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this sounds dope 3d printing is amazing technology. really fascinates me.Im starting a 3d printing service at my university this coming semester, along with 2 other guys. We currently run an entrepreneurship club that focuses on disruptive technology and we have convinced two of our schools faculties to lend us their 3d printers since we have the technical abilities and time to operate them properly and with out us they would just be collecting dust. we dont really need these additional printers (although more is always better in this case) as we each own our own printers but we wanted to gain control of as many school printers as we can in order to eliminate any potential competition before starting our service this january.
our target market is going to be engineering students and various other classes where 3d printing can be used in the creation of class projects. from here we will be able to get a better understanding of the most efficient ways to interact with our customers and create a streamlined online ordering interface which will allow us to scale in the future. the goal is to set up our first 3d print shop at our school but eventually branch out to other schools in the area and even local tech hubs.
what i really look forward to in this startup is creating a positive change in the world while promoting our company name. we have been in contact with a local hospital and as a way to not only do something really cool for people in need but also use it as a method of getting media coverage and brand recognition, we are going to be giving out free custom fit prosthetic hands for people that need them (costs like 15 dollars per arm in material costs to print). we are also looking to make a bunch of microscopic lens that you can slide on to your iphone that allows iphone (we also have models for a bunch of other popular brands of phone) cameras to take pictures at 100x, 350x and 1000x magnification. we are going to donate a bunch of these (costs half a dollar in material costs to make) to local grade schools in hopes of promoting interest in science.
when it comes to entrepreneurship its great if you can build a profitable business and thats what you should always be striving for, but its always been the freedom to try and make a change in the world that excites me and motivates me to work harder than the competition