The Virtual Foundry

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You have found

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Authentic Business Adventures,
the business program that brings you

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the struggle stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land.

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Past episodes
of the Authentic Business Adventures

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program can be found in the podcast link
at drawincustomers.com

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We are underwritten locally
by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

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My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

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author, speaker and helpful coach to small
business owners across the country.

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Today we’re welcoming/
preparing to learn from Tricia,

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the President of Ritual Foundry,
as well as Brad, the founder.

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So welcome, you guys.
Thanks.

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Yes.
Great to be here.

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Thanks for having us.

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This is a cool space,

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and I’m excited to learn exactly what you
do, because when I met you,

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when we started talking
the 3D printing world, it’s pretty cool.

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But I always knew it as plastic. When
you mentioned metal 3D printing.

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Just mind blowing moment there.
Yeah.

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And what’s super awesome about what we’re
doing here is you’re taking that plastic

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3D printing that you’re familiar
with using that same 3D printer.

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But now you’re printing
metal with our materials.

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That’s cool. So the same exact printer?
Yes.

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Wow.
So tell us you guys supply the materials

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or just tell us more or
less what you guys do.

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Yeah.

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We’re a materials company only.

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We supply other things in our store,

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like we’ll sell printers and things
that you need to go along with it.

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Just to make it easier
for our customers.

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Our prime objective is to make
3D printing materials.

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All right. So what are people? Is it
typically businesses or is it typical,

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just people of their house
that are buying the stuff?

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It’s really everybody. Okay.

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So a lot of universities and colleges
and schools all over the world.

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Wow.

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Research organizations,
the Department of Defense,

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people at home.
All right.

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And the industry.
Okay.

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About three quarters of the national labs.

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There are 17 of them, and we count at
least over a dozen of them as customers.

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Wow.

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In the middle, I see
a lot of stools there.

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I imagine a different varieties.
Yeah.

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Are we talking steel, aluminum. What is
the range that you guys have for metal?

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Right.
Well,

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everything about this is patented,
and the patent describes a method

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of fabricating manufacturing,
3D printing, metal, glass and ceramic.

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Wow.
So it runs the spectrum.

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So you can actually use this technique
to print glass parts and ceramic parts.

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Really? Not just metal.

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How does that work?

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Like glass. I’m trying to fix
your how does that work?

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The easiest analogy is pottery.

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Everybody’s worked with clay
and things like that.

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That is essentially very similar
to the process that we do here.

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Except we 3D print it rather than form it
on a partnership or something like that.

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So I imagine what they call the

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filament that has to get hot
enough to melt the medium, right.

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Oh, my gosh.
My nomenclature,

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I’m way off here.

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Yeah.

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The filament is made of powdered metal
in case in regular 3D printing plastic.

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So when you’re printing,

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that’s why it works on a regular 3D
printer, because you’re melting

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the plastic as it goes through,
but not the metal.

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All right. So does the plastic
itself work as a binder?

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Yeah, that’s exactly.
It.

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Got it.

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So are the parts.

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Like, if I were to print out a threaded

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part with the threads on,
there be strong enough to hold

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what a normal metal piece would
it be just off the printer?

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It would not, because it
still has that plastic in.

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Gotcha.
But there’s a secondary process that you

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can go through to get rid of that plastic
and fuse those metal particles together.

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That’s called the debinding to get
that binder out and then centering

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is that process of fusing
those particles together.

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All right.

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Then, in that case, that’s where
the strength of metal comes into play.

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This is where the analogy works.

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Well, with play,
it’s the same kind of thing.

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You form it, and then you put
it in a kiln and fire it.

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Okay.
Got it.

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So is that something that people
from home have equipment to do that?

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We have lots of home users.

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It runs the gamut.

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I mean, we have everybody from

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just people making things in their
basement to part of the maker movement.

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People are calling it.
So it’s just a new method of letting

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people fabricate parts in a low cost,
simple way.

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All right.
That’s cool.

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You ask about what different materials?
Yeah.

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We do keep a standard stock that’s going
to include things like copper, bronze,

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a few different varieties of steel,
tungsten, aluminum, titanium.

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And then we get into ceramics
and then a Pyrex glass material.

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Really? How does that work?

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It’s the same powdered glass
in this plastic binder.

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Sure.

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Our manufacturing process is the same
among all the materials,

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which allows us then to be able to take
nearly any metal, any ceramic, any glass,

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put it through the same process
that we developed here.

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And now you’re three printing with it.
All right.

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When I think of Pyrix,
I think of something very durable and very

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resistant to heat. So does that challenge
when people have to Bake it?

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Essentially.
No.

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It still has the same properties.
The difference is,

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it’s not clear when they say glass,
people tend to picture clear glass.

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It’s not clear.
Okay.

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But it is Pyrex, and it has
all the same properties.

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As far as dealing with thermal
shock and that kind of thing.

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Yeah.

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So they can make their own beakers
or measuring cups or whatever.

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Yeah.

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Like high performance
glass filters people used.

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Wow.

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That’s cool.

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So how did this whole thing come about?

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I was dabbling in my basement, and

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this part of the project started in about
2014, but I’d actually been experimenting

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with methods of making metal objects
that didn’t use large amounts of heat.

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So that was where the virtual
Foundry concept came from.

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So I’ve actually been using
the word for over 15 years.

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Probably closer to 20 by now.
All right.

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So the virtual Foundry at the term has
been around forever

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when a friend of mine gave me a 3D
printer said, you got to try this.

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So I got it up and running.

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The first thing I printed was a piece
of plastic, which was very disappointing.

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It’s plastic, and it felt like
a toy or a Happy Meal toy.

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And then that was where I saw

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an opportunity to combine all the things
that I was working on with using 3D

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printing as a method
of creating the form for those.

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All right.
Interesting.

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And how long was this?

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We’re talking 15 years, 2014.

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That’s when I added 3D printing

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to the other parts of the technology
that I was working on.

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Got you.
All right.

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So did the business itself come about
at that moment, or when did you decide?

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Hey, let’s make this into a business?

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Well, it started to make sense early on,

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and I did a Kickstarter project, and we
had about, I think, 105% of our goal.

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So we made a pass that financed us
into this room,

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into this building and financed our
commercial extrusion equipment.

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Wow.
That’s super cool.

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And how long ago was that?

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That was 15, 2016.

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So it’s pretty fast.

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Just a year or two after you
figured the whole thing out.

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Yeah.

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All right. And the patents
are your patents?

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Yes.
Wow.

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Those patents take time, will they?

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I’ve never gotten a patent, but I have
talked to people that have gotten them,

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and it was never like,
oh, it’s an easy process.

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Right.
Well, when I realized that this could be

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done, I immediately understood
that it could be very important.

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Patent was priority one.

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In fact, huge amounts of our early
money went into financing the patents.

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Oh, interesting.

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And it was a very arduous process.
Okay.

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Do you know what year it was granted?

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I think in August of 19.
Oh, wow.

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Okay.
It was official.

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Official.

