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Course: Entrepreneurship > Unit 1
Lesson 5: Zach Kaplan - CEO of InventablesZach Kaplan - Digital manufacturing revolution
Zach Kaplan, CEO of Inventables, discusses how the revolution of digital manufacturing and desktop publishing can impact a new generation of entrepreneurs. Created by Kauffman Foundation.
Want to join the conversation?
- I'm not sure I quite understand what digital manufacturing is. Do you use a program to design something that someone else will then build for you?(22 votes)
- Digital manufacturing is when people can tell you what you want through the internet and then people will build it for you, so basically what you said. Except you mainly order the supplies from Inventables and they send it to you or your workplace, where you/your team will build your product.(14 votes)
- Now with digital entrepreneurship can this be creating more jobs for this generation?(8 votes)
- Without a doubt, digital entrepreneurship is a great gateway for making more jobs especially now with network marketing, and companies like kickstarter and many other startup projects anybody can make a company a be successful and at the same time make jobs.(5 votes)
- With digital manufacturing and 3D printing both growing rapidly, do you think that large manufacturing plants will begin to suffer?(2 votes)
- No, there is a reasonable argument that large scale manufacturing plants are completely separate from 3D printing and other rapid prototyping services in some fundamental ways; minimum run size, set-up time/costs, production yield; finish quality. Historically, these economic factors have created barriers to innovation. New prototyping capabilities are additive. They enable new specialized manufacturing for niche markets or provide acceptable economics for an initial manufacturing run where a new innovation may be validated or market tested. The skills and services necessary to refine a new design for high volume manufacturing are an expensive loss-leader for most high-volume manufacturers. 3D printing/prototyping takes much of the risk/cost out of this part of the process-benefiting both high and low-volume manufacturing.(5 votes)
- (Entrepreneur) someone who organizes a business venture and assumes the risk for it.(6 votes)
- I guess my only concern with the rising of digital manufacturing and such is that people love to make spin-offs. So, what if that spin-off gains more traction than the original product? How does one get around that "assumed risk"?(3 votes)
- I don't think you can. There's always going to be the risk of a better product- technology and services are forever evolving. As an entrepreneur one needs to be ready to take the risk and plan for it, all the while anticipating the next business move and how to improve on the product. The spin-off can also be taken as an inspiration on how to and a motivation to improve the original product. On the other hand, a niche market can be targeted. Big enough for profits but small enough where too much competition won't be able to find a foot hold- especially once customer loyalty and trust is gained.(2 votes)
- So, I am a fashion designer! I create on paper with a lead pencil a beautiful Satin evening gown that any Hollywood Actress would ware on the red carpet. So, next I go to my computer and I draw electronically the same Beautiful section evening down in the color red. Are you saying that I can now go to my printer and push a button and lo and behold out comes a beautiful red satin evening down because you have programmed your computer and your printer to fill in the Area that normally would contain ink on paper with satin on a blank field ?(3 votes)
- Whats better for the planet digital manufacturing and normal manufacturing?(2 votes)
- At0:40he starts to explain some of the values of both.(2 votes)
- How do you guys do the videographics? I noticed the cliparts for e.g. aeroplanes and things related to money are the same. Does anyone know how I can make/where I can get(or buy) videoinfographics like that?(2 votes)
- "Infographics for Dummies" - www.easel.ly - Thinglink.com - AdobeFlash(2 votes)
- I think that people love manufacturing because they love to spin off.(2 votes)
- What are the digital manufacturing machines and tools you are referring to, more specifically, other than 3D printers and crowd-funding? What service providers, machines, tools can a modern internet entrepreneur use as modules to build their business model?(2 votes)
Video transcript
- My name is Zach Kaplan. I'm the CEO of Inventables, the Online Hardware Store for Designers. I love building things. Originally, we had a business servicing R&D and Design people at big companies, companies like Black & Decker and Nike. And then a couple years ago,
the cost of making stuff, the cost of machinery,
all started dropping. And then websites came out
like Etsy and Kickstarter, and we launched this hardware store to make that research that we were doing for big companies available to everyone. The world started paying
attention in a big way to digital manufacturing
and desktop fabrication because the cost of entry, just like what happened with
desktop publishing in the '80s, all of a sudden dropped down to a couple hundred bucks to play. It's really exciting because now anyone can be a manufacturer. These low-cost digital machines, you plug them into your
computer with a USB and now you don't need
a Fortune 500 company to make products; you just
need some ideas and some time and a couple hundred bucks. You now have a manufacturing
facility on your desktop. We're seeing successful
businesses start up and grow from nothing with digital
manufacturing as their engine. So for example, one of our
customers makes furniture. One of our customers makes
wedding cake toppers. One of our customers makes jewelry. So they have a machine,
they order the supplies, they make a small batch of products, and then they sell them either
on their website, or Etsy, or the local retailer, like
a small business retailer. Right now, there's about 18,000 products that you can order on the site. The engine of that is these
digital manufacturing machines. The concept of a market is very abstract. What does that even mean? And so it's something that
I've learned over time through experience. When you start it, it's
very delicate and fragile, and as you build it, it
gets a little stronger and it gets a little more solidified. If you're interested in
taking it from something that's maybe more of
a hobby or an interest or a research project into something where people are gonna buy it from you, then a whole different set of constraints and considerations come into play, and you start to understand, okay, so what about this technology is interesting to people
or will help people in the extent to which you
can find one, or then 10, or 100 people who see why this is great, gives you a chance to
change it, or challenge it, or iterate it from something
that's more science or technology into a product. A lot of things don't get
past that first person or 10th customer or 100th customer, because people just
aren't able to coalesce it or condense it down into something
that's compelling enough. Go try it, test it. If it works, keep going,
and if it doesn't work, fix it and try something new. We're in the early innings. Obviously, manufacturing has been around for hundreds of years, but digital manufacturing is
definitely in the early stages. Most designers still are
just kind of figuring out, okay, so what are these tools,
and the tools are improving. I think this is what it felt like in the very beginning of
the Industrial Revolution. I think this is that next revolution, the digital manufacturing revolution. I'm just totally obsessed
with what's going on and I think that it
really has the potential to change the way that our economy works. My goal is to build a large business and fundamentally change the world, change the way people approach
science and technology and change the way people
approach product development. So I hope that when we look back, we'll see that Inventables helped ignite the digital fabrication revolution. I believe that that will
build a new generation of entrepreneurs who can be their own boss and get to love making stuff every day.