We have always moved with this approach of sharing and educating people with what they can unlock with 3D printing.
When people have a MakerBot, they have a different mindset from everybody else who grew up as a consumer. Instead of thinking, 'I need to go buy that,' they first think, 'Do I need to go buy that? I could just MakerBot that.'
Our intention is that people use MakerBots to have a positive impact on the world.
I still have the first bottle opener I made on my MakerBot. Things you fabricate are things you care more about. I think there will always be people who go and buy crap at the dollar store. But I think it is cool when people craft things themselves.
The people who are getting 3-D printers at home are pioneers, kind of like the people who bought Apple IIs in 1981. Adults are usually the last people to get it. The kids are like, 'Get out of my way, I want at this thing.' They immediately start getting creative.
Most people don't feel empowered to make CAD models. The MakerBot Digitizer solves that problem.
My personal mission has always been to empower people to be creative. But the Holy Grail of a tinkerer is to make something that makes something.
We wanted people to 3-D-print anything, not just more 3-D printers.
We started MakerBot in 2009 and made a conscious decision to educate people with the possibilities they could do with 3D printing and share with people what is possible.
What I like on Kickstarter is when I see real innovation and I see people building something new. It makes me sad when I see things that are just the same technology; you aren't passing the technology forward.
A lot of it is "how do you work with people". How do you get people to work with you and do wonderful things.
There was a tangible sense of potential as we packed them up. 'We're giving people 3-D printers that they can afford. What are they gonna make?
You can get really far by putting your ideas out there and letting other people build on them.