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I’m pretty sure we filed it in 2016.

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All right.
Wow.

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If you want to do it right,
it’s not something you want a DIY.

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Okay.

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I didn’t want to risk coming up
with a patent that wasn’t enforceable.

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So, yeah, we hired a very high end law
firm that we have a lot of faith in.

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All right.
Very cool.

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So something like a patent, I guess,
going down that road just a little bit.

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How long does that last?

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Is that the 70 year thing
or something like that?

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20 years.
I think it is at this point, 20 years.

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Okay.
Right.

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So, yeah, we were talking about this.

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We’re already five years
into a 20 year pass.

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They started from application point.

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Not the time that’s actually given.

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We’re not exactly sure.

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Actually.

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20 years, but we’re not
sure when it starts.

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All right.
Fair.

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So how did you market this to people?

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You got this cool thing.

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It’s patented nobody else has it.

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How do you tell the world
that you have it?

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This was a key challenge,
especially starting up.

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The Kickstarter campaign itself turned
into an excellent form of marketing.

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I was able to get the attention of
engineers at Lockheed Martin.

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Things like that.

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There are people that looked at it
and immediately understood it.

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Most people look at what we’re doing
and either don’t understand what it is.

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They don’t understand why it’s important.

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And from there.

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So we’ve gone through a series of

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phases where initially people like,
I would show people parts and they would

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say that I don’t think
you made it that way.

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No one believe you.

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They didn’t come out and say that.

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But that was the general implication.

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So

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it was so difficult to get
people to understand that.

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Looking back, I’m surprised it took
a lot of tenacity to stick with it.

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Sure.
And this is where Trisha came in.

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When Trisha joined the company.

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It was pretty much just a nerd
and some friends in a garage,

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but sounds like a good man.

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So adding Tricia to the mix added

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legitimacy to the business side of things,
got our billing functioning properly,

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got all that kind of stuff working
and got all that to make sense.

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But early on, the inspiration
came from the early adopters.

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So as an example,
a group of engineers at Lockheed Martin

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invited me out to speak
at a conference for their engineers.

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That’s cool.
Yeah.

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This is like

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a nerd highlight.

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I got a chance to speak in the Hubble

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auditorium to hundreds
of Lockheed Martin engineers.

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And the person that introduced me as

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the person that found the Holy
grail of metal 3D printing.

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Wow.
So this was very inspirational.

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And it got me through a lot of low times.

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All right.

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That’s pretty cool.

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So the people that got it got it.

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The rest of the people either didn’t

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understand it, didn’t think
it was important, et cetera.

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And that was kind of where we segued

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into trying to deal with investors
and people like that.

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The investors didn’t get it.

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Banks didn’t get it.

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Nobody got it.

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It’s interesting.

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I’ve interviewed a lot of people,
and I feel like and just I guess looking

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around business wise,
I feel like the people that are doing

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stuff with hardware,
tangible stuff have a harder time finding

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investors than the people
with the software intangible stuff.

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Even when the software people have no
defined means to bring in revenue, right.

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It blows my mind.
Yeah.

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We’ve seen it repeatedly.

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And especially I’m like,

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these are people that have extra
cash to throw around at a gamble.

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And when you hear somebody talk and they

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say, oh, you know, we had $5 million
investment in a Series B series.

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Blah, blah, blah.

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And you ask the question,
like, how do you make money?

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Like, oh, we’ll figure it out later.

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That seemed to be one of those, like, way,

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shouldn’t you figure
that out in the beginning.

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Tricia, I think we spent a couple of years

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probably interacting with the
general investment community.

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We did accelerators.

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We did everything that you can think
of when we talk to a lot of people.

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And

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there are multiple reasons
we didn’t go that way.

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One, we really didn’t find a situation
that felt comfortable for us.

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And two, they didn’t understand.

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And the people that were into venture
capital, they would tell us they would say

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that 80% of my investments
are going to fail.

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So the 20% of the seed
have to be giant winners.

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And that didn’t make sense to us.

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No. Why are you making
those bad investments?

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Right.

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And why do we have to support
your failures, right.

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Oh, that’s funny.
Right.

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So what they’re essentially saying is,
you’re going to win.

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You’re just not going to win.
Huge.

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I’m investing in all these mistakes that I

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know are mistakes that are probably
mistakes they were looking for.

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The big win.
Yeah.

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Interesting.

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Which is tough to make when it’s tangible,
because it’s tangible, right?

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Software you can duplicate.

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Scalability is always an issue
for manufacturing a product.

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It’s difficult to explain manufacturing.

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Right.
Interesting.

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So, did you guys know each other before?
Yes.

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Okay. And how did you
get involved in this?

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Well, Brad and I have known each other

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for probably ten years before
I got involved in the company.

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We both live in Stoke.

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And here we were
in the same social circle,

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and I’ve been friends with his
wife for quite a while.

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All right.

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She would talk about
what he was up to, okay.

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And I knew that it was special,
and I wanted to be a part of it.

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But how do you finagle yourself into a
technology start up?

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So I said, hey, when he’s
ready for a business person

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and then that works.
I don’t know.

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All right.
I don’t know if it was her doing

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that really pushed him or if
he made the decision himself.

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He invited me to come and talk.

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I made the decision myself.

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I knew that you were right for the job,
but I probably wouldn’t have

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pursued you in the way that I did if it

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weren’t for Laurie pointing
out that actually bluntly.

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Laurie just said, Tricia wants in.
Okay.

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I get it.

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So when Brad asked me to come and meet

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and talk about my taking the President
role, he said, Is it okay with you?

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He said it felt like he was
proposing to me by President.

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Now he was not down on one knee or

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anything, but I still accepted
the role in a relationship.

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Yes.
Just like any other relationship.

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So sure.
And it took a lot of trust.

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So he was trusting me with this invention

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to really take it somewhere.
Yeah.

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Asking someone into a multi year

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equipment. Multi year commitment
is no small request, right?

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Yeah.
So at that time.

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Was it you or did you have employees it

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was just me and a couple of people
helping me here and there got you.

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All right.

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So was the leap more or less to bring
Tricia on because you needed more business

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acumen or to sell or to figure
out what you’re missing.

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Structure, structure.

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Okay.
Right.

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Definitely the business part of it.

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But two things Trisha’s ability
to learn new things quickly.

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That was kind of an important part

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and a known willingness to change her
mind when she decides she’s wrong.

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I consider that an important factor.

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Yeah.

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So mostly bringing
structure to the business.

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Okay.
That is not my business.

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My thing is making things
that haven’t been made before.

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All right.
Just shoot from Hep go.

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We have a product to figure
out how to sell it later.

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Maybe.
Right.

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Interesting. So how do you sell most

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of what you have? Is it online? Do
people come in? Is it a retail?

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We have an online store.
Okay.

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And then we have a distributor in Spain.
Wow.

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Okay.
This is worldwide.

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Absolutely nice.

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We have a distributor in Spain, and we
just on boarded a new Reseller in Canada.

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Oh, nice.
Okay.

