Discontinued VapeXhaleLabs Presents: The Cloud

[Elluzion]

I've gotten impatient waiting so I had to spring on a new vape, .. or two lol. It will give good comparison though once the clouds come.

 

[SOUR DIESEL]

:/ lack of communication will kill a company.

 

[dorkus_molorkus]

if they didnt communicate at all, people wouldnt know it existed till it was released.
When there has been an issue, the VXH team have let members know ASAP.
what more do people want?

or you could develop, manufacture & market your own vaporizer, cause its obviously so easy.

 

[SOUR DIESEL]

if they didnt communicate at all, people wouldnt know it existed till it was released.
When there has been an issue, the VXH team have let members know ASAP.
what more do people want?

or you could develop, manufacture & market your own vaporizer, cause its obviously so easy.

chill or you could not and that would be original. My point was I bought 2 Vapes while waiting and wanting this one. Sadly now the money is gone. And I need not build my own when I possess many already.

 

[dorkus_molorkus]

:/ lack of communication will kill a company.

I thought this above was your point. what does how many vapes you have purchased have to do with that?

My point was the sense of entitlement that seems to be permeating this thread.

VXH doesnt owe us anything other than a quality well made product that we will happily pay for & recieve WHEN it is ready & not before.

There have been some posters who seem to think that team VXH owes them something. I imagine the next project these guy embark on, might result in them keeping it to themselves until its ready.

Cuz there nothing worse than peeps bitching for the sake of bitching when you are slaving your ass off to get a
project off the ground. And seeing as this appears to be their 1st attempt at design, manufactoring & marketing of a new product, perhaps a bit of slack should be sent their way.
If anyone doesnt like the way VXH are doing this, then again perhaps they should design, manufacture & market their own vape.
Because then & only then would they be qualified to comment.

kudos to them I say, and if anyone is so incensed that VXH is doing them wrong, then pls give me your preorder spot.

 

[AgentofChaos]

:/ lack of communication will kill a company.

While I completely understand your craving for news and desire to get a Cloud in your hands, to say this company lacks communication is nuts. SM and crew have kept us in the loop since conception of this product. You'll be hard pressed to find another start up company to share information of their journey the way VXL has. There is a scene in the movie "The Dark Knight" where Lt. Gordon is on the roof standing by the bat signal. His colleague joins him and asks why batman hasn't come yet, to which Gordon replies: "Hopefullybecause he's busy." My guess is this applies to the VXL team and all we can do is chill, and take comfort knowing they are doing their best to launch as quickly as possible.

 

[SOUR DIESEL]

I concede that you are correct. I am impatient and want one now. I am sure one is my future. Ok thread back on track. When?

 

[dorkus_molorkus]

@ sour diesel- my apologies, agentofchoas has eloquently explained what I was trying club into you in a neanderthalic way. I am sorry to have been rude, although most of what I was driving at was trying to be general in terms of some of the overall comments in the thread. However, it was not very welcoming to a new member, so........................ welcome.

@agentofchaos- thanks for chiming in, I seem to have left my manners somewhere today & I reckon
you just helped me not look like a total cock.

love the pic BTW!

 

[Stu]

Dorkus, while I don't think you were overly rude, I understand you may be a little irritable after going through NY eve with no herb and no beer..... I'd be irritable, too!

 

[dorkus_molorkus]

cheers Stu, very nice of you to say and very accurate to boot.

 

[stonemonkey55]

Hey guys... apologies for being out of the loop recently, just completed a move which took up quite of a bit of my time but I do have some news to share.

We recently switched manufacturers and are currently working through the assembly process with their team. After a couple of weeks of training, they assembled a few units on their own without PowerNerd's assistance. As it turns out, we discovered that there was an alarmingly high failure rate where 1 out of 3 Clouds were burning out.

We have isolated the problem but will require some additional testing to ensure the fix is a long term solution and not a temporary band-aid. While not the best of news, it is just another in a long series of hurdles that will ultimately help us produce a more durable product.

Happy new year and hope everyone has a safe night. 2012 just around the corner.

 

[waveyvapes]

Thanks for the update and for persevering- this too shall pass.
Happy new year everyone!

 

[elmomuzz]

How's that crow?

We'll be lucky to get it this year.

I am beginning to fear this is true

I tried to let this go but I can't.

You people remind me of my mother-in-law. She imagines the worst and then fusses and frets as though it's true, getting everyone else around her worked up as well.

Unless you have inside facts to support your trepidation, please give it a rest. Starting rumours won't help.

There is a difference between a rumour and a opinion. I'll quote this post again in january and we'll see who was right. Hopefully you.

 

[pakalolo]

How's that crow?

I tried to let this go but I can't.

You people remind me of my mother-in-law. She imagines the worst and then fusses and frets as though it's true, getting everyone else around her worked up as well.

Unless you have inside facts to support your trepidation, please give it a rest. Starting rumours won't help.

There is a difference between a rumour and a opinion. I'll quote this post again in january and we'll see who was right. Hopefully you.

