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Rivian Recalls Basically Every Vehicle It Has Ever Made
David Shultz
David Shultz reports on clean technology and electric vehicles, among other industries, for dot.LA. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Outside, Nautilus and many other publications.
On Friday evening, Rivian Automotive announced a recall on nearly every single vehicle it has produced so far.
According to documentation filed with the Nation Transportation and Highway Safety Administration, “The fastener connecting the front upper control arm and steering knuckle may have been improperly tightened … A loose steering knuckle fastener could separate, causing a loss of vehicle control and increasing the risk of a crash.”
The recall affects 12,212 total vehicles spanning the R1S, R1T and delivery van platforms. In layman's terms, the car’s suspension system has a loose bolt that can make the ride harsher or even result in a loss of steering control for the driver.
While undoubtedly bad news for the EV hopeful, the company has stated that there have been no reported injuries due to the defect. The fix for the problem–essentially just tightening the bolt–also appears to be simple and relatively cheap for Rivian to execute.
For context, recalls are relatively commonplace in the automotive industry. Though it’s also worth mentioning that EV startups have been particularly susceptible to them due to the sheer quantity of new technology and engineering in each car. To that end, Toyota also recently had to pause production on its new EV, the bz4x, over safety concerns related to the wheels coming loose. The Chevy Bolt has also faced its share of recall issues.
Nonetheless, this is Rivian’s third recall since May of this year. The company has previously had issues with airbags and seat belt anchors that required maintenance. Whether these three issues represent a concerning pattern or just normal growing pains for a company that only delivered its first vehicle 13 months ago remains to be seen, but the latest recall has taken its toll on the company’s stock, which is down nearly 8.5% by early afternoon Monday.
David Shultz
David Shultz reports on clean technology and electric vehicles, among other industries, for dot.LA. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Outside, Nautilus and many other publications.
What Hailey Bieber’s Skincare Company Reveals About Influencer-Led Brands
08:58 AM | March 06, 2023
When Hailey Bieber launched Rhode skincare last June, the release was coupled with YouTube videos detailingeachproduct. Bieber has since fully integrated the skincare line into her content, bringing on other beauty influencers to discuss it and highlighting it in get ready with me videos on her channel.
Bieber’s efforts paid off—Rhode has since become one of the most talked about skincare brands online, and the products often sell out. At The Upfront Summit last week, Bieber joined OBB Media CEO and founder Michael Ratner, who produces her YouTube series “What’s In My Bathroom” and “What’s In My Kitchen,” to discuss how she has merged her content creation with her business endeavors.
“YouTube is a great home because, most importantly, we’re able to reach Hailey’s audience,” Ratner said, adding that they can “cut out the middleman” of a traditional streaming service.
Bieber isn’t alone in utilizing her online platforms to start a beauty company. Kylie Jenner launched Kylie Cosmetics in 2014, and the line consistently receives high social media engagement thanks to intentional influencer marketing. But even influencers without the celebrity status of Jenner and Bieber have become entrepreneurs. Beauty YouTubers like Michelle Phan and NikkieTutorials have turned their expertise into makeup companies, while TikToker Hyram Yarbro did the same with skincare.
So how does the content creator to skincare mogul pipeline work?
Oftentimes, outside companies approach influencers about launching their own brands. Beauty and makeup brand incubator Madeby Collective, for example, was seeking a Gen Z star to be the face of a new line in 2020, and TikTok darling Addison Rae was the obvious choice. After approaching the influencer, they gave her the title of co-founder and Chief Innovation Office before launching Item Beauty later that year.
Bieber is trying to shove Rhode to the front of a field that even she admitted is incredibly crowded. Despite this, Bieber didn’t have a compelling answer when moderator Kobie Fuller asked how Rhode can stand out.
“To me, Rhode is a whole world. It’s a world of me, essentially” Bieber said. “In order for people to understand my vision for the brand, they would have to understand me.”
Bieber has become known for her various “glazed donut” looks, which range from nail designs to her skincare line. Multiple TikTok and YouTube tutorials re-created these looks as the trends swept through online beauty communities. And it doesn’t hurt when the person manufacturing these trends can use these platforms to show exactly how she gets these results—and promote her brand along the way.
Still, closely tying one’s company to one’s public perception is risky. On the extreme end is influencer Jeffree Star, who launched his cosmetics company in 2014 and often used elaborate YouTube videos to promote products. His items sold out quickly. But accusations of racism and sexual assault caused sales to decline. The fallout extended beyond him—beauty company Morphe, which rose to popularity through collaborations with Star, recently closed all of its U.S. locations due to low sales. Dragon Beauty, a company launched by YouTuber Nikita Dragon, was put on hiatus last month following the influencer’s arrest.
