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Jun 5, 2016 · 20m · top-founders

Will This 43 Year Old Win The 3D Printing Industry? EP 260: Drew Taylor

Drew Taylor · 9m spoken Nathan Latka · 8m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of The Top podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews AstroPrint founder Drew Taylor to examine the startup's OEM software licensing model, 3D printing cloud app marketplace, and multi-stage fundraising strategy.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 46.2% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.2 Guest teaching 2.8 Guest disagreement 1.4 Nathan pushing back 3.2
05100:0010:0020:003:59–6:04 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 AstroPrint's Founding History, Accelerators, and Early Financing Latka drills into capitalization details, calculating the total accelerator equity dilution. Drew provides a gentle clarification regarding Betaspring versus Betaworks.6:04–9:59 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Enterprise OEM Integration and Retail Partnership Opportunities Latka challenges Drew on why massive legacy companies wouldn't crush them given low $150k revenue, and pushes on missing the Mattel partnership. Drew defends their positioning and explains OEM white-labeling.10:00–12:14 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 AstroBox Hardware Role and Cloud Marketplace Monetization Drew explains that AstroBox hardware was merely Kickstarter market validation rather than a mandatory lock-in device, walking Latka through the open Raspberry Pi model and cloud app monetization.12:15–14:58 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Revenue Projections, Custom Engineering Fees, and Series Fundraising Latka presses Drew to disclose fundraising targets and valuation metrics, while also analyzing Drew's non-recurring engineering fees as upfront professional services cash flow.14:58–16:37 · Nathan as informed peer 1/10 Guest Contact Information, Listener Contest, and HostGator Promotion Drew provides his contact details before Latka moves into a listener giveaway promotion and HostGator sponsor read.3:59–6:04 · Guest teaching 3/10 AstroPrint's Founding History, Accelerators, and Early Financing Latka drills into capitalization details, calculating the total accelerator equity dilution. Drew provides a gentle clarification regarding Betaspring versus Betaworks.6:04–9:59 · Guest teaching 4/10 Enterprise OEM Integration and Retail Partnership Opportunities Latka challenges Drew on why massive legacy companies wouldn't crush them given low $150k revenue, and pushes on missing the Mattel partnership. Drew defends their positioning and explains OEM white-labeling.10:00–12:14 · Guest teaching 4/10 AstroBox Hardware Role and Cloud Marketplace Monetization Drew explains that AstroBox hardware was merely Kickstarter market validation rather than a mandatory lock-in device, walking Latka through the open Raspberry Pi model and cloud app monetization.12:15–14:58 · Guest teaching 3/10 Revenue Projections, Custom Engineering Fees, and Series Fundraising Latka presses Drew to disclose fundraising targets and valuation metrics, while also analyzing Drew's non-recurring engineering fees as upfront professional services cash flow.14:58–16:37 · Guest teaching 0/10 Guest Contact Information, Listener Contest, and HostGator Promotion Drew provides his contact details before Latka moves into a listener giveaway promotion and HostGator sponsor read.3:59–6:04 · Guest disagreement 1/10 AstroPrint's Founding History, Accelerators, and Early Financing Latka drills into capitalization details, calculating the total accelerator equity dilution. Drew provides a gentle clarification regarding Betaspring versus Betaworks.6:04–9:59 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Enterprise OEM Integration and Retail Partnership Opportunities Latka challenges Drew on why massive legacy companies wouldn't crush them given low $150k revenue, and pushes on missing the Mattel partnership. Drew defends their positioning and explains OEM white-labeling.10:00–12:14 · Guest disagreement 1/10 AstroBox Hardware Role and Cloud Marketplace Monetization Drew explains that AstroBox hardware was merely Kickstarter market validation rather than a mandatory lock-in device, walking Latka through the open Raspberry Pi model and cloud app monetization.12:15–14:58 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Revenue Projections, Custom Engineering Fees, and Series Fundraising Latka presses Drew to disclose fundraising targets and valuation metrics, while also analyzing Drew's non-recurring engineering fees as upfront professional services cash flow.14:58–16:37 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Guest Contact Information, Listener Contest, and HostGator Promotion Drew provides his contact details before Latka moves into a listener giveaway promotion and HostGator sponsor read.3:59–6:04 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 AstroPrint's Founding History, Accelerators, and Early Financing Latka drills into capitalization details, calculating the total accelerator equity dilution. Drew provides a gentle clarification regarding Betaspring versus Betaworks.6:04–9:59 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Enterprise OEM Integration and Retail Partnership Opportunities Latka challenges Drew on why massive legacy companies wouldn't crush them given low $150k revenue, and pushes on missing the Mattel partnership. Drew defends their positioning and explains OEM white-labeling.10:00–12:14 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 AstroBox Hardware Role and Cloud Marketplace Monetization Drew explains that AstroBox hardware was merely Kickstarter market validation rather than a mandatory lock-in device, walking Latka through the open Raspberry Pi model and cloud app monetization.12:15–14:58 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Revenue Projections, Custom Engineering Fees, and Series Fundraising Latka presses Drew to disclose fundraising targets and valuation metrics, while also analyzing Drew's non-recurring engineering fees as upfront professional services cash flow.14:58–16:37 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Guest Contact Information, Listener Contest, and HostGator Promotion Drew provides his contact details before Latka moves into a listener giveaway promotion and HostGator sponsor read.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 71.2% · guest 28.8%0:00 · Nathan 71.2% · guest 28.8%3:00 · Nathan 22.8% · guest 77.2%3:00 · Nathan 22.8% · guest 77.2%6:00 · Nathan 40.1% · guest 59.9%6:00 · Nathan 40.1% · guest 59.9%9:00 · Nathan 30.5% · guest 69.5%9:00 · Nathan 30.5% · guest 69.5%12:00 · Nathan 23% · guest 77%12:00 · Nathan 23% · guest 77%15:00 · Nathan 71% · guest 29%15:00 · Nathan 71% · guest 29%18:00 · Nathan 70.5% · guest 29.5%18:00 · Nathan 70.5% · guest 29.5%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 9:28 Refusing the premise of missing the Mattel deal

