Cinder
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Cinder was a precision-cooking device made by Palate Home, a San Mateo hardware startup led by co-founder and CEO Eric Norman. The countertop grill used thermal sensors embedded in dual ceramic plates with a closed-loop algorithm to hold exact temperatures — automated searing, gradual heating and real-time monitoring through integrated electronics — promising home cooks perfectly grilled food and consistent doneness with minimal manual intervention. It made a splash on Indiegogo, raising more than $550,000 from nearly 1,000 backers in 2017, on top of accelerator rounds in 2014–2015. After a year of manufacturing issues and legal woes, Palate Home shut down and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in October 2018; its assets were acquired by Desora (backed by Morningside Group) the following month, which promised backers their grills.
02 / Cinder FAILURE REASONS
Failure factors supported by the current evidence
The Spoon (4 Oct 2018) published Palate Home/Cinder CEO Eric Norman’s Indiegogo update (3 Oct 2018) stating the root cause was that the company could not sell enough product or produce it consistently and economically. He cited slower/lower-quality production, weaker sales than expected, and a lawsuit over a convertible note (San Mateo judgment to repay Future Shape) as the straw that reduced resources and left no way to continue.
CEO wrote the company was not able to sell enough product.
He said production was slower and at lower quality than expected and the company could not produce the product consistently and economically.
He said a convertible-note lawsuit was the straw that broke the camel’s back and reduced available resources.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Bankruptcy
The Spoon (4 Oct 2018) reported Palate Home, maker of the Cinder smart grill, was shutting down. CEO Eric Norman’s 3 Oct 2018 Indiegogo update said he had instructed counsel to file liquidation bankruptcy, the company could not ship remaining crowdfunding perks, and there was no way to continue operating. Digital Trends the same day also reported the official shutdown. A later Spoon Q&A with Desora’s CEO said Palate Home never actually filed the bankruptcy paperwork before Desora took the assets after the announced shutdown (residual sale after halt, not a going-concern premium merger).
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
2012–2015: Palate Home developed the Cinder precision grill — thermal sensors in dual ceramic plates with a closed-loop algorithm — raising $20,000 (2014) and $120,000 (2015) accelerator rounds.
- 02
June 2017: raised more than $550,000 from nearly 1,000 backers on Indiegogo.
- 03
2018: a year of manufacturing issues and legal woes; in August a San Mateo court issued a default judgment ordering Palate Home to pay $294,736 to Tony Fadell's investment firm Future Shape over a convertible note.
- 04
October 2018: Palate Home shut down and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy; CEO Eric Norman said the lawsuit was the 'proverbial straw that broke the camel's back,' while the root cause was being 'not able to sell enough product, or produce that product consistently and economically.'
- 05
November 2018: Desora (backed by Morningside Group) acquired Cinder's assets and promised backers would receive their grills.