To that end, Bieber is currently embroiled in her own internet drama, having lost over one million Instagram followers after seemingly re-igniting her feud with Selena Gomez. Obviously, this is not comparable to the situations with Star and Dragon. But it does point to how even a slight misstep can have ripple effects on an influencer’s business and the fragility of someone’s online reputation.
The panel didn’t touch on this topic, and it’s unclear how the scandal has impacted Rhode’s sales—but the brand has become tangled with it. When Bieber re-posted someone’s Instagram story about Rhode that included a song featuring Gomez, fans noted that she changed the song to the version without Gomez. In turn, Gomez fans are urging people to stop buying Rhode products.
Even without pushback from vitriolic fan communities, influencer-led brands have struggled in recent months. In January, Sephora stopped carrying both Rae and Yarbro’s products after sales slowed down. Now, expertsare wondering if this is the beginning of the end for influencer-backed brands. Some have managed to produce products that can stand on their own—ironically, Gomez’s makeup line Rare Beauty has become the gold standard in this area. But Bieber’s philosophy of creating “aesthetically pleasing products that work” isn’t all that different from her competitors.
Still, it’s unlikely that influencer-led brands will die out considering 92% of Gen Z adults make their purchasing decisions based on influencer recommendations. But influencers are finding that getting people to spend money is a more difficult task than getting them to watch a video. And when influencer-entrepreneurs like Bieber are unable to quickly articulate what makes their brands stand out, it’s understandable why viewers aren’t buying what they’re selling.Read moreShow less
Kristin Snyder
Kristin Snyder is dot.LA's 2022/23 Editorial Fellow. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
https://twitter.com/ksnyder_db
Upfront Ventures Summit: The Chainsmokers Journey From Music to Venture
02:16 PM | March 02, 2023
Clark Studio
On Thursday, Upfront Ventures hosted its 2023 Summit and music icons Alex Pall and Drew Taggart of The Chainsmokers hit the stage, not to perform, but instead to discuss their venture journey.
The duo launched MantisVC, a Marina Del Rey-based early stage tech venture fund in 2019.
Pall and Taggart shared the stage with WndrCo’s managing partner Jeffrey Katzenberg to dive deeper into what their music career has taught them and how it translated over to their venture firm.
Here are some of the most important takeaways:
The duo believes hustle is more important than talent to achieve success.
“There's just so much content out there that's just happening all the time for no reason,” Taggart said. “There's just so much to pay attention to and if you have to wake up every day, and think out what your angle is going to be, try stuff, have it not work. You have to accept defeat so frequently and still get up and do it.”
Creating music was their foray into building communities.
“I think we have some real insight into how to build that community and tell that story because essentially, that's all we're trying to do,” Pall said. “No matter what your business is, you're telling the story about something that you think is important that someone else needs and will enjoy.”
Building connections and having conversations with pioneers in the space helped them launch MantisVC.
“Humility and being self aware are two of our strengths,” Taggart said. “I think knowing what we don't know is a big part of how we've gotten to where we are, and with the support of people around us, and the relationships we built, we understood that we were going to have to go out and prove to the world that we were serious about this and we respected the people that have come before us and the people that are doing it right now.”
VCs should offer all their founders support.
“When you're building something early on, you want that support, that hands-on feeling and the purpose of Mantis isn't necessarily right now to replace the incredible institutional investors that exist out there and have been around for a while,” Pall continued.
“But we want to be the Robin to their Batman, and we think there's a way that we can kind of partner with everybody in the space and provide our founders that holistic support they need. It's inspiring to work alongside people that share that same energy and we're constantly working on ourselves and I feel like it takes a really special type of human being to be successful in this world. Level of grit and determination and something that's continually fueled us and we want to invest in people like that.”
Feedback is necessary and essential to create successful products and businesses.
“Similar to products or services that you're building, it's important to get real life feedback out there and iterate on those things,” Taggart said. “And there's really just no substitute for that.”
Pall added, “I think for some reason in our culture, it's become an issue for people just to be straightforward and say no, about things and give honest feedback and, and move on. I think we can all learn a lot from just having more honest conversations with each other.”
Never lose sight of your core audience and mission as a company.
“Never forget what your core product is and what people love about that and make sure that every piece of innovation is derivative of that,” Taggart said. “I see a lot of friends of ours that have had really successful companies start to build ancillary projects that don't really feed their core audience that they're just making to compete with their competition. We do the same thing in songwriting, and you can never lose sight of what people love about you.”
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Decerry Donato
Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
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