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So those are our outlets right now.

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So the US.
All right.

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And then Europe and Canada.

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But

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people buy from us
from all over the world.

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Pretty fun.
That’s cool.

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One of my favorite parts of my work is

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talking with people
from all over the world.

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I can have a day where I meet

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with somebody from Taiwan in the morning
and somebody from Brazil in the afternoon.

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And I love it.

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Well, is language barrier an issue?

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Sometimes

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if it is, we just go a little more slowly.

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But thankfully for me,

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English is the universal
business language.

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Most people speak English,

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if not well enough to speak,

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at least well enough to write
and get our messages back and forth.

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Right.
That’s super cool.

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So your marketing essentially global.

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How do you tell the world
that you have this cool thing?

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It’s incredibly challenging.

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Okay.

[00:17:35]
I think, like, the most effective
marketing is word of mouth.

[00:17:40]
Okay.

[00:17:41]
A scientist here will tell a scientist

[00:17:44]
friend at a conference,
take a look at this.

[00:17:47]
All right.

[00:17:48]
That’s likely most of our
traction come from.

[00:17:50]
Okay.

[00:17:51]
We still have sort of the residuals from
the initial original Kickstarter people.

[00:17:56]
We still have a core group of home
users that are very dedicated

[00:18:02]
and are committed to bringing
the technology forward.

[00:18:05]
The other part of the thing is we make 14

[00:18:09]
different materials
that we stop regularly.

[00:18:11]
That’s 14 different,
very specific processes that need to be

[00:18:15]
developed to refine
into a high quality card.

[00:18:20]
So our users tend to contribute
a lot to the scientific development.

[00:18:26]
All right.

[00:18:27]
It would be impossible for us
to do all of it ourselves.

[00:18:29]
Right.

[00:18:31]
Because we’re bootstrapping.

[00:18:33]
Right.
Interesting.

[00:18:34]
Now, the search engine optimization has

[00:18:37]
been really critical, too, because people
are looking for metal 3D printing.

[00:18:40]
So we’re past the point now where
we’re far past the disbelief point.

[00:18:47]
It’s very well accepted that this
is a real thing that exists.

[00:18:50]
And now people want it.

[00:18:51]
They recognize that they need
to participate in this if they’re going

[00:18:56]
to stay relevant, because 3D printing
is absolutely not going away.

[00:19:00]
Conversely, it’s going to get even more
prolific as time goes until the point

[00:19:04]
where everyone has a 3D printer at home,
as just as they do a computer.

[00:19:08]
You expect that to happen?
Yes.

[00:19:10]
Okay.
That’s awesome.

[00:19:12]
So I think you and I were chatting before
I had that print repair thing, I guess.

[00:19:16]
Would that be 2D printing on paper?

[00:19:21]
1d.
I don’t know.

[00:19:22]
Whatever it is, the kind of jam a lot.

[00:19:24]
I had that business for eight years, and I
was trying to figure out the next step.

[00:19:28]
And that was

[00:19:32]
six years ago that I sold that roughly.

[00:19:35]
So I was trying to, like,
3D printers were kind of coming around.

[00:19:38]
Then the MakerBots of the world were

[00:19:41]
around, and I was thinking this would
be really cool if people had that.

[00:19:45]
But then I thought people have a hard
time Loading their paper tray.

[00:19:50]
Are they just little stuff like that that
I’m like, is that going to be a thing?

[00:19:55]
But then there’s the practicality of it.

[00:19:57]
You need a part.

[00:19:59]
How about a part

[00:20:02]
starting out can be very challenging.

[00:20:05]
And 3D printing not just with metal
3D printing, just with 3D printing.

[00:20:08]
Yeah.
It can be aggravating to get going.

[00:20:10]
That’s why, largely, like the home
users are still kind of hobbyists.

[00:20:16]
There are still people that are willing
to overcome an annoying problem.

[00:20:20]
People have stopped just because
something didn’t work quite right.

[00:20:24]
On the other end of the spectrum,
the scientists and the people in industry

[00:20:29]
get a chance to do something
that’s never been done before.

[00:20:32]
So they have a different motivation
to focus on improving our products.

[00:20:36]
Got you.

[00:20:38]
Let’s talk about the metals
because I’m curious about that.

[00:20:40]
You mentioned.

[00:20:41]
I think you said 14 different
types of products.

[00:20:45]
If I’m an engineer and I’m looking

[00:20:46]
at building, let’s say a hinge
for a wing or something like that.

[00:20:49]
I don’t know.

[00:20:50]
Are they aiming for a specific grade

[00:20:53]
of aluminum or something of that nature,
or is this more or less just to see if it

[00:20:57]
can physically work and then they use
email or something like that?

[00:21:04]
Everything that you just said happened.

[00:21:06]
Okay.

[00:21:07]
All right.

[00:21:09]
It’s more or less up to the engineer to
figure out how to take it from an idea.

[00:21:14]
Right.

[00:21:14]
So we have aluminum
and an ally called 60 61.

[00:21:18]
It’s the most common,
but we’ll make other allies for people.

[00:21:25]
Okay.

[00:21:26]
And one thing we haven’t talked much about
is the custom materials aspect of it.

[00:21:32]
This is becoming increasingly common where
someone will call us up and say, hey,

[00:21:35]
can you make this grade of magnesium
for us into a 3D printing?

[00:21:40]
Wow.

[00:21:40]
And we’ve shipped these
all over the world.

[00:21:43]
We’ve done it for national labs.

[00:21:45]
We’ve done it for the
NASA Jet Propulsion Lab.

[00:21:48]
That one was kind of cool because they

[00:21:49]
couldn’t tell us exactly what it was,
but they promised it wasn’t harmful.

[00:21:56]
Money’s green.

[00:21:58]
What’s running on the printer behind us
here is a custom iron for a University.

[00:22:03]
Oh, wow.
Iron.

[00:22:05]
Yeah.
All right.

[00:22:07]
So I don’t know much about the actual
mechanics of a 3D printer.

[00:22:11]
No, you get XYZ.

[00:22:15]
There must be some type
of a melting filament in there.

[00:22:18]
It’s a hot glue gun on a robot.

[00:22:20]
So can they adjust the temperature?
Yes.

[00:22:22]
So I imagine for each school of different

[00:22:24]
material, they have to adjust
the temperature differently a little bit.

[00:22:26]
Most of ours run in roughly the same.

[00:22:28]
Only you’re only melting
the plastic that holds it together.

[00:22:32]
All right.

[00:22:33]
It isn’t dependent upon whatever
the composites got you.

[00:22:37]
Okay.

[00:22:37]
Is there a certain percentage
of binder versus metal?

[00:22:40]
Yes.
Okay.

[00:22:41]
Right.
And that’s very specific to our recipe.

[00:22:44]
And that’s part of the challenge over
the past few years, developing

[00:22:48]
a polymer recipe that was strong enough
to hold the shape of the filament,

[00:22:52]
but have enough metal in it that will
center into a good quality object.

[00:22:58]
So it’s been a back and forth.

