I’m Dan Shapiro, CEO of Glowforge and This Is How I Work
The Glowforge printer is unique: it is not a traditional 3D printer, but a laser cutter that can cut and etch a wide variety of materials. These laser cutters used to be difficult to use and expensive to own, but Glowforge set out to create something new and bring this technology to your desktop.
Dan Shapiro is no stranger to innovation; he has worked in various startups, sold Google, was previously the head of Photobucket, and also launched the best-selling board game in Kickstarter history when he funded Robot Turtles . He recently applied this crowdfunding acumen to Glowforge last October, and with over $ 27 million in pre-orders, Glowforge has become the largest 30-day crowdfunding campaign ever. The original goal was $ 100,000.
Don’t be too luminous – Sorry, but this is an exciting device and it’s easy to understand why it has generated such interest from designers and hobbyists:
We spoke with Dan to learn a little about his day-to-day job of running the company, perfecting the device, and working with lasers.
Location: Seattle, Washington. We are next door to a craft factory, a pot cleaning factory and a gluten-free brewery. In fact, this is the most Seattle place in Seattle.
Current position: CEO and co-founder of Glowforge. Also Chief Turtle Specialist at Robot Turtles, LLC and author of Hot Seat: The Startup CEO Guidebook . One word that best describes how you work: interrupt driven Current mobile device: Google Nexus 5x in a zippered pouch because I dropped it yesterday and it’s covered in tiny shards of glass. A replacement is on the way. Current PC: I have three Wintel boxes that I built from parts and a Surface 3 Pro for travel.
A few weeks ago, I ran into Jeffrey Fowler of the Wall Street Journal. He noticed my surface and looked puzzled. “Windows?” he said. “Was it a gift?” A colleague leaned over and said, “He’s from Seattle. Everything is different there. “
My friends tease me about not switching to Mac, but I’m pretty darn cheap. For the same reason I drive a 2003 minivan I bought five years ago.
What apps, software or tools can’t you live without?
I’m not good at keeping track of things, so I bought three pairs of digital calipers to scatter around my office. We already had several pairs, but I’m tired of not having one at hand. In the last few days I have used them to check the difference in thickness between the acrylic sheets we ordered, measure the Glowforge key size for someone at community.glowforge.com who designs a custom table it will sit on, and (with with a stereomicroscope) to measure the effect of certain software changes on the resolution of our engraving.
How is your workplace arranged?
Just a dirty IKEA desk littered with laser projects, a chair we bought from eBay, and a couple of Dell monitors.
What’s your best time-saver or life hack?
I keep strange hours. I arrive at the office at 10 am, plus or minus an hour, and then go home around 6 or 7. I cook dinner about half the time. We put the kids to bed and then hang out until about 9:30.
Then I work until about 3 am.
Office time is meant for meetings, teamwork, paperwork. Evenings are my secret – that’s when I do most of my real work.
What’s your favorite to-do list manager?
Darling? I hate them all. Work in progress is my enemy, and her allies have no sympathy for me.
My inbox is my to-do list.
What device, besides a phone and a computer, can you not live without and why? (… except for your glowing forge!)
You’re laughing? With the phone and computer, everything is ready.
The reception of the Glowforge crowdfunding campaign was enthusiastic to say the least. Have you ever thought that this could significantly exceed your goal? (And I think getting that many orders is a daunting prospect!)
We crossed our fingers to beat the most popular $ 3.5 million 3D printer. In our wildest dreams, we didn’t think we could be the biggest crowdfunding campaign ever! Fortunately, from the very beginning, we planned to use a large plant for production. This means it is not difficult to scale our production, which is why we are focused on providing the best possible functionality and ensuring that the quality matches what our great sponsors deserve.
Do you still find time to work on your own projects, or are you overwhelmed?
I do something all the time! We have a Laser Thursday office tradition where we all work together on personal projects. Also, sometimes, if my brain is burned out, I sneak and do quick typing to switch from hats to wrist ones, which really charges.
Some of the items in the Glowforge videos, such as the leather backpack and wallet, came to me when I was just playing at Glowforge, making things for myself.
What are some of your best everyday activities? What’s your secret?
I’m not the best at anything. But that’s okay, because I don’t need to! Dilbert creator Scott Adams once wrote that the secret to success is not being the best at one thing, but being above average at an unusual combination of things.
In keeping with this philosophy, I like to collect skills at the B + level. In my life I have written, public speaking, electronics, programming, woodworking and DJing. The latter option sounds odd, but I graduated from college running a DJ business that involved creating and running laser shows at parties. Put them all together and hey Svetohorn.
What do you listen to while you work?
I like the people I work with and the background sounds in the office work for me. At the end of the day, I tune into NPR’s All Counts , hosted by my brother . It’s like a family phone call when he disconnected me.
What are you reading now?
I just reread Richard Schell’s Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People . I do not like to negotiate, and I have to prepare for serious deals. Richard Schell’s book makes more sense to me than any other because it’s based on research and focuses on getting good results by behaving like a decent person, even if sometimes your negotiating partner is wrong.
How do you replenish?
Dinner with family four times a week. I have an amazing wife and amazing seven year old twins. We’ll be doing art, playing board games, or watching a cooking show together.
Once or twice a year we fly somewhere together to really get away – this summer we went to Malaysia and are going to Tokyo for New Years.
What is your sleep pattern?
I used to suffer from insomnia and hate it. It’s boring and a waste of time. My solution is to sleep about 6 hours a night. This is enough to function normally, but I am still tired so I can fall asleep quickly. So, around 2 or 3 am I put my earplugs in my ears, turn on the white noise machine, put a pillow on my head and crash.
Fill in the blank: I would like _________ to answer these same questions.
My co-founder Tony Wright, co-founder of RescueTime, is one of the most thoughtful time management people I know.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Having created a new company after the birth of children, I had a crisis. Every single day I had to make a terrible choice: spend the night with my family or [spend it] at work? There was always a reason to work late – an important event, a late meeting, or just to be in the stream. I was torn apart every day when I tried to trade my job for my family.
But the solution was simple, as a friend once told me. I have laid up three nights a week during business hours. The rest of the nights were family time. Once I made this decision, everything became easy. I no longer traded family and work; each had its own space and I could handle it.
What else would you like to add that might be of interest to readers and fans?
Ultimately Glowforge was born because I saw so many things around me that I want to optimize. When I first installed an industrial laser in our garage for prototyping, it was revolutionary because it meant I could go from project idea to creating something useful in a few hours. Now, with Glowforge, I can do this in minutes. I like it. It’s like a superpower, and I want everyone to have it.