Chapter 23 — Saving iRobot

The previous chapter established the prize: customer loyalty, lifetime value, and a moat that strengthens with every shipped update. But a harder question remains: what happens when product leaders have the assets to build that moat, yet choose the wrong model?

iRobot Select is the stress test. It tried to turn a one-time robot sale into a four-year recurring revenue stream, but the subscription did not hold. The failure is revealing because the company already had what many hardware companies spend years trying to earn: a large installed base, repeated household presence, mapping capability, and permission to operate inside the home. Those assets were real. They simply were not enough.