The Rise and Fall of the Everyman Tycoon

Article about the rise and fall of MakerBot by Andrew Zaleski at Backchannel:

Itwas October 2009 when Bre Pettis — his unmistakable sideburns and dark-rimmed rectangular glasses framing his face — took the stage at Ignite NYC, threw his hand in the air, and shouted “Hooray!” two times. A PowerPoint slide lit up behind him, revealing a photo of a hollow wood box crisscrossed with wiring. Bouncing up and down, his profuse mop of graying hair flopping about, Pettis began: “I’m going to talk about MakerBot and the future and an industrial revolution that we’re beginning — that’s begun.”

A former art teacher, Pettis had emerged as a key character in the growing maker movement of the late 2000s, a worldwide community of tinkerers who holed away in makeshift workshops and hackerspaces, equally at home with tools like old-school lathes and contemporary laser cutters. Pettis had begun his ascent in 2006, producing weekly videos for MAKE magazine—the maker movement’s Bible—that featured him navigating goofy tasks such as powering a light bulb with a modified hamster wheel. In 2008, he cofoundedthe NYC Resistor hackerspace in Brooklyn. By then, Pettis was a star. A year later, he launched a Brooklyn-based startup with friends Adam Mayer and Zach Smith (also a NYC Resistor cofounder) called MakerBot... (full article)

Comments (0)

This post does not have any comments. Be the first to leave a comment below.


Post A Comment

You must be logged in before you can post a comment. Login now.

Featured Product

NORD Delivers Powerful, Reliable Drive Solutions for Demanding Packaging Applications

NORD Delivers Powerful, Reliable Drive Solutions for Demanding Packaging Applications

When you need quality, flexibility and high efficiency, NORD has you covered with complete drive solutions for primary and secondary packaging, end-of-line packaging, and higher-level applications. NORD supports you through the entire life cycle of your drive systems with pre-sales engineering support, online tools, and a global service network. Drive systems for both vertically and horizontally networked technology with all the options for sensor incorporation and integration into the higher-level control system.