Point of clarification, VC money or other investment dollars do not count as “making money.” It’s either debt, ownership, royalties, or some combination of terms. It’s raising capital… which hopefully you try to leverage that capital to make money.
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It means your statement lacks logical relevance, much like your reply attempting to create an inaccurate and illogical inference out of MY reply. You make fallacious and erroneous conclusions.
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Circling back to your original question - I believe you are wrong in most of your assumptions.
GF does invest time and money into improving their machines
GF has expanded its customer service
The innovations that have been introduced were asked for by customers
You have been on the forum a little over a year, and your experience with Glowforge began when you got your first machine. You missed about 2/3 of the time Glowforge machines have been in use, but presume to know what they have done. You have no access to their financials, but state that they have made $100 million and they aren’t using that money in ways you feel that they should.
You are not satisfied with their efforts and state that they have a flawed business model.
You and I are customers, not Glowforge business consultants or investors. We can voice our personal opinions and share our individual experiences, but to think we have a right to question their decisions regarding supply chains, customer service or machine remodels is beyond our role.
We choose to be customers or not. We choose to stay in the community or not.
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@e.riveraphone my opinion is that before anyone should question why a company is not “invest time and money into improving their current machines and updating their customer service and tech support” should actually do some research about the company first. The facts are GF was founded in 2014 with one Angel Investor now has 18 investors and there latest financing deal was worth 50M, they currently have approximately 90 employees that do an excellent job considering most are probably working from home in todays environment and that in and of itself is challenge for meeting and staying on top of daily tasks. A company backed by Venture Capital has a lot people to answers too not just us customers. Since late 2017 they have been on a steady growth rate and I personally see continued growth even through all this stuff going on now.
As for the added features, as @dklgood stated some the added features were requested by the us the customers and there were some they come up with on there on or maybe even by suggestions from their investors which we will neve know about.
As stated “as a customer voice your personal opinions and share our individual experiences” and leave it that…
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I will ask this and leave it at that since its clear im wrong and you’re right about everything GF. You state that we are customers and can choose to be one or not l. We are customers because we were sold something. AFTER purchasing something, that isn’t a consumable by the way, you find out that the company has shit customer service (again. Through no fault of the staff that are employed but rather the companies lack of funding for that department) what do you do then? How do you become NOT a customer at that point? This isn’t toothpaste where you can just buy another brand next time. This is a large investment that you should be able to use for years with little to no maintenance.
I’m done here I guess since I’m just a loley customer who should keep my mouth shut. I guess I should be happy with everything GF has given me. Thank you Master Glowforge for all the spoils you’ve bestowed upon me. 
Before you make assumption about the company’s lack of funding, again do your research on the company. I have bought cars that I though the customers service was crap, but I never blamed the the lack of funding. It could be for several reason and just because they don’t get back to you when YOU think they should you say it’s shit service.
As for not becoming a customer at this point, well there are a couple of avenues you can take, one is to sell it buy one from another company then really have issues and move on or use it as a paper weight.
So you’re ok with their standard of 4 business days for a reply email? Sure there are times when you get a quick response but the norm for me and many others is days. Thats ridiculous no matter who you ask.
e.riveraphone: Earlier in this discussion, you stated you have gone thru 8 machines so far! I don’t know how long that took to go thru that many machines, but I really would like to know why you just don’t get rid of the thing a buy something else? I’m not trying to be a smart ass, nor be disrespectful, but if it were me I would have taken my money elsewhere. You could probably sell it for parts alone and make some money at it.
I bought a cnc machine about 4 years ago that turned out to be a real piece of junk. After 4 months of problems, I returned it took a loss for them to take it back and went out and bought another cnc. This one has not given me any problems I couldn’t handle myself and I have often run the thing 8 hours a day for several days at a time.
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Hell I have waited longer than that with other company’s that have been around for years. Like Home Depot, Walmart, Lowe’s, Ford, GM just for a few.
