Will it work? Will it sell? BornSharp - self sharpening, 2000 shave razor blade

Does this unit plug in or is it a rechargeable battery? I use a beard trimmer for my goatee and have to replace it yearly because the battery loses its ability to keep a charge. I just don't see this as a winning combination and I think a manual version would be better than technology doing everything for us.

 

Very interesting. But it's not for me. I like the idea of switching my razors up. This would end up like all the other gadgets I buy. In the landfill.

 

I was thinking the razor could be sent by the company, freshly honed, which would include the UV treatment. But I see now, that's not the same as being able to put a fresh blade in.

 

In a few key ways, one five year blade is quite different from a fresh blade whenever you want. In some ways the 5yr-blade is much more convenient: you never need to buy them, never need to carry them, store them, find, remove and install them with the possibility of dropping or cutting oneself, keep track of how many times you've used it. On the other hand, you do have to wait two minutes to get a fresh edge, and if you're shaving lots of yourself, where you might go through several blades, that could slow you down. And, relying on the UV light alone I wouldn't want to share the razor with anyone else. I'd feel compelled to use some serious disinfecting bath -- but of course, if you're going to share a razor, you'd do that anyway, although with a new blade. It certainly seems like it may be greener than replaceable DE blades: one piece of metal, seems greener than as many as 1,000, for instance if you use Feathers, which some replace after two shaves.

 

Looking at the patent drawings BornSharp seems overly complicated. Adjusting via the grind is inefficient and going to wear the blade down quickly. Rolls or Valet razors were affordable with IMO a better design in the self-sharpening segment and they didn't survive against the Gillette replaceable blade model.
So to answer your original questions...
Will it work? Sure it will, I don't know how well it will work.
Will it sell? It won't sell to the masses. I suppose it could appeal to a few people cruising a Hammacher Schlemmer catalog or who wants an RDFI chip in their razor.
This type of razor isn't for me at any price point but if it can get someone else excited about shaving then I'm all for it.

 

The reason I switched from cartriage to DE shaving was to return to a level of simplicty and commonsense that existed in the past. Savings on DE razors vs. cartriages was also considered, but for me I love changing my blades, it's a tactile connection to the past. As such, I'd have zero interest in this new toy razor.

As a professional marketing guy, I'd say they did it backwards, in that they made unvalidated assumptions on what the market wanted and was willing to pay, and then developed a product, and then went to see if the market was interested. That's ass backwards.

Any marketing professional would tell you, first you confirm what the market wants by determining their pain points, then you look to see if anyone else is addressing those pain points, then you determine the dollar and time value someone puts on those pain points, and then build your value proposition, and ONLY then do you develop a product that speaks to these pain points. For example, for $10 you can keep your existing razor a little longer with the Razor Savor on Amazon.

These fools have done it backwards, and made a product that addresses a non-existent pain point (ie. a new razor is a pleasure, not a nuissance) at a price that fails any test of value proposition. It's no wonder they're struggling for funding and creaping this forum for ideas.

 

I suggest including a review of the value proposition.

Well yes, there is that. I'm sure the Flowbee seemed like a great idea to someone.