MakerBot newest CEO, Jonathan Jaglom, interviewed with 3D printing specialist Steve Heller to talk about Stratasys acquisition of MakerBot, and the 2 ways MakerBot gives Stratasys a competitive edge.
1. MakerBot is the first step into the 3D printing world.
Jaglom: MakerBot is that first entrance into the Stratasys world. That’s how we see it, and I think it makes a lot of sense. You start your experience with a MakerBot, but that doesn’t stop you from thinking to move into the next phase, which is the higher-end printers that are offered by Stratasys.
2. MakerBot is more than a hardware, it’s a community.
Jaglom: Yes, MakerBot is more than just a hardware company. The ecosystem that we have around our printers is just amazing, and second to none. No other player in the desktop 3D printing space has anything close to what we have in terms of ecosystem.
Thingiverse is one example, where you can share files online. Thingiverse has 700,000 downloadable files that you can print; 700,000 is the number, over 1 million downloads per week.
The ecosystem around MakerBot is really an important part of the MakerBot equation. Don’t look at MakerBot just as a hardware company, at all. The ecosystem around that is so important to recognize. That is really where we are second to none in this industry. That really is our competitive advantage in this space.