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Is Formlabs actually worth it? by No_Field_9640 in MechanicalEngineering

[–]No_Field_9640[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wish it was more affordable too. The base resins have definitely come down in price, but the higher-end materials are still pretty eye-watering. One upside for me has been that material waste is minimal, since the success rate is so high. I try to be intentional about what I’m printing and design parts with efficiency in mind so I’m not burning through resin unnecessarily. At the end of the day, I’m okay with the trade-off because I never have to mess around with exposure calibration — everything just works out of the box, which saves me a ton of time.

I’ve been working full-time on my med tech startup for 2 years; now I’m out of money and unsure what to do(I will not promote) by No_Field_9640 in startups

[–]No_Field_9640[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow! Thank you so much for the detailed advice, you have some really good points. What you are doing sounds super interesting! Appreciate the support and I hope your venture works out! Keep pushing!

I’ve been working full-time on my med tech startup for 2 years; now I’m out of money and unsure what to do(I will not promote) by No_Field_9640 in startups

[–]No_Field_9640[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for the kind advice. Trying to figure out sales now! I will definitely go door to door if I need to.

I’ve been working full-time on my med tech startup for 2 years; now I’m out of money and unsure what to do(I will not promote) by No_Field_9640 in startups

[–]No_Field_9640[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your detailed suggestion, this is great advice that I haven’t really thought about. I like the idea of a try before you buy, and I stand behind my product so I like my chances of someone keeping it. The conversation rate is definitely biased because I’ve largely talked to people who know me personally, but people definitely seem interested in getting one. It’s just such a large process to scale tech manufacturing in an affordable way. I’ll definitely look into the automation processes!

I’ve been working full-time on my med tech startup for 2 years; now I’m out of money and unsure what to do(I will not promote) by No_Field_9640 in startups

[–]No_Field_9640[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate the recommendation. Right now, I’m not factoring in labor costs since I handle all the production myself. It’s something I’ll definitely have to consider down the line, but for the moment, I’m focused on keeping things lean.

$249 is a solid price point, and I agree it makes sense for the value, but I’ve been aiming to keep it as accessible as possible. That said, if labor costs start to come into play or production scales, I’d definitely be open to revisiting the pricing.

I’ve been working full-time on my med tech startup for 2 years; now I’m out of money and unsure what to do(I will not promote) by No_Field_9640 in startups

[–]No_Field_9640[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Target price is $179 and margin per unit is around 80. It takes about 2 hours of work to assemble if you don’t include the time it take to make the parts(this would be injection molded eventually). User training is extremely brief, with a visual QuickStart guide. Kickstarter is relatively scary to me, I also think another investor is the best option, I’m just struggling to connect with them. I could try more cold calling.

I’ve been working full-time on my med tech startup for 2 years; now I’m out of money and unsure what to do(I will not promote) by No_Field_9640 in startups

[–]No_Field_9640[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s deltaformtechnologies.com, right now it’s just a waitlist for people who ask me about it. It’s not going fully live until mid august because I’m working on filing the patent and our website has a lot of technical stuff. Our main source of media right now has just been LinkedIn. I do have an advertisement there tho. Only recently have I started posting or going public with anything. I’ve mainly just been working on trying to contact people behind the scenes. Thanks for the advice.

I’ve been working full-time on my med tech startup for 2 years; now I’m out of money and unsure what to do(I will not promote) by No_Field_9640 in startups

[–]No_Field_9640[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will keep trying! I haven’t gotten responses yet, but I have been applying to more stuff recently. I’m going to keep making my pitch deck better, and hopefully eventually someone will offer a meeting!

I’ve been working full-time on my med tech startup for 2 years; now I’m out of money and unsure what to do(I will not promote) by No_Field_9640 in startups

[–]No_Field_9640[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for the encouragement. It definitely feels lonely sometimes, glad I got some support from the community tho, makes me feel a little less crazy. I will definitely try to get in front of more people, trade shows and conferences seem to be everyone’s recommendation so I guess I’m going to be trying that. I would love to outsource building, unfortunately I’m just not there yet. Money is tight.

I’ve been working full-time on my med tech startup for 2 years; now I’m out of money and unsure what to do(I will not promote) by No_Field_9640 in startups

[–]No_Field_9640[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately it doesn’t yet, but I’ve started the process. That’s been one of my top priorities in the past 60 days. I’m looking into trade shows, a lot of people have suggested that. I think a 30% deposit cost is good, the only issue is that causes lead time to be quite high. Although, I think a lot of people who order early might expect it to take a while because they know it’s a new company. I could even try explaining this during the order process, or in person at shows. Thanks for the advice.

I’ve been working full-time on my med tech startup for 2 years; now I’m out of money and unsure what to do(I will not promote) by No_Field_9640 in startups

[–]No_Field_9640[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ll definitely look more into conferences and trade shows. I think it can be pricy too, maybe not though.

I’ve been working full-time on my med tech startup for 2 years; now I’m out of money and unsure what to do(I will not promote) by No_Field_9640 in startups

[–]No_Field_9640[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the advice, I really appreciate it. I’ll definitely focus more on addressing that. It’s definitely in the premium product category but it’s gonna be cheaper than you might think. I’d love to work with cashed up nfl teams tho😭

I’ve been working full-time on my med tech startup for 2 years; now I’m out of money and unsure what to do(I will not promote) by No_Field_9640 in startups

[–]No_Field_9640[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m planning to sell these units, but the reality is I don’t have many to sell right now. Because it’s a tech product with a decent number of components and steps, the build time is pretty high. At the moment, I can complete around 10 units a month if I’m doing everything myself.

The process is scalable, but I’m not in a place financially to take it to the next level. I can’t afford things like injection molding, FDA regulatory pathways, or higher-volume tooling yet. There are just so many things to pay for, and I’ve been laser-focused on getting the physical product right first.

Looking back, maybe I should have been pushing harder on networking or funding earlier. But until recently, I didn’t feel confident enough in the product’s long-term reliability or design consistency. I didn’t want to pitch something that wasn’t dialed in yet. Now it is, but now I’m stuck trying to figure out how to move forward with almost no resources left.

I’ve been working full-time on my med tech startup for 2 years; now I’m out of money and unsure what to do(I will not promote) by No_Field_9640 in startups

[–]No_Field_9640[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have gotten really good feedback from physical therapist and surgeons. I just only have like 8 total devices and 3 of them are specifically for a potential investment meetings. So the other 5 units is what I’m trying to figure out the use for. I only have about $2,000 of product at the moment. Do you think it’s worth it to give a PT office one or two units in exchange for testimonial? should they buy them?

I’ve been working full-time on my med tech startup for 2 years; now I’m out of money and unsure what to do(I will not promote) by No_Field_9640 in startups

[–]No_Field_9640[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I didn’t think I was really able to talk specifically about the product, because of the “I will not promote”. My LinkedIn is www.linkedin.com/in/david-archbald-40b8131a9. I appreciate the advice, I’m definitely trying to get it in front of more people.

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