IMHO, it’s too early for consolidation. I’d love to see more competition first. MakerBot & Stratasys merger complete. http://buff.ly/16gMTxg
“Consolidation” is just another way of saying anti-competition. This is the way the startup world works. You do 1 of 2 things. You grow and grow quickly, hoping to get bought out by an existing player, or you make enough money to buy out all of your competition so that there is no (or very little) choice in the market. If you can manage to only have 2 players in the market, you’ve already formed a Duopoly and can keep your prices in parity (and inflated) without having to communicate between companies and violate antitrust laws. When Bre mentioned having venture capitalists step in, this merger was already basically said and done. Venture capitalists don’t invest in something unless it makes them money back rather quickly.
@ThantiK you’re completely, right. there might be in these phase maybe one positive thing, namely that a bigger company has more resources to make the whole printing easier and more stable, i.e. more consumer friendly. but let’s see.
It’s never a case of an entire market going through competition, then consolidation. It’s always an ongoing process with new startups being created at the bottom and either dying or growing large enough to be acquired by larger companies at the top. With in the middle large birds flying around (venture capitalists), alwaar willig to regurgitate some money,with strings attached.
If you’re lucky some of the startups really like doing what they’re doing and are pretty good at it (I’m looking at @Brook_Drumm here), and they either won’t sell out at all or only for Mind Boggling Stacks Of Money (you know, the kind that comes on a pallet you have to spray for silverfish).
Let’s just hope the rate of startup creation at the bottom of the market remains high for a while yet. That’s the competition that drives progress.
I’m in it for the long haul. Venture capitalists aren’t out to change the world, just their bank accounts. I’m a capitalist, so who can blame them. I want to grow aggressively, so capital may be needed but you can’t buy vision and passion. Maybe there is a VC out there who understands the Maker movement and will hitch on for the long haul. Printrbot will continue to innovate and develop for the masses at prices they an afford. Ridiculous margins of the competition aside, I still believe value-priced 3d printers have a healthy life ahead. My $0 marketing budget relies on word of mouth and free media attention- it’s a great way to build product and a healthy company. We’ll be ready when either the world catches on in their own time or we catch a break to put some marketing money to work for us. I can’t help but wonder what would happen if we had a marketing budget equal to makerbot. Who would be known as the “affordable desktop 3d printer”? Watch this space for products that rival the admittedly slick appearance of the replicator 2… At prices mom and dad can stomach. Consolation for the small companies like mine chasing after the big fish: we are wildly focused, nimble, scaling rapidly, constantly innovating and attracting attention. The big merger doesn’t set dollar signs in my eyes, it makes me double down and push harder to move forward faster. Competition is good for everyone - the fighters come out swinging or at least get back up and keep running. Mergers CAN slow progress, add baggage, create culture shock, confuse vision, and at worst make leaders very very comfortable. I wish Bre the best, seriously. We are targeting different markets, building different brands. It may be a long time before we go head to head in an apples to apples competition. In the meantime, I like this David vs. Goliath thing. Perhaps a cheap attempt at drama, but it holds some truth in our current marketshare. Enough of this (attempt at) waxing eloquent… I’m off to find five smooth stones.
-brook