business decisions

Core Competencies for Maker Businesses

Written by: M.G. Rhoads
2020-06-02 ·

Ever struggled with deciding what to delegate and what to do yourself? In the last post, we talked about how DIY-ing manufacturing can be beneficial for companies of all sizes. But, not even the most dedicated Maker or do-it-yourselfer could completely avoid buying any … [Read more...] about Core Competencies for Maker Businesses

Buy Versus DIY: It applies to companies too!

Written by: M.G. Rhoads · Illustrated by: Danko Herrera
2020-05-19 ·

If you run in Maker circles, you’ve probably heard the phrase “buy versus DIY.” Basically, should you buy something or figure out how to make it yourself? (Spoiler alert: usually making it yourself is the preferred choice!) The 4 main reasons to DIY for consumer goods … [Read more...] about Buy Versus DIY: It applies to companies too!

You don’t care about experiments. You’re a maker (or inventor, creator, entrepreneur, or however you describe yourself.) If you wanted to be a lab scientist, you’d be one. You just want to make high-quality products and sell them to your delighted customers while making a good profit. Yes that’s fair. Not everyone finds experiments fun […]

If you’ve been following along, you know that there are some things called First Principles. These are laws of nature, just like the familiar law of gravity, but they govern the way that heat and other forms of energy work in our universe. If you’ve been following along you also know that Gary has been […]

You’re excited about your idea for a new product! Now you want to run it through some quick screens to make sure it’s at least not violating any First Principles before you move on to the Prototyping and Testing phases. Don’t know what any of these things are? You might want to read about Design […]