[00:23:00]
Okay.

[00:23:01]
Everything is a compromise.

[00:23:03]
But you got to do best.

[00:23:04]
But over time, right.

[00:23:05]
I’ve gotten better with polymers
and that kind of thing.

[00:23:09]
So I’d improve the polymer.

[00:23:10]
We’d have more metallin
and get more brittle.

[00:23:13]
All right.

[00:23:14]
So we’re at the sweet spot right now.
All right.

[00:23:17]
We can make
very strong filament with a high enough

[00:23:22]
Loading, but it’s very effective
in the centering process.

[00:23:25]
Nice. I guess I’m just guessing here,
but the metal must have to be pretty fine

[00:23:31]
within that filament,
so it doesn’t clog up anything, right?

[00:23:34]
Yeah.
It’s a powder.

[00:23:35]
Okay.

[00:23:35]
It’s powdered metal and the underlying
science for the whole concept.

[00:23:40]
Everything that we talk about

[00:23:41]
and everything we do is
called powder metallurgy.

[00:23:43]
Okay.
And that in itself is a rapidly growing

[00:23:47]
industry, even outside
of additive manufacturing.

[00:23:50]
Oh, really?
Yeah.

[00:23:51]
All right.

[00:23:52]
Metallurgy is also very old.
Okay.

[00:23:55]
So precious metal clay is very similar

[00:23:58]
to what we’re doing, just as Brad
was talking about clay earlier.

[00:24:01]
Okay.
That’s been around forever.

[00:24:03]
Precious metal.

[00:24:05]
Precious metal plate is played with metal
in it similar to our filaments.

[00:24:09]
You’re doing the same thing.

[00:24:10]
You’re forming it into a shape,
and then you’re doing heat process to it.

[00:24:17]
Now, this is where my knowledge
of the stuff, right?

[00:24:20]
It’s the same.
Right.

[00:24:21]
You’re doing a heat processing
the precious metal clay.

[00:24:25]
You can form it like clay,
but it’s silver.

[00:24:28]
And when you’re done,

[00:24:29]
you’ll hit it with a torch or heat
it up and it Burns off the binder.

[00:24:32]
And all you’re left with is the silver.

[00:24:34]
So the clay actually Burns away.

[00:24:36]
Yeah, it’s not clay.

[00:24:38]
It’s actually rice flour.

[00:24:41]
It’s that simple.
All right.

[00:24:43]
So it’s powdered metal
mixed with rice flour.

[00:24:45]
And people make these fantastic
jewelry objects and things like that.

[00:24:49]
Really? And then are they
forming by hand? Essentially.

[00:24:51]
Yeah.
You can form it by hand.

[00:24:53]
You can extrude it.

[00:24:53]
Roll it, whatever you think
of it just plain of Playdoh.

[00:24:57]
Essentially, any shape you can make
it into because it’s a metal object.

[00:25:01]
And this is very much an extension.

[00:25:03]
Any way that you can get our material

[00:25:05]
into a shape, it will feed
that metal object at the end.

[00:25:09]
That’s pretty cool.

[00:25:10]
Not just 3D printers, but you can get
these 3D pens and things like that.

[00:25:15]
So you can freehand metal,
which is pretty unique.

[00:25:19]
All right.
And you can form it with a soldering iron.

[00:25:24]
And however, you can create a shape
and make it into the metal object.

[00:25:28]
All right.

[00:25:29]
You can take little pieces of this and put
it in an injection molding machine.

[00:25:33]
All right.

[00:25:35]
And create your metal object that way.

[00:25:37]
Got you just like you would with plastic.

[00:25:42]
So we’re putting it into filament
form to enable 3D printing.

[00:25:46]
But this material,
it doesn’t matter how you form it.

[00:25:50]
All right.

[00:25:52]
You’re going to get it
into a shape somehow.

[00:25:54]
And then you’re going to do the heat

[00:25:56]
process where you do bind
and sensors got you.

[00:25:59]
We’re gathering momentum on injecting it
with a plastic injection molding machine.

[00:26:05]
And I was right about when cold and hit,
that kind of knocked that project off.

[00:26:09]
I keep hearing that phrase.

[00:26:14]
It just changes the world a little bit.

[00:26:16]
Yeah.

[00:26:18]
One of our project.

[00:26:19]
On that lost a family member.

[00:26:23]
Wow.
All right.

[00:26:24]
Sorry about that.

[00:26:25]
So tell me, just for people that don’t

[00:26:27]
know, necessarily 3D printer,
we have going back here.

[00:26:31]
If I’m going to do it yourself or what do

[00:26:33]
I have to throw at money wise to get
started into something like this.

[00:26:36]
The absolute least costly.

[00:26:39]
You can buy this base machine for $650.

[00:26:44]
All right.

[00:26:45]
If you want it completely low ball.

[00:26:47]
This is the ender five by Creality.

[00:26:49]
And this is the one we
recommend for users.

[00:26:51]
You go down to the Creality three,

[00:26:53]
and you can be printing
metal parts for about $350.

[00:26:57]
Really?
Okay.

[00:26:59]
All right.

[00:27:01]
This is another challenge we’ve had when

[00:27:03]
we say 3D metal printing,
everyone thinks that it has something

[00:27:06]
that we’ve invented a printer
or something like that.

[00:27:08]
Oh, sure.

[00:27:09]
So this is something that we
are very explicit about.

[00:27:13]
It isn’t about the printer.
Yeah.

[00:27:15]
We’re about the materials.

[00:27:16]
The printing technology is its own thing,
and it’s improving over time.

[00:27:21]
And as that technology improves, it just
kind of brings our material with it.

[00:27:25]
Got you.
So the printer is not the important part.

[00:27:29]
So it’s interesting you say that because
when Tricia first mentioned what she was

[00:27:32]
doing, I was trying to picture I was just
picturing this oxyustylene printer thing.

[00:27:39]
How does that work?
Okay.

[00:27:41]
So it’s interesting that you say that.
That’s cool.

[00:27:44]
Right.
It’s simplicity.

[00:27:46]
This is a very kind of gentle
form of metal 3D printing.

[00:27:51]
There are other technologies that exist
that have beds of metal powder and lasers

[00:27:55]
or kind of what you imagine probably
exists also the metal printing technology.

[00:28:01]
So 3D printing and additive
manufacturing are synonymous.

[00:28:05]
There are lots of different technologies

[00:28:06]
that fall under that umbrella,
including with metal 3D printing.

[00:28:11]
This is the most accessible

[00:28:15]
because you’re working with the
equipment that you already know.

[00:28:18]
You’re using a standard tabletop kiln
to do that heat process.

[00:28:24]
So you’re not getting into any
kind of safety danger zones.

[00:28:29]
Got you no crazy sparks
flying or anything.

[00:28:31]
And you have control over
every part of the process.

[00:28:34]
Okay.
Right.

[00:28:36]
And we’re the only option that’s under
about $250,000 quarter million dollars.

[00:28:44]
Yeah.
Wow.

