Does that apply to private companies? Glowforge isn’t publicly listed is it?
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In the US, there is a very strong surge in corporate paranoia (I just made that term up) and even small private corporations are in the game of trying to cover every legal base they can.
People seem to forget, Dan is not Glowforge. Dan does not get the final decisions at Glowforge. He has to answer to a Board of Directors. Maybe they allow him more decision-making power or whatever, but at the end of the day, the board is making the final rulings and decides on what info can be publicized.
Dan takes a lot of heat for that because he’s made himself available to it via this forum and social media.
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In the past he said the customers money was held separate from the investor money that funded the development. I expect now that they are shipping they will be spending it to fulfil the orders, i.e. buy the stock and and pay the manufacturer. That would be only right of course but may mean that if everybody were to claim a refund now, it might not all be there. To run a high volume production line you need a lot of stock.
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Oh boy, it wasn’t my intention to stir up that discussion! I was just saying that a man of science claiming exactly zero as a probability is a non-sequitur. 10^-6 maybe. We do live in a quantum universe after all. 
Zero concern I’ll buy!
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Believe me, I have been tempted many times to respond to negative posts. Every time I take into consideration how many others will do it without hesitation, and probably do it far better than I, I choose to remain silent. Actually, this carries over into other areas in the forum, as well. Not really into arguing about stuff…and some… many subjects are being prepared to feed France.
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Thank you Dan for being there (here) across this journey and enduring the abuse (some of it earned, most of it not).
Where you get the patience and stamina is beyond me.
Glowforge is a great machine.
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Best comment I’ve read this week, maybe ever - and I read the forum every day. #lurker
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Financing this inventory stock is relatively easy at this point and they don’t need to touch the pre-order money to front the full expense. There are several options they can use or use a combination.
Option A: They have investor funding and promised sales on the books. They take this proof to a bank if they need further financing and the bank sees that the likelihood of them getting paid back is high, so they approve lending. I worked for a provider to the Military and when you land a contract for a $20 Million project you HAVE to get financing - the Military does NOT do deposits or cash draws! They do, however pay lump sum within 30 days of delivery and often within 15 days.
Option B: If financing through a bank loan doesnt go through a company can approach a vendor with the same information along with a Letter of Intent in order to ease the vendor’s mind, and maybe get flexible terms.
Option C: Blanket Purchase Orders. A Godsend. One purchase order for the TOTAL of all parts/items, but broken down and parsed to specify smaller delivery quantities over certain timeframes. These work better for everybody involved. Vendors can see the volumes they should anticipate, the customer gets better pricing because of the total volume. It’s easier for the Vendor to supply regular shipments of known quantities and it’s easier for the customer to receive and manage that incoming inventory. Payment is also handled incrementally. Win Win Win for everyone.
Option D: Possibly, the investment funding is enough to handle fronting material costs until customers confirm their orders/addresses in order for their units to go into production.
Option E: Everybody’s got 30/45/60/90 day terms and it’s pretty much a practice across the business board to push those terms to the absolute limits. Smaller businesses may not do this practice but companies that deal with 10’s or hundreds of millions $$$ per year will push and fight terms at the drop of a hat, anything to delay even just a little and keep cash flow where it needs to be.
At the end of the day though, having the investment funding and the $27M in pre-orders can grease a lot of wheels and open doors for GF to get stuff done.
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So I was one of the people who asked if my money is at any risk, I don’t feel bad for asking it. As someone else stated I have no idea of their burn rate and cash flow, or their future profitability. I have husband a who after the first year of delays started hounding me and freaking out a little… allot. He left me alone for a year because I told him before the purchase that it would take a year. We are a family of 7 who recently went through a house fire "freak electrical accident obviously not the fault of glowforge in anyway but our circumstances affected how laid back we used to be about money, our savings is now painfully low and all we have left is the few thousand we set aside for medical emergency which seems to happen anytime my son gets sick. I was happy Dan answered my question so I could go back to my husband and show him the direct response to hopefully make him feel a little bit at ease, this has been a stressful time for my family so any questions I think will ease me or my husbands fears I’m going to ask even if it annoys some of you because to be honest you guys aren’t the ones I have to sleep next to at night and you aren’t the ones I disappoint when delays come up. So go ahead with the “just get a refund” if you don’t like my question. It won’t bug me at all if someone decides to say it to me, however it does bother me when it’s said to someone else who visibly gets their feelings hurt. I don’t like seeing other people hounded on. Honestly it makes me angry and I wont sit back if I feel like someone is being picked on even if it makes me a target.
