary juice packs and a complex supply chain limited its scalability. With a very short life of 8 days, having products shipped several time weekly eventually led to high cost.
Even juice lovers stepped back from the price of these juice packs.

#3

There is always a market.
But you have to find the right one.
Juicero's marketing initially targeted health-conscious families, but its high price alienated them.
A better understanding of potential users such as busy offices or food courts could have improved their marketing strategy and product-market fit.

#4

Launch, get feedback, improve and...
launch again.
Juicero's focus on a "perfect" launch, rather than continuous improvement, left them vulnerable to criticism and unable to adapt.
Their costly investment in an overengineered product could have been avoided with an iterative approach that allowed for feedback and adjustments.

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