OscarPOSEFY

Hi Diamons,

First of all, regadless of my opinion about your project, congratulations for deciding to do something and actually getting it off the ground.

Now, regarding http://theboxngo.com, the first thing I would personally like to see is a clear statement explaining exactly why I should be using this as opposed to eBay, local classified ads.

To answer your question, your marketing strategy should very much depend on the core value you provide which - to me - is not clear at this stage.

I see that User growth is stabilizing since around July 23; if you were to plot the first graph from that date (instead of June 29th) you would probably see a steady (not growing) number of new daily users.

Tomatoes by day (actual usage), however, is growing at a much quicker rate than users. This can only mean that part of the user base is actually using the service more.

I tried to provide a counter argument, and there are a couple of faults with his original argument. Thanks!

I respectfully disagree with Ryan Whitwam's arguments and conclusions.

Personally, I do believe that the 3D printing revolution will happen at home. The Internet has "democratized" the production of digital content at home (photography, blogs, self-published ebooks, music, videos, podcasts...) and 3D printing will similarly "democratize" the production of physical goods. If people with creativity and the right tools have produced AMAZING digital goods, given the appropriate framework they will produce AMAZING physical goods.

The author's argument revolves around 2 key premises, both of which I disagree with:

1) "The overwhelming majority of homes don’t need a 3D printer, and that’s not really going to change."

The beauty of technology is that it is impossible ascertain in advance what people do and do not need. The real beauty of innovation lies in providing solutions to problemes that people don't even know they have, or create products that they didn't believe they needed and now cannot live without (Ford motor cars versus faster horses is the obvious example, but there are many others). Anyone who knows even a little bit of technology should not say things like "that's not really going to change" or "everything that could have been invented has already been invented" (Charles Duell, commissioner of the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 1899) because history has shown us time and time again that humman innovation always surprises us. Beyond our wildest dreams. Perhaps the overwhelming majority of homes don't KNOW what they can do with a 3D printer TODAY, the same as they had no idea what they could do with a "blog" 20 years ago.

2) "There’s always the hope that 3D printing will provide a way to fabricate replacement parts when something breaks or wears out".

Why? This is a pretty leading statement, and there are definitely many other applications for this 3D printing technology. Some people might go there (domestic printing of replacement parts) but others will focus on creating their own product lines such as http://www.brickarms.com or http://www.brickforge.com. Flickr, YouTube, Blogger, WordPress and other amazing companies have been successful because they have provided the means to do something and then people's creativity took over and did the rest.

Sorry for the rant, but I'm quite passionate in this issue and I believe that in a decade or two everyone will have a 3D printer at home.