[00:28:45]
Okay.

[00:28:46]
We’re actually working
on flushing it out a little bit.

[00:28:49]
So we cover some more bases
in between where we are and the 200.

[00:28:53]
Yeah.

[00:28:53]
You’re just talking about a few hundred
Bucks, less than a grand, whatever.

[00:28:56]
And this brings up one of our challenges

[00:28:59]
to marketing is the cost is so low
that managers find it suspicious.

[00:29:06]
The value is in the price, right.

[00:29:09]
$180,000.

[00:29:11]
Right.

[00:29:13]
I said our last trade show.

[00:29:15]
Somebody asked what’s that cost?

[00:29:17]
And I said $300.

[00:29:19]
He looked puzzled and said 300 what?

[00:29:24]
He was expecting $300,000.

[00:29:27]
And we had another group come by.

[00:29:31]
So this was

[00:29:35]
a professor at Harvard,
and they were pricing out,

[00:29:38]
putting in a 3D metal printing solution
and everything that they came up with.

[00:29:43]
None of it was under $250,000.

[00:29:45]
And then there was us at more
like the $10,000 range.

[00:29:50]
And we got to try to spend that much.

[00:29:52]
And he said, how can we get this up more
in the 50,000 $60,000 range so that I can

[00:29:58]
get my managers to buy this,
buy more of them.

[00:30:03]
Right.

[00:30:03]
So that person is just helping
us flush out larger packages.

[00:30:06]
Got you.
All right.

[00:30:08]
That we’ll make available.
What an interesting problem.

[00:30:10]
Yes.
Can you make this more expensive?

[00:30:12]
It’s probably not something that any
business owner typically hears.

[00:30:15]
They hear.
Right.

[00:30:17]
That’s funny.

[00:30:18]
So when it comes to something like this,
do you typically see businesses having

[00:30:26]
rows of these things or
they just have one or two.

[00:30:29]
That is starting to become the case.
Okay.

[00:30:32]
That’s called a print farm.
Awesome.

[00:30:36]
When you’ve got a row of this style of 3D
printers, SEM or FFF,

[00:30:41]
just fuse deposition, modeling
or fuel filament fabrication.

[00:30:44]
Wow.
Okay.

[00:30:45]
So some people also call 3D printing

[00:30:50]
two, three, four fabrications.

[00:30:53]
Just making a background.
Yeah.

[00:30:55]
It’s a brand new technology.

[00:30:57]
So we get to name everything.

[00:30:59]
Got it.

[00:31:00]
And that’s what people are coming up with.

[00:31:02]
Complicated names.

[00:31:04]
But at any rate, yes,

[00:31:05]
you can have multiples of this style
of 3D printer and just print parts out.

[00:31:12]
This style of 3D printing isn’t going
to give you a production level.

[00:31:17]
Okay.
Someday.

[00:31:20]
Sure, it will.
So people can accommodate for that.

[00:31:23]
But it’s such a low cost solution.

[00:31:25]
So they make up for that by just having
many of them going at the same time.

[00:31:28]
Got it.

[00:31:30]
I guess, just to clarify, they’re not
printing out necessarily usable gears.

[00:31:37]
Well, let’s talk aboutwhere this fits.

[00:31:41]
Well.
So the final part, because we’re starting

[00:31:43]
with metal powder,
these little balls and the edges

[00:31:46]
of the balls get fused together
in that sensoring process.

[00:31:49]
There is some space in there.

[00:31:51]
So it’s not solid metal.

[00:31:52]
When you’re done, it’s very close to solid

[00:31:54]
metal, but we’ll have the same
properties as the metal that it is.

[00:32:02]
It just isn’t going to be south.

[00:32:04]
Got you 100%.

[00:32:05]
So not as strong as some chunk
of aluminum that was CNC machine, right.

[00:32:10]
Or something like that.
So you’re not going to use this to make

[00:32:13]
parts that are going to be
structural in nature.

[00:32:16]
They’re going to have to take a lot
of weights and things like that.

[00:32:19]
Okay.

[00:32:20]
But they’re going to be awesome at acting
as filters and pieces on the outside.

[00:32:29]
And you can name so many more than you.
Right.

[00:32:32]
Well, I’ll back up a little bit, actually.

[00:32:35]
So one of the other challenges is when
we tell people you can 3D print metal.

[00:32:39]
Their first thought is all
print a trailer hitch.

[00:32:43]
Okay.
So part of what Tricia and I are on now is

[00:32:47]
more like an education tour where we’re
telling people don’t think of it that way.

[00:32:53]
All those parts,
like all the parts in your car,

[00:32:56]
are not only designed to solve
whatever problem it is for the car.

[00:32:59]
They are also designed
to be manufactured on cats.

[00:33:04]
So we’re asking people to back
up a little bit and rethink it.

[00:33:08]
Okay.

[00:33:08]
So if you take a little bit different
approach to how the parts are made to make

[00:33:12]
them much less complex,
you can use far less material,

[00:33:18]
those kind of things.

[00:33:19]
And there’s a new technology coming along.

[00:33:26]
Right.
Generative design and topological

[00:33:28]
topological optimization,
which I find very fun to say.

[00:33:33]
Sounds like something
that a business coaches say.

[00:33:35]
Topological optimization take my money.
Right.

[00:33:39]
So if you picture a cab program, normally,

[00:33:41]
you would draw boxes,
draw holes and things like that.

[00:33:45]
And this is coming from the top.

[00:33:47]
The leaders in this technology is

[00:33:49]
Autodesk, as in AutoCAD,
they own this segment,

[00:33:56]
but in generative design, instead, you
tell it you need support for £100 here.

[00:34:02]
You need support for £50.

[00:34:04]
Here, torsion on it from this angle,
go, and it will grow.

[00:34:09]
It like a tree.

[00:34:11]
And the parts come out
with these really unique shapes.

[00:34:14]
All right.
You’ll start to see them.

[00:34:15]
Now that I’ve mentioned it,

[00:34:16]
they’re mechanical parts with a very
organic look to them, really.

[00:34:20]
But they’re absolutely
perfect for our technology.

[00:34:23]
All right.

[00:34:23]
So this is where we’re
trying to steer people.

[00:34:25]
Got it.

[00:34:26]
Get away from replacing the milling
concept, rethink it.

[00:34:31]
Okay.
Interesting.

[00:34:33]
So imagine I’m just trying to picture this

[00:34:35]
in the case of a trailer hitch,
let’s say they’re making it thicker.

[00:34:40]
Imagine, in the front and the rear than
the sides or something where the ball

[00:34:46]
actually goes around the ball
and has to be tougher.

[00:34:49]
Where the bolts go through onto

[00:34:51]
the trailer has to be thicker
or something like that.

[00:34:54]
I have pictures that I’ll share with you.

[00:34:57]
Maybe you can post them during the video.

[00:35:02]
And is the program itself is
coming up with these shapes?

[00:35:05]
It is.

[00:35:06]
So there’s not an engineer that’s
going through and designing it.

