Glowforge updates: the road to production

I ordered on day one, about 1 PM.

I’m not one to say much in forums such as this but I’m going to provide my $0.02 for what it’s worth.

For those of you who don’t or didn’t believe this is a crowdfunding campaign…wake up! It states right on the main page that it was the Biggest 30 day crowdfunding campaign in history…tell me you didn’t see this. With a crowdfunding campaign, there is most likely to be delays. I myself am ok with this as I’d rather have the product delivered to me in perfect working order. Just think of the complaints there would be if these same people need to return their printer for repair and the delays that would occur then!

It was clearly communicated that if you weren’t satisfied with the process, that you can cancel your order and get a full refund at any time. That sounds very reasonable and fair. @dan can you provide us with the number of people who cancelled for a refund? Would be interesting to see this!

Being a Certified Financial Planner and knowing a bit about economics, I know that I’m not going to get a 50% rate of return on my money within 2 years (after tax)…this is what you would need to achieve if you were to cancel then order at a later date…give your head a shake…this isn’t going to happen.

Bottom line…stop the whining and complaining and look forward to the delivery of a quality product that you expect to get…otherwise, cancel your order and stop with the posts about how unhappy you are with the process…

I remain! :smile:

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So where on the website did it say it wasn’t a completed product that day? Yes the T & C said there might be a delay and the specification may change but that is pretty normal for a pre-order. It didn’t say it was just at prototype stage and had never actually done any of the things it claimed.

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At the time I ordered, on Sep 27, it did not say that.

How could it be plastered on the front page before I ordered when the pre-order campaign was still underway??

Nowhere in any of the press-releases or articles that were published BEFORE the 30 days had gone by was it EVER stated that it was a crowdfunding campaign.

To the contrary, all the articles touted that it was already backed with venture capital from the likes of “MakerBot co-founder Bre Pettis, former MakerBot CEO Jenny Lawton, Wetpaint founder Ben Elowitz, KISSmetrics founder Hiten Shah, director of open source at Google Chris DiBona, and former Swype CEO Mike McSherry”.

The language also made it clear that it was an existing product, and that it would be shipping in December of that year. Nothing to make me believe it was a crowdfunding endeavor.

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I can’t comment what the website said at the time of the camplaign as I can’t remember but I did know that it was a crowdfuding campaign going into it as the friend who referred me to it had informed me what it was. It was definitely communicated to me before the campaign end date with emails from Glowforge that it was a crowdfunding campaign as I just checked them. Did everyone who had received emails from Glowforge stating it was a crowdfunding campaign keep this entirely secret from the rest of the world?

[quote=“john7, post:428, topic:2542”]
I did know that it was a crowdfuding campaign going into it as the friend who referred me to it had informed me what it was.[/quote]

I tend not to go by what a friend tells me, and instead go by the marketing materials and press that available at the time I made my purchase.

Well, Dan was not kind enough to email me before I made my purchase.

You can look at what the website looked like back then with the web archive.

If you’re not happy with the process, you can cancel for a full refund…

I didn’t say Dan emailed me before my purchase and my “friend”, buddy and bandmate is very informed and a trusted source in the tech sector for what it’s worth. He had made the purchase already and I followed his lead because of his knowledge in this arena…

nuff said…

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We also have this article from before their Series A funding:


“They have not yet decided on a go-to-market strategy for Glowforge — so whether they opt for crowdfunding, or direct pre-orders/sales.”

Pretty clear by their own press-releases, interviews, and product descriptions/demonstrations that they went for the latter.

Simply looking at their own materials, and any articles written before the conclusion of the 30 day campaign, they considered this a “pre-sale” and only adopted the “crowdfunding” angle after the 30 days.

Show me a single source from Glowforge, or anyone press that was done on it BEFORE the campaign started or ended.

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I can both not want a refund, yet, and still be unhappy with the way this has shaken out.

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First let me say that I COMPLETELY understand the frustration felt by all the individuals who have hung through this the last almost two years. It has been EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTING to experience the repeated delays.

Second let me apologize up front to those who CHOOSE to take offense. It always seems in this day and age that as you as you offer an alternate perspective/different opinion, people want to take offense.