If they don’t get to me I just move on and spend my money elsewhere or deal with and wait. I sure don’t get stressed out. As the sayings go, s@@t happens and karma is a @@@@@.
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Its not that easy. I spent $6k on this thing. In perfect like new condition its worth about $3500 on the used market. Id rather keep limping along until I can make enough to pay off the machine. Then once its paid for itself ill throw it off a bridge and go buy something that’s serviceable by the user.
Like I said earlier, this isn’t a consumable. If just spending my money elsewhere was an option I’d take that route. I don’t have money to spend elsewhere because I spent it on a GF. Not literally, I have plenty of money. Lol
You said you have gone thru 8 machines! How long of a time period would that be?
I started the process of getting my 8th at the one year mark. I had my first replacement aboitb3 months in and then it snowballed from there.
So you have had 8 machines in the last year, 7 in the last 9 months so they Have been communicating with you, it’s that you just don’t like the way they are doing it since it’s not on your time table.
Based on reading all your other posts sounds to me like you think everyone should give you everything just because you said so. Not going to happen here so grow up.
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From what I have seen, I think GF is doing some nice innovation with the software features that they are adding, especially the “premium” stuff. I personally don’t use any of the paid features, as I do all my own designs with software I am familiar with. However, I’m glad that people are signing up because it means they are creating a more sustainable funding model for their company beyond just selling laser cutters.
It would be nice to see a Glowforge v2. A list of things I can think of I would like to see in new hardware, after owning a GF for a few years:
- Up to 100 watt laser tube and cooling option for thicker cutting and faster engraving (eg. 1/2")
- Easier access to clean the fans, both exhaust fan and air assist
- Sell just about EVERY part and allow us to repair it without having to send unit back
- Removable grill where the exhaust port is
- Ability to self-service c02 tube
- A washable pre-filter that significantly extends the life of the filter… ideally at least 100 hours minimum even when cutting MDF/plywood.
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They did this. the silly honeycomb has been replaced on the newest machines.
If I were managing a design from scratch (I certainly could not design such a thing) I would try to go modular with pieces that were “plug and play” as much as possible, as much for repair as upgrade.
This is possible now as most grocery stores sell just such a thing for room ACs. Soft foam open cell that grabs the bigger stuff, that can wash off in the sink,
A cheaper filter that might need replacing sooner set up in line might help if it does not interfere too much with air flow
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That is great! I haven’t been following enough to watch improvements. The only thing I noticed recently is that they “nerfed” the plus model to be the same wattage as the basic. I bought mine back when it was the same as the pro… so if mine ever goes out I’ll have to get a pro because I don’t want to have to figure out all my settings again. That was one “innovation” I don’t care for. 
Yes, I think modular for replacement and repair/upgrade makes a ton of sense. I know from a v1 perspective, that kind of engineering effort would have probably been too complex.
Overall I still recommend GF lasers to anyone interested in laser cutting/engraving, and have done pretty well with referrals. Even with some of the limitations, I think GF makes sense for most hobbyists or small shop Etsy sellers. Being involved pretty significantly in the maker community, I see people buying a lot of the cheap Chinese c02 lasers (eg K40’s) and also diode lasers. The determined ones eventually spend close to GF money, and with enough time and patience, people get them working and get some good results. However, I much prefer the simplicity of the Glowforge “just works” and I think that is the target market. I’m sure a lot has already been said on that topic… 
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Considering the turn around time he is stating, I find it hard to believe this is even happening. What are the odds of having a machine go out almost every month for 9 months? You would have to be running it 20 hours a day every day for that to happen. If that were the case, I really think you bought the wrong machine. This is a hobby machine, not an industrial one. If you bought the Pro, perhaps you should have bought 3 Basics and call it a day.
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Agree whole-heartedly with the rants, design program, settings and materials questions. But, the problems with the shipper is definitely for P&S. There is no one else to contact. If I spend $200 to by PG material directly from the GF website and they take my money but my materials are not shipped, then that is totally on GF and they should be supporting me on that problem.
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