[00:35:09]
I’m just saying,

[00:35:10]
this is what we need from this part
and the computer program pumps out.

[00:35:14]
This is your result.
Exactly.

[00:35:16]
And that’s the other really interesting

[00:35:17]
thing about the technology is it’s
taking the skill out of the engineering.

[00:35:21]
It’s a technician that’s entering data,

[00:35:23]
saying this is
the properties that we need.

[00:35:26]
The person operating the computer doesn’t

[00:35:29]
need to understand stress
forces and metallurgy.

[00:35:32]
And that kind of thing that’s
kind of scary to hear.

[00:35:35]
Because every time I watch Terminator two,
I think they don’t have engineers.

[00:35:39]
That’s kind of how we take that away.

[00:35:42]
Oh, boy.

[00:35:43]
The 2029, whatever it is,
doesn’t matter, right?

[00:35:47]
That’s interesting.

[00:35:48]
That’s kind of cool.

[00:35:50]
Yeah.

[00:35:51]
It’s incredibly powerful.

[00:35:52]
And it’s what our technology is the most
well suited for, in my opinion.

[00:35:59]
So time is our friend.

[00:36:00]
At this point,

[00:36:02]
as we move into the future, our technology
becomes more and more relevant.

[00:36:06]
Okay.
Very cool.

[00:36:08]
So you mentioned the cat stuff and that’s

[00:36:10]
one of the things that I always
thought like that’s the roadblock.

[00:36:16]
That’s the reason that I don’t see a lot

[00:36:18]
of people having stuff like
this in their house every day.

[00:36:20]
Back then, I can see in the future,
things will change

[00:36:25]
where other businesses get involved
in just providing CAD drawings.

[00:36:29]
But where I have let’s say,
I got one of these at my house.

[00:36:32]
I want to make a part.

[00:36:34]
I got to scan it.

[00:36:35]
I got to get the file.

[00:36:37]
I have to have the program
modify the file to fit whatever and all

[00:36:41]
of the learning curve and all of the
understanding, stresses and mechanics.

[00:36:47]
That all goes away
with the generic design.

[00:36:49]
All right.
I mean, it doesn’t completely go away.

[00:36:51]
I mean, you want somebody that’s
competent operating machine, right.

[00:36:54]
But it massively deskills

[00:37:00]
manufacturing design.
Okay.

[00:37:02]
I picture something more
like a coffee machine.

[00:37:06]
Just slap the thing in there, push it.

[00:37:08]
I want a cup of coffee roll.

[00:37:10]
And then that piece of software will
generate the files that printer.

[00:37:14]
All right.
You hit print, and then you have your part

[00:37:16]
because I imagine AutoCAD is not
the cheapest thing in the world.

[00:37:19]
People aren’t going to be paying thousands
of dollars a year to print out a coffee

[00:37:23]
mug or whatever it is
they’re trying to print.

[00:37:25]
Yeah, but AutoCAD is
ahead of you on this one.

[00:37:26]
Also, they have a more consumer oriented
product called Fusion 360,

[00:37:31]
and this goes actually all the way
up into massive manufacturing.

[00:37:35]
Okay.

[00:37:36]
But they have student versions
of it that are very affordable.

[00:37:40]
Really.
Okay.

[00:37:41]
Yeah.
That’s super cool.

[00:37:43]
So for $30 a month,

[00:37:44]
you can run some of the most expensive,
most elaborate software in existing.

[00:37:49]
Wow.
All right.

[00:37:50]
Very cool.
I’m sorry.

[00:37:52]
Yeah.

[00:37:52]
You James, today at home with your 3D
printer, you wouldn’t have a scanner.

[00:37:58]
First of all, because those are
pretty expensive for a home user.

[00:38:02]
But there are websites with millions
of models already made.

[00:38:06]
Okay.

[00:38:07]
Those are free.

[00:38:09]
And there are other softwares that allow
you to modify those models that are free.

[00:38:15]
All right.

[00:38:16]
And the software that you need to tell the
3D printer what to do also can be free.

[00:38:22]
So you’re getting all of this
put together on the Internet

[00:38:27]
to tell you a trigger what to do.

[00:38:29]
You don’t have to know

[00:38:31]
everything going in, and you’re also
not going to be able to scan your part.

[00:38:34]
There are companies, certainly, who can.

[00:38:36]
Okay.

[00:38:37]
But a home user person is not
really going to be scanning part.

[00:38:42]
Got it.
Okay.

[00:38:44]
I always thought, man,
they could put something on their phone or

[00:38:47]
just throw it up in the air
and take pictures of it, right?

[00:38:51]
Yeah.
There’s a technology kind of like that.

[00:38:53]
It’s called photogrammetry,

[00:38:55]
and you take hundreds of photos with your
phone and assemble it into a 3D model.

[00:38:59]
All right.
Kind of clunky.

[00:39:01]
Sure.
Give it a couple of years.

[00:39:02]
You’re okay?
Just progress.

[00:39:04]
Progress.
Yeah.

[00:39:05]
Now I get an old cars,
and I always think of trim pieces

[00:39:08]
and stuff like that they really
don’t support any weight.

[00:39:11]
But something like this would be perfect
for that, because you can’t find the part.

[00:39:15]
Maybe you have one, but you need two
on each side or something like that.

[00:39:19]
Yeah.
That application is kind of a no brainer.

[00:39:21]
Okay.
And how about a custom shifter now?

[00:39:23]
Absolutely.
Yeah.

[00:39:25]
Totally.
I got a baseball on one.

[00:39:28]
Thank you.
I love manual transmission.

[00:39:30]
That’s super cool.
Yeah.

[00:39:31]
You can do all kinds of crazy stuff.
All right.

[00:39:34]
Interesting.

[00:39:35]
Tell me when people imagine people buy

[00:39:39]
this from you and they
get kind of curious.

[00:39:42]
You’re probably spending a lot of time

[00:39:44]
on tech support or it’s more just
hold my hand support kind of thing.

[00:39:49]
How do you stop that or prevent
that from becoming an issue?

[00:39:52]
And more of a time suck for someone

[00:39:55]
that maybe bought a school
or something like that.

[00:39:57]
We do have a user form.

[00:39:59]
Okay.

[00:40:02]
That’s one tool that we
use to help people.

[00:40:04]
And we have some users who really
communicate with each other quite a bit,

[00:40:09]
working on their projects
and trying out new things.

[00:40:12]
All right.

[00:40:13]
But also, we have a very strong philosophy
of making sure that you’re successful.

[00:40:18]
All right.
So we really are going to do what it takes

[00:40:20]
to make sure that you’re
successfully printing.

[00:40:23]
Okay.

[00:40:25]
And the other thing we’ve learned is
that people’s questions start to more

[00:40:30]
and more fall into very
recognizable categories.

[00:40:34]
We just get better
at answering the questions.

[00:40:36]
Got it.

[00:40:37]
So we’re not completely scaling
the whole concept of tech support.

[00:40:42]
Okay.
Something I want to ask you about warranty

[00:40:45]
stuff, and I think you
more or less answered it.

