News David vs Goliath: Desktop SLS Kickstarter Ends with Acquisition

[Admin]

Formlabs acquires startup Micronics and its Kickstarter SLS printer.

David vs Goliath: Desktop SLS Kickstarter Ends with Acquisition : Read more

 

[wwenze1]

I'm willing to bet that they bought them out to kill the product off.

 

[nightbird321]

Anakin did bring balance to the force. At the end, there were two Sith and two Jedi.

 

[NinoPino]

@ the author, in a point of the article you have written "Chen" instead of "Chan".

 

[NinoPino]

"...Chan will lead the development of Formlabs next generation printers"
I have some doubts that somebody just arrived without experience can lead the development of next generation printers in a company like that.

 

[SparklyIO]

Maybe the two should have (still could??) open source the software and hardware they were working on. They could continue to build in their spare time or someone else could pick up the mantle?

 

[Giroro]

" backers of the project will receive a $1,000 credit towards a current or future Formlabs printer. "

That is a hilarious slap in the face, considering Formlabs could offer them $5,000 off their SLS printer, and their products would still be priced so highly that is unlikely that even a single customer of the Kickstarter would/could redeem the discount.

Anyways, sounds like it's a great time for me to go develop my own SLS printer. Now it's proven it must not be that hard, and Formlabs will apparently give any random nobody a massive payout to stop the competition from reaching production.

 

[Giroro]

"...Chan will lead the development of Formlabs next generation printers"
I have some doubts that somebody just arrived without experience can lead the development of next generation printers in a company like that.

It doesn't matter if they can do the work, what really matters here is that they *stop* doing work.
Odds are this kids will either be on payroll exactly long enough to sign an ironclad Non-Compete agreement, or the company will just keep paying them off by bouncing them between cushy jobs until they become compliant, and lazy.
Either way, a paying a couple $150k/yr "design lead" paychecks for a decade is a lot cheaper than buying a company that could have easily been valued at $20-$50 Million the second they found even one major investor.

 

[NinoPino]

It doesn't matter if they can do the work, what really matters here is that they *stop* doing work.
Odds are this kids will either be on payroll exactly long enough to sign an ironclad Non-Compete agreement, or the company will just keep paying them off by bouncing them between cushy jobs until they become compliant, and lazy.
Either way, a paying a couple $150k/yr "design lead" paychecks for a decade is a lot cheaper than buying a company that could have easily been valued at $20-$50 Million the second they found even one major investor.

My doubts were on the fact itself, not on the reason of the "lead" role.