Congratulating MakerBot

One of the magical moments for us at True is when we are sitting in front of a Founder who possesses that certain something—that “je ne sais quoi“—where they are not just out to build a company, but start a movement.

We talk about Founders of movements a lot at True, and for us, the thing that makes a movement significant is that it is visionary. It’s envisioning a way of life; how the world will be despite how people do things now (remember when we carried around maps?). It’s having a sense of how people are going to use your product to impact their daily lives. That’s vision, and through vision, a movement begins.

From the moment we met Bre Pettis, it was clear that he was that special kind of Founder. It was the summer of 2010, and while there were certainly murmurs of 3D printing happening, most people still thought of a 3D printer as a black voodoo box. But Bre didn’t see it that way. Bre envisioned a world in which every home had a 3D printer they could use to print whatever they needed, on demand—a nail, a bandage, a toy.

And now this movement is not only changing the possibilities in our daily lives, it’s changing manufacturing, and it’s changing our world in ways we never thought possible. It is enabling medical miracles, providing a way for the disabled to increase their abilities, and even impacting culture.

Back in 2010, Bre clearly understood the power of 3D printing in a way that was very different from everyone else. Even us. When we were first considering True’s investment in MakerBot, a lot of us had trouble wrapping our heads around the fact that this was a hardware investment. At that point, very few investors, if any, were investing in hardware. Hardware was expensive and hard to scale. But Bre and MakerBot bore a striking resemblance to Wozniak, Jobs and the Apple I. Both were incredible Founders of enormous vision, and both were selling hardware products initially as kits that customers assembled themselves.

The bet we ultimately took on MakerBot was that it would be able to get to a place where it was manufacturing preassembled machines that were accessible from a cost perspective and acceptable from a performance perspective. To look at what they have done over the past three years is a lesson in possibility, and what can happen when incredible people are given the right support. Today’s MakerBots are cost-effective, beautiful and powerful. And with each version, they are getting more and more sophisticated.

We are unbelievably excited about the possibilities now that MakerBot has merged with Stratasys. It’s a wonderful partnership, and we heartily congratulate Bre, Adam, Zack and the entire MakerBot team, along with lead investor and MakerBot Board Member Brad Feld of Foundry Group. And lastly, but most importantly, a special thank you to Liam Casey, who introduced us to Bre and the MakerBot opportunity. As anyone who invests in Silicon Valley knows, deal sourcing is the magic ingredient that makes this all work. Thank you, Liam.

We love to invest in Founders of movements and products that capture our imagination. Bre and MakerBot are the real deal, and it has been a joy to be a part of their journey.

We’re just at the beginning.