[00:40:46]
Does anybody print out something like,

[00:40:48]
hey, I printed this engine block
not surviving.

[00:40:52]
Well, we would tell you not
to print an engine block.

[00:40:58]
Right.

[00:40:59]
We guarantee that you’re going to be
able to print with the material

[00:41:03]
from there.

[00:41:04]
The things that you make really are
going to be your responsibility.

[00:41:10]
Got you.

[00:41:12]
You mentioned centering.
I think that’s what we call it.

[00:41:14]
Right.
So centering, that machine or oven.

[00:41:18]
Is that also affordable
for a typical home user?

[00:41:21]
Yes.
Yeah.

[00:41:22]
We sell those on our website also.

[00:41:28]
Okay.
Another question.

[00:41:30]
And a lot of people already have these

[00:41:31]
people that are into making
jewelry and glass.

[00:41:35]
Okay.
Or even people that do ceramics at home.

[00:41:38]
It’s the same equipment.
All right.

[00:41:40]
Oh, my gosh.
From art class.

[00:41:42]
I’m trying to think,
how hot does that thing get

[00:41:44]
as many hundreds of degrees,
but I don’t remember how many.

[00:41:47]
Right for ours.

[00:41:49]
It depends on the material.

[00:41:51]
So bronze goes to about
1700 Fahrenheit 1700.

[00:41:57]
That’s pretty bad.
Yeah.

[00:41:58]
Okay.

[00:41:59]
But in the realm of kiln,
that’s relatively low.

[00:42:01]
Yeah.
Okay.

[00:42:02]
So on the higher end,

[00:42:03]
when you’re dealing with our stainless
Steels, you need to hit about 2350.

[00:42:11]
We have examples.

[00:42:13]
There’s one sitting right there.
Okay.

[00:42:16]
That’s one.
But I’ll have you take some pictures

[00:42:21]
and they can run that off of 110.

[00:42:23]
And it gets that hot.
Wow.

[00:42:25]
It’s just a little box that gets hot.
Okay.

[00:42:28]
It isn’t huge, high tech
or anything like that.

[00:42:30]
The toaster from hell.

[00:42:32]
Okay.

[00:42:33]
It’s that hot if you put.

[00:42:35]
I mentioned plastic just vaporizing.
Yeah.

[00:42:37]
Okay.

[00:42:39]
All right. And can they use those indoors?
Yeah.

[00:42:41]
Okay.

[00:42:42]
Then I have to vent it
or something like that.

[00:42:44]
We recommend that people vent it,

[00:42:45]
but you don’t need, like,
a whole ventilation system.

[00:42:47]
It can be good bathroom fan type thing.
Got you.

[00:42:51]
All right.
It doesn’t need to be large in industrial.

[00:42:55]
Everything about what we’re doing is
to make it very simple and accessible.

[00:42:58]
And this applies great for the home users.

[00:43:02]
But also, we’re finding that people

[00:43:05]
in science and in the high end
laboratories like it for exactly the same

[00:43:08]
reason because they can pick
it up and add their own.

[00:43:11]
Sophistication to it.

[00:43:12]
Yeah,
that’s cool. What are some of the coolest

[00:43:16]
things that you’ve seen
people make with these ones?

[00:43:21]
We don’t know.
Okay.

[00:43:23]
Seriously.

[00:43:26]
Very little of what’s being
made with our material.

[00:43:29]
We don’t know about it.
All right.

[00:43:31]
The things that we do know
we can’t talk about got you.

[00:43:34]
So someone that lock you some stunk word
called you up and just said, thanks.

[00:43:37]
That’s all I got.
Yeah.

[00:43:39]
One of the coolest responses,

[00:43:41]
like when I’m asking probing questions,
I’m trying to help a user succeed.

[00:43:46]
The coolest response I’ve ever gotten is

[00:43:49]
asking me questions,
trying to probe out the problem.

[00:43:52]
The coolest answer has been so far has

[00:43:54]
been I can’t answer that due
to the national security concerns.

[00:44:00]
Okay.

[00:44:03]
One of my favorites is a fellow
who works with saxophone.

[00:44:08]
Okay, because I played saxophone
in high school a million years ago.

[00:44:11]
All right,

[00:44:13]
so this one’s a little near and dear,
but he’s making pieces out of our copper

[00:44:17]
materials for saxophone
to repair them together.

[00:44:20]
Or he’s just building his own.

[00:44:25]
Show me pictures of these.

[00:44:27]
And the pieces are beautiful.

[00:44:28]
Nice.

[00:44:30]
He hasn’t yet sent me a recording
playing with these installed.

[00:44:34]
All right.
But that’s one of my favorite ones.

[00:44:36]
Because that’s pretty clever.

[00:44:37]
I’m a musician.

[00:44:39]
You have some samples here.

[00:44:46]
Is that what I’m looking at there?

[00:44:47]
Yeah, but let’s talk about this one.

[00:44:49]
This is a 3D printed moon,
but it’s made out of moon dust.

[00:44:54]
Simulant filament.
Wow.

[00:44:57]
Which is called the Salt.

[00:45:00]
A fake moon, right?

[00:45:01]
Yes.

[00:45:05]
That’s a project that people are working

[00:45:07]
on methods of fabricating
things on the moon.

[00:45:11]
So obviously, you need
to work with what’s there.

[00:45:14]
Look at this.
And you got spiral.

[00:45:17]
This is clay.
So clay is inside the polymer, correct.

[00:45:21]
And that was Super Light.

[00:45:24]
Who designs this in CAD?

[00:45:26]
I did, actually, that’s just a really
simple program called Tinker CAD.

[00:45:30]
Okay.

[00:45:30]
It’s another Autodesk product,
but it’s super easy to use.

[00:45:33]
Wow.

[00:45:34]
I see the little turbo
or supercharger turbine.

[00:45:38]
There turbine.

[00:45:39]
Okay. Would this be strong
enough to actually use?

[00:45:43]
Not presently.
No.

[00:45:44]
Okay.
Is that because of heat or is that

[00:45:48]
actually all the fundamentals are there?
We just need someone to develop it

[00:45:53]
and refine the process
to the point where it works.

[00:45:56]
Got you.
Okay.

[00:45:57]
Interesting.

[00:46:04]
Okay.
That’s interesting.

[00:46:07]
This is kind of a fun one.

[00:46:09]
This is trophies.

[00:46:10]
So that’s pure copper.

[00:46:12]
And there were trophies given
out by the three Dprinting.

[00:46:16]
Com awards.

[00:46:18]
So those were given to, like,

[00:46:21]
the very highest end printers
that I was talking about.

[00:46:23]
The laser centering printer
cost a million dollars.

[00:46:26]
Okay.

[00:46:27]
I have CEOs of those companies
holding one of my trophies.

[00:46:33]
What you paid for your plane ticket.

[00:46:35]
You can do this.

[00:46:38]
Incredible.
I got this one.

[00:46:40]
That’s two different materials.