Crow? Why? I was right, you had no facts. Your opinion turned out to be correct but that's irrelevant to the point I was making, which is that you had no facts. I never said it would be available sooner, just that your opinion was unsubstantiated and unhelpful.

 

[elmomuzz]

You called my opinion rumor. I was just giving my .02. If anything everyone perpetuating the hope that it would be released last year were starting rumors.

I do think it will come out this year.

 

[SOUR DIESEL]

Thank you for the update. While not bad news it is actually good. I hate buying 500.00 test units. Can't wait. Happy new year VXl and FCers.

@dorkus
You are a gentleman. And thank you for the welcome.

 

[elixsor]

Is there still hope for a January release?

 

[mistergyro]

i'm not sure how much these updates help if we don't know how long the line is (waiting list) and when everything does get set up and working...How many units per week will you be able to make?

 

[Guest]

yeah more info please, i have a few shops asking me when they think they can order them

 

[oldiebutgoodie]

I think it might be helpful to revist a SM post back on page 159 . . .

. . . Hopefully we get to a point where we will have enough inventory to fulfill demand but given the tremendous response we've had and in combination with being a boot strapped start up, we just don't have enough funds to order enough components to fulfill all orders . . .

There are key two key pieces of data here. The first is that VXH has a built a backlog. It's one thing to build anticipation, it's another to have actual orders on the books. Backlog can be shown to suppliers as evidence of confirmed future cash flow. This is very important because - second data point - VHX is in the common start-up position of being strapped for cash flow. Suppliers don't like to fulfill orders for start-ups unless they can see the cash. Backlog helps with that, but it is no substitute for actual receivables. So unless there is outside funding, which doesn't appear to be the case and even if there were it would be limited, what VHX will need to do is demonstrate an ability to not only generate demand but to execute. Those first hundred units will be the critical first test. When these are successfully fulfilled, more cash can be collected which will fund more component procurement and fulfillment. VXH will continue this cycle as it works through the backlog. As it does so, it will then also fill the channel as this is a critical transition point in a ramp-up, i.e., from demonstrating reliable fulfillment to demonstrating an ability to build sustained demand. Only after the backlog has been worked down, the channel has been filled, and new orders are being added to the backlog will VXH be able to determine an on-going run-rate which, if everything goes as planned, will somewhat smooth out and become predictable.

While of course I can't say that VHX will follow this pattern exactly, none of this is new or even particularly speculative; this is just how the vast majority of start-up product launch cycles look. Even large established companies do not commit large amounts of funds and build full capacity until having passed through the initial gates above; start-ups can't do so even if they wanted to because they don't have the cash flow to support it, and anyway, it would be foolish even if they had the funds. Start-ups that set expectations way ahead of reality and/or over-commit funding and resources before stabilizing execution, are the ones that fail.

So how soon will your pre-order be fulfilled, how soon will you be able to expect to not only make a new order but receive it, how soon will your retailer have product available? - I'd venture to say those questions cannot be reliably answered quite yet. From what I've seen from VXH in this thread, it has been very smart and actually quite deft at building awareness and demand while at the same time taking a very conservative execution approach. Even with that approach, VXH has already learned the hard way that there are often very unpleasant surprises with launch. So it has wisely kept expectations in check while keeping the faith with prospective customers, and it hasn't run out signing up channel partners willy-nilly. How soon everything happens will depend upon VXH's funding position and its execution from here on out. The only thing that can be said with absolute certainty is that whatever the plan is at the moment, it will invariably change as the launch, ramp-up, and stabilization proceeds.

Everyone here (well, most everyone) has been patient and maintained enthusiasm. The best and most everyone can do now is just to . . . continue.

 

[lwien]

^^ School is now in session. VERY well said from someone who obviously has had more than just a little experience in the business world.

Well done, OBG.

 

[Hippie Dickie]

gosh, i was thinking things never go so textbook.

 

[oldiebutgoodie]

^^ School is now in session. VERY well said from someone who obviously has had more than just a little experience in the business world.

Well done, OBG.

Thanks, I'm blushing . . . ~35 yrs in Silicon Valley, umpteen start-ups, more launches than I can recall.

gosh, i was thinking things never go so textbook.

Quite right, things never do. That's why it's called a "plan".

Of course, many start-ups don't even have that - entirely seat-of-pants, hand-to-mouth, make-it-up-as-you-go. Failure rate = ~90%

 

[Hippie Dickie]

Failure rate = ~90%

really depends on the team -- and how fast they can dance.

 

[oldiebutgoodie]

Failure rate = ~90%

really depends on the team -- and how fast they can dance.

Quite right again. And, the money. (Btw, the 90% is the avg new small business failure rate in the U.S.)

From what I've read here from VXH - with the caveat that the info is very limited and only anecdotal - they've done a pretty good job so far. But . . . there is only so much time before the money runs out. So I'm guessing that they're dancing just as fast as they possibly can. Time will tell soon enough whether that's fast enough.