Jibo
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Jibo was a social home robot developed by Jibo Inc., founded in 2012 by MIT professor Cynthia Breazeal. The expressive, voice-interactive desktop robot shipped in 2017 at $899, aiming to be a personable home companion - but it arrived after Amazon's $50 Echo speakers had already defined the category.
02 / Jibo FAILURE REASONS
Failure factors supported by the current evidence
Jibo reached customers after repeated delays, by which time inexpensive smart speakers were widely available and offered more functions. Its roughly $900 price and incomplete capabilities weakened the product's competitive position before the company shut down.
Crowdfunding customers waited about three years through repeated product delays.
The robot launched at roughly $900, far above competing smart speakers.
At launch it offered fewer practical capabilities than cheaper, established alternatives.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Development began
Jibo began as a crowdfunded home social-robot project.
- Product shipped
The robot reached customers after several delays.
- Layoffs began
The company made staff reductions shortly after the product launch.
- Company shut down
Jibo Inc. shut down in November and sold its assets to SQN Venture Partners.
- Service retirement announced
Existing robots announced that their supporting servers would be turned off.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Expressive social home robot, $899, ships 2017
- 02
Echo and Google Home already own the category at $50
- 03
Company runs out of money in 2018; staff laid off; IP sold to SQN
- 04
Servers shut down March 2019; robots deliver a farewell dance