November Customer Update

November Customer Update

Howdy 👋
 
It's been a while since we've given a proper email update. You have questions, we have answers.
 
In this email we got a lot to cover, including:
  • Manufacturing + launch updates
  • Upcoming Q&A webinar
  • Terrashroom iOS app
  • Biz fundraising
  • Pre-order & deposit information
  • Awkward Shrooly stuff
Let’s dive in.
 
 
Terrashroom pink oyster mushroom timelapse

 

🇨🇳 From Shanghai with Spores

Our head of product, James, has been in China for the past month overseeing the details of production. We’ve partnered with one of the largest & most reputable manufacturers in Asia to manufacture & assemble our terrashrooms.
 
Every terrashroom has 100+ components that need to be manufactured, assembled, and tested. The relative complexity has caused problems previously, but now we are excited to say those are problems of the past. 
 
What this means for you:
  • We are expecting to ship the first small batch of product out on Dec. 8th.
  • Mass production will start in 4-6 weeks thereafter. 
If you’re curious to learn more about what is happening on the manufacturing front, we will be making a blog post with more information on these details. 
 
Terrashroom mushroom grow computer iOS app live on apple app store

 

Terrashroom iOS app is live 📱

The terrashroom iOS app has been published!!! We are sharing this because tbh it’s a nice win on our end & we’re really proud.  

Once you receive your terrashroom, you’ll be able to utilize all of the cool app & platform features. 
 
Want to make us smile? We’d love for you to download the app & say some kind words on the app review 😙
 
Terrashroom automated mushroom grow computer

 

Speeding up product delivery 🚚💨

“Cheap, fast, or quality. Pick two.”
In product development, there's tradeoffs. Guess which one we picked?
 
As a team, we decided to squeeze our margins & opt for quality + expedite the delivery process. We pissed a lot ofh people off with missed deadlines, so it's a small price to pay to earn back your trust. 
 
Specifically, here's some examples of what we're doing;

1. Partnering with the best. 
We’re working with one of the largest consumer electronic manufacturing companies to make our grow computers.
 
Yeah, they're expensive, but results in a higher quality product + reduced manufacturing errors & delays.

2. Moving to Asia temporarily
While we'd love to be spending the holiday season with our loved ones, our team is staying in Shanghai to oversee the initial production process. 
 
This helps expedite the production as we can avoid the long delays of international business & timezones. 
 
 
Terrashroom automated mushroom grow chamber product packaging on manufacturing assembly line
First manufactured test units in Shanghai prepped to ship out 💅

3. Expediting freight timelines. 
We are shipping this initial batch of product to customers via air freight despite this costing us roughly 9x more instead of standard sea freight.
 
This decision is shaving off nearly 5 weeks of transit time (air freight is ~5 days vs 6+ weeks for sea freight). Yes, it eats our profits but we’re committed to getting products out sooner. 

4. Double overtime
Our team is working over the Thanksgiving & Christmas holidays (in addition to nights & weekends) to buy some time back & help us get ahead of schedule. 
 
We totally own up to the fact that we haven’t shipped out product & have missed deadlines so we are doing what we can to shave down the shipping timeline as much as humanly possible. 
 
To those few people who still think we're still scammers, you make us LOL. The truth is that we are making some very real sacrifices personally & in business to get your terrashroom in your hands sooner. 
 
 
Terrashroom mushroom grow kit with mood lights
Mood lighting + mushrooms 👌

Price increase coming soon 🤑

As we near the launch date, we will be increasing the price of the terrashroom grow computer. 
 
Here’s the historical + future price schedule:
  • Super early-bird price: $199 (ended summer, sorry)
  • Regular early-bird price: $299 (ends Dec. 1st)
  • Kinda-early-bird price: $349 (until Dec. 8th/launch)
  • Regular post-launch price: $399 
(We are looking at raising our prices to $449 - $499 in 2024)
 
This means you will save at least $100 if you pre-order now vs in the coming month. 
 
So if you haven’t placed a pre-order or a deposit, we recommend doing it soon.
 
NOTE: if you paid the $49 pre-order deposit, you will only pay the remaining $249.
 

Terrashroom November Founder Q&A Session

"Why did you stop doing Q&A sessions?" 🎙️

We’ve been asked this multiple times & the honest truth is that we honestly didn’t think that many people watched them.
 
Seeing that many of you want to see us do them again, we’ve decided to host another one the week after thanksgiving. 
 
Mark your calendars for Wednesday, November 29th at 1PM CST. 
You can register here 💁‍♂️
 
 
Terrashroom pre-seed investor video gif
Clip from our investor video ☝️
 

Shark tank - take two 🎥

Earlier this year, we launched an equity crowdfunding campaign that was a little premature. 
 
With a lot of engineering work needed to do, we decided to pull back the campaign & put it on the backburner until we had things squared away.
 
Now that we have our ducks in a row, we are kicking the fundraising back up. 
 
Brian (our new head of video production) made a pretty sick investor video.
 
 
Trustpilot reviews from customers claiming Shrooly is a scam :(
~colorful~ reviews from different Shrooly customers 
   

Awkward news for Shrooly customers :/

If you’ve heard about terrashroom, you’ve probably heard about a competitor product, Shrooly. 

Why we are bringing them up:

  • They announced they won’t be shipping until next summer
  • Mushroom scientists aren’t happy about them
During a mushroom conference in Denver, CO earlier this year, we’ve heard some ~colorful~ commentary from multiple prominent mycologists:
  • ”Shrooly is the biggest scam”
  • ”They advertise mushrooms that are impossible to grow indoors”
  • ”After spending some time at their booth... it looks and feels very cheap”
  • ”They use photoshopped & rendered CGI images because they struggle to grow mushrooms in it”
Frankly, I'm not a fan of them. They’ve tried to copy our product, our social media posts, and have blatantly lied to new customers. 
 
Shrooly update about delaying shipping until summer '24
20th week of 2024...? 
 
 
Shrooly says they are restocked despite not shipping to customers until summer 2024
How are you advertising “restocked” without shipping a single product out to customers? Sketchy 
 
 
Recently we read a comment that said,
“I wish terrashroom was better at marketing - I wouldn’t have pre-ordered a shrooly”. 
 
Unfortunately, Shrooly loves spending customer's pre-order $ on marketing & generating hype... not on engineering a good product.
 
We know thousands of customers are going to be pissed when they struggle to grow mushrooms in their Shrooly. So we want to offer a way to help:

1. Shrooly refund resource guide
If you’ve ordered a Shrooly & want a refund (did we mention they locked customers out from getting a refund?), we went ahead & listed the steps on how to get a refund. 
 

2. Price match guarantee + $50 off
If you show a proof of purchase + refund request for a Shrooly, we are happy to match their price + discount $50. 


Terrashroom mushroom growing chamber

 


Closing notes

We are incredibly excited & proud as we are so close to getting product shipped out in the coming weeks. We sincerely appreciate all the patience, love, & support that our community has given.  

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with those you love. 🦃

 

Mush out ✌️🍄

Jared | founder/ceo

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