I studied Industrial Product Design and during one of my internships I was asked to design a smart
\nlighting fixture that would be 3D printed, I started doing research and I was blown away by the
\nincredible design freedom. The speed and ease to create a final, functional product.
\nI literally thought”Why did I learn about mass production during my whole study? Ordering samples in china, adding draft angles, make sure the dimensions are perfect to fit 200 in a box, a product time to market of 2.5 years. Forget that, digital manufacturing is the future”
\nI saw the potential for this technology to transform the way we make and consume things. Right
\nafter my graduation, I moved to Eindhoven in the Netherlands and I started working in the industry.
\nIn the years that followed, I’ve worked in a few groundbreaking 3D printing companies and learned
\neverything I could about the technologies and applications.<\/p>\n
In my role as an Additive Manufacturing Designer, I’ve hosted workshops, gave lectures, and trained
\nteams on-site. I really enjoyed sharing my knowledge and experience and it kept surprising me how
\nmuch of an eye-opener this was to a lot of people. I discovered that there was a huge knowledge gap
\nand that there were so many more people that could and should benefit from this technology.
\nI decided to build a more scalable solution. A digital platform with online, on-demand courses, so I
\ncould help and educate thousands of people instead of only a few at a time.<\/p>\n
The beauty of a digital startup is that you don’t need much. A good laptop, a clear vision, and grit. I
\nthink it is important to stay focused and efficient. It’s easy to hire a team of developers and spend
\n100.000 euros of funding in the first year. But can you create a product or service without upfront
\ninvestment and make 100.000 euros in the first year? That’s being an entrepreneur.
\nI used to build and sell websites 15 years ago so I could probably build an eLearning environment
\nmyself if I wanted to. But that would take me years so why the hell would I do that? It is so much
\nbetter to work with existing solutions. Be efficient. Set your ego aside. Use a white-label app, use a
\nwebsite builder. Your time is valuable so only do what you’re very good at and what adds value for
\nyour customers.<\/p>\n
Trust in yourself. Stay focused but agile. Reach out to the people you look up to and ask them for
\nfeedback. And finally, work harder than everyone around you.<\/p>\n
I was lucky enough to work in very diverse, young, international teams and I’d love to build my own
\nteam that way. It is so enriching to be surrounded by people with different backgrounds, different
\neducational levels, different cultures.
\n5 years from now, I’d love to work with a team of superstars. Have a vibrant Addmio community. And
\nI want us to play our part in the growth and adoption of 3D printing.<\/p>\n
Good question. I think working in the 3D printing industry, probably in a different role and company.
\nI think that if I would have worked for a few more years in the industry I probably would have aimed
\nfor a job at one of the really big players. To experience how it is to work in a corporate, a company
\nwith thousands of employees.<\/p>\n
Take the risk. If you dream of starting your own company, do it now. There will always be reasons not
\nto do it, there will always be people around you that advise against it.
\nOur brains are hardwired to avoid risks since the Stone Age, to stay alive. Now you have to fight that
\nfeeling, that fear you’re feeling is unreal. Some of the most successful companies started in global
\ncrises. See it as an advantage.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Prepared by,
\nStanislava Angelova
\n\/Editor at DiTech Media\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Can you tell me a bit about your background and your current role? I studied Industrial Product Design and during one of my internships I was asked to design a smart lighting fixture that would be 3D printed, I started doing research and I was blown away by the incredible design freedom. The speed and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8305,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[204,202],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditech.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8304"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditech.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditech.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditech.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditech.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8304"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ditech.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8307,"href":"https:\/\/ditech.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8304\/revisions\/8307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditech.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditech.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditech.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditech.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}