[00:46:42]
It’s tungsten on the bottom
and copper on the top.

[00:46:45]
Wow.
Look at that.

[00:46:48]
This is my favorite print.

[00:46:50]
This is 316 L. Is it colossus, right?

[00:46:53]
Yeah.

[00:46:55]
316 L.

[00:47:00]
That is cool.

[00:47:03]
I didn’t really just be that smooth.
Yes.

[00:47:06]
So that had a lot of Polish work onto it.

[00:47:10]
When the pieces are finished

[00:47:12]
with the process, they cut this more rough
looking exterior.

[00:47:17]
Okay.

[00:47:17]
So it takes a bit of a little grease
to get from that to this nice, shiny.

[00:47:21]
All right.

[00:47:23]
Interesting.

[00:47:28]
Like I said, we ask people to stop and
just sort of rethink what they’re doing.

[00:47:33]
So think of things
that you can’t fabricate.

[00:47:36]
Holy cow.

[00:47:37]
So that’s chain male made
out of solid copper.

[00:47:43]
Wow.
And that’s one 3D print that altogether.

[00:47:48]
So it’d be extraordinarily difficult
to fabricate in any other way.

[00:47:52]
But it’s very easy to 3D print.
Wow.

[00:47:54]
That’s a whole new world.

[00:47:56]
Then it is interesting.

[00:47:57]
I’ll do that.

[00:48:05]
The Bolt is universally
a concern either way.

[00:48:10]
Yeah, you could.
The nut is only left handed.

[00:48:12]
Got you.

[00:48:13]
But the same Bolt would
take a right handed.

[00:48:16]
Oh, my gosh.

[00:48:17]
I just did work on a 40 Plymouth,
and they use their side.

[00:48:21]
They had one side right hand thread

[00:48:22]
to the wheel sides,
the other left hand thread right.

[00:48:25]
There’s a lot of swearing
that happened before.

[00:48:27]
I figured that out.

[00:48:29]
This would have been much better.

[00:48:32]
Do the opposite of what
you think you should do.

[00:48:33]
Nobody gets that right.
I’ll be back together.

[00:48:36]
Oh, my gosh.
My brain is going going on here?

[00:48:40]
I think I can see what’s
supposed to happen.

[00:48:42]
Here

[00:48:49]
you go.
Wow.

[00:48:50]
That’s pretty cool.

[00:48:53]
Hollow or almost hollow.

[00:48:55]
That’s crazy.

[00:48:57]
So who designed that?

[00:48:59]
One of our users?

[00:49:00]
Okay,

[00:49:02]
I just unscrewed it just
to make myself second.

[00:49:06]
Oh, my gosh.

[00:49:07]
I think he may have gotten it.

[00:49:08]
There’s a website called Singiverse,
and it’s a place where people share models

[00:49:13]
so you can go out there and search
literally millions of 3D models.

[00:49:19]
That’s probably wherethis came from.

[00:49:22]
That was a ceramic

[00:49:25]
that is so surreal that you have
so many different materials.

[00:49:29]
That is bizarre.

[00:49:30]
And the workflow on the manufacturing
site is the same.

[00:49:33]
I mean, they’re all the same thing.

[00:49:35]
It isn’t important to us
that there are different material.

[00:49:38]
Right.
Interesting.

[00:49:40]
That’s pretty clever.

[00:49:41]
Where can people find you online?

[00:49:44]
thevirtualfoundry.com.

[00:49:46]
thevirtualfoundry.com.

[00:49:47]
Awesome.
That’s easy enough.

[00:49:49]
And they can reach out at info@thevirtualfoundry.com.
Cool.

[00:49:54]
Well, thank you so much.

[00:49:56]
Tricia, Brad,

[00:49:57]
thank you so much for being on the show.
This is cool.

[00:49:59]
Yeah.
Thanks for having us.

[00:50:00]
We think it’s pretty cool.

[00:50:01]
We’re always happy
to tell others about it.

[00:50:03]
I was impressed when I was
talking to you before.

[00:50:05]
I’m even more impressed.

[00:50:06]
Now I have no idea that
there’s as much going on.

[00:50:09]
That’s cool.

[00:50:10]
So when I come here in a couple of years,
where do you expect things to be?

[00:50:17]
Good question.
Yeah.

[00:50:19]
We don’t even know how to answer that.

[00:50:22]
The industry that we’re in changes so
quickly and the business changes quickly,

[00:50:28]
so it’s just going to be
fantastic to see what happens.

[00:50:31]
We’re also what Trisha describes
us as industry agnostic.

[00:50:34]
So we’re getting traction and everything

[00:50:38]
from aerospace to autos
to whatever you think of.

[00:50:42]
So my expectation is maybe
we start growing in one of those

[00:50:46]
directions or spin off something
specific for one of those particular.

[00:50:50]
All right.

[00:50:51]
But presently it’s the same
technology for every user got you.

[00:50:55]
And it works for everyone
in the same way for the same reason.

[00:50:58]
That’s cool.
I like it all kinds of fun.

[00:51:01]
You heard it here, right.
Cool.

[00:51:04]
This has been

[00:51:04]
Authentic Business Adventures,
the business program that brings you

[00:51:07]
the struggles stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land.

[00:51:11]
Past episodes, of course,
can be found morning, noon and night.

[00:51:14]
The podcast link found
at drawincustomer.com.

[00:51:17]
We’re underwritten locally
by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:51:19]
If you’re listening to this on the web or

[00:51:21]
watching it, of course,
please subscribe, share, comment

[00:51:25]
and of course, visit remind me
your website, thevirtualfoundry.com

[00:51:29]
thevirtualfoundry.com

[00:51:31]
This is amazing.

[00:51:32]
Yeah, I’m excited.

[00:51:33]
I keep thinking, like,
what should we build?

[00:51:36]
It’s time to take over the world.

[00:51:38]
My name is James Kademan,

[00:51:40]
and Authentic Business Adventures is
brought to you by Calls on Call,

[00:51:43]
offering call answering and receptionist
services for service businesses across

[00:51:48]
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[00:51:51]
As well as,

[00:51:53]
Draw In Customers Business Coaching, coaching services for

[00:51:55]
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on the Web at drawincustomer.com.

[00:51:59]
And, of course, The Bold business Book,

[00:52:01]
a book for the entrepreneur in all of us
available wherever fine books are sold.

[00:52:05]
We’d like to thank you, our wonderful
listeners as well as our guests,

[00:52:08]
we have Tricia, the President of Virtual
Foundry, as well as Brad, the founder.

[00:52:12]
Visit them at thevirtualfoundry.com.

[00:52:15]
Thank you guys for being on the show.
This is super cool.

[00:52:17]
Yeah.
Thanks for having me.

[00:52:18]
I’m impressed.

[00:52:19]
People got to go out there
and build some stuff, right.

[00:52:22]
Makes this country great.
Thank you for listening.

[00:52:24]
We’ll see you next week.
I want you to stay awesome.

[00:52:26]
If you do nothing else,
enjoy your business.