Drew firmly resists Latka's framing that AstroPrint missed out on Mattel's upcoming 3D printer launch, asserting that discussions remain ongoing.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 6:52 Challenging value proposition against $150k revenue

Latka directly confronts Drew's bullish narrative by noting that generating only $150k implies major industry players are not yet paying them meaningfully.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 5:31 Distinguishing Betaspring from Betaworks

Drew politely corrects Latka on confusing the Providence-based Betaspring accelerator with the New York fund Betaworks and details their accelerator equity stakes.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 12:51 Identifying NRE as professional services cash flow

Latka immediately translates Drew's non-recurring engineering fees into standard SaaS professional services, identifying how enterprise customizations provide upfront cash flow.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
AstroPrint's Founding History, Accelerators, and Early Financing 5312 Latka drills into capitalization details, calculating the total accelerator equity dilution. Drew provides a gentle clarification regarding Betaspring versus Betaworks.
Enterprise OEM Integration and Retail Partnership Opportunities 5436 Latka challenges Drew on why massive legacy companies wouldn't crush them given low $150k revenue, and pushes on missing the Mattel partnership. Drew defends their positioning and explains OEM white-labeling.
AstroBox Hardware Role and Cloud Marketplace Monetization 4413 Drew explains that AstroBox hardware was merely Kickstarter market validation rather than a mandatory lock-in device, walking Latka through the open Raspberry Pi model and cloud app monetization.
Revenue Projections, Custom Engineering Fees, and Series Fundraising 6325 Latka presses Drew to disclose fundraising targets and valuation metrics, while also analyzing Drew's non-recurring engineering fees as upfront professional services cash flow.
Guest Contact Information, Listener Contest, and HostGator Promotion 1000 Drew provides his contact details before Latka moves into a listener giveaway promotion and HostGator sponsor read.

Statements from this episode (9)

Opinion
Taylor says 3D printing industry growth is bottlenecked by software
“We saw some time ago that the three D printing hardware is come a long way. It's amazing. It can do amazing things, but the software side and the ecosystem was holding the industry back.”
Drew Taylor Jun 5, 2016 ▶ 2:26
Disclosure
AstroPrint monetizes via OEM licensing and a 70/30 app store revenue split
“One side is software that goes inside a three D printer that makes the printer very easy to operate. That's free for personal use, but we charge for commercial use and branding typically on a per printer basis. Our main customer there being a printer manufactu…”
Drew Taylor Jun 5, 2016 ▶ 3:09
Assertion Not checkable as stated
AstroPrint generated $150,000 in revenue in 2015
“20 15 total revenue was 150,000 dollars.”
Drew Taylor Jun 5, 2016 ▶ 4:47
Disclosure
AstroPrint has raised $400,000 to date and opened a $2M round
“So we, we've raised about 400,000 to date. And we have a two million dollar round that's open now and about 50% subscribed.”
Drew Taylor Jun 5, 2016 ▶ 5:02
Disclosure
Betaspring took 6% and 500 Startups took 7% equity in AstroPrint
“So beta spring, they're using a different model now. I don't know what they do now, but at the time it was six percent which was kind of what tech stars and everyone was doing at the time and 500 startups was seven percent.”
Drew Taylor Jun 5, 2016 ▶ 5:45
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Taylor expects AstroPrint to close major household brand OEM deals shortly
“We expect a couple of contracts to close within the next two months, but let's just say extremely well-known household brands that are, that will likely have three D printers in the store by Christmas.”
Drew Taylor Jun 5, 2016 ▶ 6:58
Insight
Taylor says content and apps drive hardware sales in 3D printing
“In this industry, content sells the hardware.”
Drew Taylor Jun 5, 2016 ▶ 9:00
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Taylor expects AstroPrint app marketplace revenue to take off in 2017
“Pretty much none. So we see that as more of a revenue base that's going to take off probably 2017 and later.”
Drew Taylor Jun 5, 2016 ▶ 12:00
Prediction Not checkable as stated
AstroPrint targets $500,000 in licensing revenue for 2016
“So with licensing, I'd like to see 500,000 or so this year and then ramping up dramatically in 2017.”
Drew Taylor Jun 5, 2016 ▶ 12:28
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