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Everyone seems to be on edge right now. Delays tend to do that. You asked a fair question, whether you got exactly the answer you were hoping for. So sorry you’re family had to go through that. Hope you are able to hold on and then make some great stuff with your forge. My way of thinking is, if the company was getting stressed about money, then they would be churning out as fast as they can to remove the liability of the promised ability to give refunds. Seen plenty of other companies do this. Just my perception, but this (hopefully) last delay actually makes me feel more secure regarding the company. They seem very confident in the quality of what they are going to deliver even if t means waiting a little longer. If you get a chance have your husband browse the “Made on a Glowforge” category. It helps relieve my wife’s concerns 
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Honest question, I’m a simple man and $2,000 is a lot of money to me too!
Really, what puts me at ease (besides having a pre-release unit in my hands) is the venture capitalists involvement.
Besides our collective $27 million (or what ever it is) the venture capitalists bought in and cut a $9 million check at the beginning, and came back with a bigger one after the first delay. These guys don’t throw money around without due diligence, and their research goes miles deeper than mine.
Dan has assured us that operations (rent, paychecks, components etc.) are funded out of that, and our money is set aside. With his history (did you read his book?) I have no cause to doubt him at his word.
‘Freak electrical accident’… so unfortunate, sorry to hear that. Life is struggle enough without calamity like that! Luckily everyone in your family is OK.
Let me just say that this machine is everything I hoped it would be, and I am so glad I stuck it out.
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I opted for a hard cover “as a free gift” he offered but it was never received. One of the things I just never had a need to complain about because it was a freebie so there was no real loss, although I am sure they would have fixed it had I. Now I wish I had received it. Maybe if I read it I would have been less on edge, I’m thinking I will check it out on Amazon Thanks
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Absolutely. Email Rita at support and I’ll bet she hooks you up. 
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Dan has made many posts regarding the financial situation, and I’m just going to point out this one post in particular in hopes it helps calm your nerves.
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Here is something to think about if you are frustrated about the shipping delay -
I backed G3D Systems T-1000 resin printer on Indiegogo. They claimed they were just using the crowdfunding site as a way to promote their new printer, it was already manufactured, in their US warehouses and would ship to everyone as soon as the crowdfunding money cleared their account.
The printer arrived as promised, but there are a few issues -
First, the 4 to 5 pound aluminum print bed was placed in the acrylic vat (holds the liquid printing resin) with one thin layer of small-bubble bubble wrap and a couple of inches of of play between the two. Guess what happened when a 4-5 pound piece of aluminum slid around in a ¼" acrylic vat? Busted. (BTW the printer weighs 75 lb, shipped FedEx ground). Who would would think that it’s OK to let items shift around in shipping? A little more time spent thinking about packaging would have saved the company money and customers a little frustration.
Once the replacement vat arrived, I could go through the set up procedure. Ends up the Mac software doesn’t work there are a lot of bugs in the PC version. That means you can only print the test file, but there are some other printing issues that people in a forum are trying to work through just so they can print the test file while waiting for the software update to be released that will let us process other files. Support is backed up, so it takes 3-4 days for them to respond. If someone at the company had just tried to install the software and ran some test prints, much could have been avoided.
Since it was on Indiegogo, it’s not like you can get a refund for the printer.
While delays suck, I would have rather had 6 months of delays for the company to get the product right instead of getting something on time and spending 3+ weeks of my evenings and weekends attempting to get it to work with noting to show for it. I’m frustrated with the product and wonder it it will ever work as promised. People who pre-ordered outside of Indiegogo have pulled their money, so how long do you think this company will last?
So would you rather have delay in getting your Glowforge and when you get it, it works as promised, or would you rather get it now and have a ton of issues and it sit unused for weeks while waiting for a resolution?
Those of you complaining about business partners, spouses and customers giving you a hard time for backing the Glowforge with yet another delay, you’d look even worse getting a laser cutter with a lot of problems.
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Honestly at the time it made me feel at ease about that delay, which is why until this point I never questioned one but as stated… burn rate, cash flow, ect. can be of some concern, however the great news is Dans direct answer to my question did put me at ease, although my husband is still somewhat apprehensive.
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Once again this was a kickstarter so I knew their timeline was a bit off, honestly I warned my spouse who is my partner there would be a year delay, however yes I would hope all the kinks would have been worked out by now and we would have gotten something that worked as promised. Delays happen but it’s perfectly normal to have apprehension after more then a few. I am however really sorry about your previous investment, that must have been pretty rough. We all have different situations and circumstances I think this one helped shape the positive viewpoint you have, which is great.
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It will be fine. The company is working though the issues, just slowly, because the support team of 2-3 people isn’t dealing with a handful of people with minor issues, they are dealing with hundreds of angry people.
The printer will eventually work like it should, but nothing takes the luster off a new toy, a new car, or a new boat like it being broken from the start.
If it makes you feel any better my glowforge will be delivered Thursday and I will message you photos of it. That way you know they are real and being delivered
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That’s a very nice offer however I never doubted the fact they have been shipping out some of the machines, although I would love to see your projects if you get a chance to post them
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