Now, I step up on my soap box …

This has ALWAYS been a NEW, INNOVATIVE PRODUCT like nothing already on the market. I also read the press, web site, etc. and it was ALWAYS clear to me that this was, if more than a working prototype, still not a fully-baked, ready-for-manufacturing creation. The Creators were offering a wildly optimistic (which is what Creators do, in my experience) timeline to manufacture the product. I expected there to be delays - perhaps 3-6 months. We can have semantic arguments about whether this was a crowd-funding campaign, but other than perhaps the therapeutic/cathartic value to the individual expressing the point, it’s a pointless exercise.

What, in my mind, let to the even greater delays, is the wild success of the campaign. If you are selling a product and expect to sell 300-500 units, you can make compromises, because you can handle the call volume from users who need hand holding. When that scales to 8,000-10,000 units (or more), suddenly you have to be very conscious in your design about making the product idiot-proof. Because, as Einstein once said, the difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. This scale impacts packaging/assembly, usage, connectivity, versatility, and a myriad other aspects of the product.

So GlowForge (and we the early buyers) were hoisted by our own petard, as it were, because the wild success of the campaign led to significant changes in the underlying design/usage requirements to align with that larger user base.

If anyone out there truly believes that the 30-50% return (the difference between the price we paid and the MSRP once the product is no longer in pre-order) plus the discounts, Proofgrade material, etc. isn’t sufficient recompense for staying the course, they should definitely reach out to GlowForge and request a refund of their original purchase price (I believe that offer still stands).

Otherwise, take heart that units are actually shipping (though obviously slower than we would wish - I WANT MY GLOWFORGE NOW!), and do the prep work to take advantage of your GlowForge once it arrives.

…stepping down off my soap box.

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@melliott716 well said and thank you for your response

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There was a time when I thought about publicly venting, or speculating, or even flaming the conspiracy fires. Then I asked what was in it for me? My personality is such that it doesn’t make me feel better so my only other reason would be to negatively impact the company. It’s not like my venting will get units out the door any faster. Seems logical to me that anything I do that impacts product success or longevity is not in my interest.

So, will just say, I like the Pre-Release unit. Will leave the venting about product schedule to those that need to do so.

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No offense taken, though I have seen it mentioned multiple times, and I seriously gotta know, what kinda a preparation are you all taking to get “ready” for a Glowforge that take 2 years? Stick building new houses to put these things in? :roll_eyes: I jest I jest

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In terms of preparing for your GlowForge, some ideas:
(1) Location for GlowForge prepped (power needs, wireless signal, space for materials, remember you will probably receive it initially without an air filter, and thus will need appropriate venting to the outside, etc.).
(2) Reading/research on laser operation/safety
(3) Initial design ideas out of your head and on your computer/on paper. I would suggest several ideas on different materials so you can get a feel for the possibilities
(4) Investigate software alternatives for design; which offers the best workflow for how you want to use the device?
(5) What materials inventory do you want to have once the GlowForge arrives? Make a shopping list so that once you get shipping confirmation, you can place the order for materials. Also investigate different sources for material to determine which sellers/vendors you want to order from. The last thing you want is that brand new GlowForge sitting in your workshop, and NOTHING to use it on.
(6) If you’re using the GlowForge for a business, update your business plan (projections, additional marketing/advertising/social media updates, etc) based on the arrival of the GlowForge and what you’ll be able to do with it
etc. etc. etc.

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:smile: Actually there are a couple of folks building new shops/studios for their GFs to live in :slight_smile: Nice layouts too from the pictures posted.

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I have sudden thoughts now of when you try to get a picture framed, and they tell you it will cost $500 for the frame to go around your $50 photo AFTER the 60% off discount AND with a straight face.

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Some venting has been productive. The uprising when the tube replacement policy was first presented was heard loud and clear, and led to a reversal.

I wonder if that would have happened had we not spoken up?

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Agree 100%. Same can be said about the temperature threshold. Even little things like engrave/cut order, etc…

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Not disagreeing. Complaining about something that can be changed is often useful. But as a hypothetical example… If I were to just start venting in the forums, or social media about how the company is incompetent or the product may never arrive, seems to me that I’m acting against my self interest unless I plan to cancel. Just how I look at it.
People will do what they want, not my business.

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