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Juicero: the $400 juicer you could replace with your hands

Juicero sold a connected machine that pressed proprietary packs of chopped produce into juice. Launched at $699 and cut to $399, it was undermined when reporters showed the packs could be squeezed by hand into a glass almost as well.

  • Primary cause: No real market need
  • Broken unit economics
Founded
2013
Ended
2017
Headquarters
United States
Sector
Hardware & Devices
Capital raised
~$120M

What happened

Shut down in September 2017 and offered customers refunds.

What Juicero was

Doug Evans founded Juicero in 2013 and raised around $120 million from well-known investors. The machine applied enormous pressure to sealed produce packs sold by subscription, and it scanned each pack's code to check freshness.

It launched in 2016 at $699, later cutting the price to $399. In April 2017, a Bloomberg report showed the packs could be squeezed by hand to produce juice, and the company became a symbol of over-engineered Silicon Valley hardware. It shut down that September.

Why it failed

  1. 1

    Over-engineering a simple job

    The job was 'fresh juice, conveniently'. The engineering focused on pressing force and connectivity, but the packs did most of the work. Once hands could replace the machine, its value collapsed.

  2. 2

    A price that required an exceptional reason

    At several hundred dollars plus a pack subscription, customers needed a clear advantage over bottled juice or a regular juicer. Convenience and freshness weren't distinct enough to justify it.

  3. 3

    A costly fresh supply chain

    Perishable packs with short shelf lives needed refrigerated logistics, limiting geographic reach and keeping per-unit costs high.

The product lesson

Ask the brutal question early: what is the simplest way a customer could get this outcome without us? If the answer is 'squeeze the bag', the hardware isn't the product. Research on the customer's job, not on the technology, would have surfaced this long before $120 million was spent.

Early warning sign to watch for

The team can explain the engineering in detail, but not what customers would lose by using a cheaper alternative.

Compiled from public reporting, court records, and company statements. Figures are approximate. Where legal proceedings are mentioned, convictions are described as convictions and charges as allegations. Corrections welcome at hello@productmanagement.space.

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