Watch More Episodes<\/a><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/aside>\nAnd you watch the guys in software. They build immense value overnight. They spool up automatic testing in Amazon, error checking. It\u2019s beautiful. They create value with 90% efficiency. On the mechanical side, we create value with 20% efficiency. We\u2019re like the internal combustion engine, and they\u2019re electric cars. That was the way of the world. It needed to change.<\/p>\n
I used my first 3D printer in 2012. Stratasys. It blew my mind. All I had to do was add carbon fiber, and we\u2019d be somewhere real. We did that for 3 years. At every trade show, there is at least one mechanical engineer whose life has been changed by our printer. They are usually young. Early adopters. Faced a problem. Were told by their boss the 3D printed version wouldn\u2019t \/ couldn\u2019t work. The problem pilled up large enough that the boss was willing to throw a hail Marry pass at the problem. And the part worked. Kept working. And now that kid is a rock star. And he\u2019s changing the way their business is run.<\/p>\n
In every one of those people, I see myself.<\/p>\n
I own enough of this company, I will never need to work again. The money problem is off the table. Now we go for maximum velocity change.<\/p>\n
I was just talking with our lead investor. The usual business crap that takes 5% of your time. Afterwards, he texts about how his kid is using the Onyx one to print parts for his physics class. Every now and again, in the midst of all the crap you have to do to build a business, we marvel at how much better our kids lives will be than ours.<\/p>\n
My parents are doctors. When I was a 5 years old, I showed mechanical aptitude. Doctors with mechanical skills become surgeons. My Mom used to tell me, \u201cWhen you grow up, you\u2019ll become a doctor.\u201d One of my earliest memories. I had built a \u201cbody armor suit\u201d from blocks, and showed it to my Mom. I said, \u201cI\u2019ll be a surgeon.\u201d She looked at me and said, \u201cThere\u2019s no money in medicine anymore, pick something else to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
Crunchbase<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n I used to think I fucked up by doing hardware. I was going to tell my kid, \u201cgo into software.\u201d By the time he\u2019s 5 years old, I\u2019m not going to have to say that anymore. That\u2019s why I do this.<\/p>\n
TC: How does it work?<\/strong>This is very worth mentioning, because we have not disclosed this yet. We didn\u2019t invent metal powder incased in plastic. We found it, and solved the technical problems to make it work in a 3D printer. There is an entire niche industry, Metal Injection Molding (MIM), that shoots plastic with metal powder into molds. It was tiny. $400M about 10 years ago. Now it\u2019s all the way up to 1.5B (half of it is Apple, for the lightening connector, etc). I had never heard of this thing. They use metal powder in a 2-part plastic. Then sinter to fully density. So we replaced the injection mold with a 3D printer, and use their existing, production, sintering ovens (and solved all the shrink \/ deformation \/ supports issues). 3D printing replacing injection molding. Sounds familiar?<\/p>\n
TC: Who is it for?<\/strong>In the long run, we will scale the costs down. You will have high school students designing things and ordering custom metal parts online. Those parts will be 10X lower cost than CNC parts, and simple to order. In the end, we will simplify manufacturing, and make hardware more about design. There will be people all over the world building value in hardware, just like they do in software today. And the world will be closer to ideal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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