Microbrewers compete on taste, or on producing varieties of beer that are not reduced-calorie pilsners.
I have not seen a solid explanation of how Soylent is distinct from Ensure. Rhinehart claims: "No MRP has been designed to be a sustainable source of nutrition", but this is not true. Ensure and medical liquid meal replacements can be used. He even admits as much (and contradicts himself) when he says further down "patients have lived for many years on synthetic diets in a medical setting"
Is he competing on cost? So far Soylent doesn't seem cheaper, and I don't see how his formula can compete on cost with a larger, more developed business with greater capital resources and infrastructure.
The taste of Soylent is described as "inoffensive", so I don't think he's competing on taste
So, unlike microbrewers, it's not clear how soylent goes up against products like Ensure. And I don't think the company has clearly laid out the advantages of Soylent vs. Ensure.
Rhinehart means sustainable from an environmental perspective in this argument.
The main things he wants to do to differentiate is to make it cheaper (ensure complete is $9.00, at walmart, for 1400 calories; his current goal is $5.00 per day, around 2400 kCal), scalable (recipe will be open sourced once complete), and environmentally sustainable (things that can be manufactured on a billions of servings scale).
Let me rephrase: That logic would have told all the "micro brewers" of really recent years to just pack it up because Samuel Adams is already at the store.
And since when did "that is already available" prevent anyone from having a go at it anyway?
I agree. I think the products are similar in composition. Ensure is a bit expensive - $10-$20/day, and I think he is targeting closer to $5/day. The "convenience" marketing strategy is also a differentiator. If he is successful and creates a new market, I am sure other food companies will offer similar products.
Ensure has more sugar than I would personally want. It is designed to be palatable so old people in nursing homes will actually drink it. Soylent seem to lean toward better nutrition instead of palatability.
Rhinehart means sustainable from an environmental perspective in this argument.
The main things he wants to do to differentiate is to make it cheaper (ensure complete is $9.00, at walmart, for 1400 calories; his current goal is $5.00 per day, around 2400 kCal), scalable (recipe will be open sourced once complete), and environmentally sustainable (things that can be manufactured on a billions of servings scale).