5 ms·
3-D Printing Is Spurring a Manufacturing Revolution
- sasvari 16y agohttp://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10257/1087450-96.stm http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10257/1087450-96.stm reprint of the article for those of us without a NYT login to avoid the trouble of getting in.
- steveklabnik 16y agoOkay, lesson time: how does one end up getting their startup covered in articles like this? Mine is in this space, and they even quoted someone that knows us. Is this kind of thing a random draw, or is there a way to boost your chances with something like this? Help me level up, HN: I'm just a technical cofounder, so taking care of this side of things isn't my day to day focus right now, nor my expertise.
- snprbob86 16y agoI've never done it myself, but I'm currently participating in TechStars seattle and have seen some mentors speak to this topic. The general consensus on how to get into the press seems to be three key points: 1) Be an area expert 2) Establish personal relationships 3) Leverage your expertise through personal relationships More concretely: Do everything from conduct surveys and independent research, all the way to writing articles that could more or less be published in whole or in part by a target publication. These should be things that have compelling stories in them and are about your industry and your desired press narrative, but not necessarily about your company. Use this process to establish that you are an area expert. Feed this to journalists. Make their jobs easier and make them trust you as an area expert. Once you've built trust and provided value to a journalist, you can ask them to provide value to you. Provide them more article fodder and ensure that your company forms a part of the narrative.
- steveklabnik 16y agoGotcha. Thanks for the detailed response. This won't be my only startup; I figure that I'd better start taking notes on the other side of things now...
- patio11 16y agoOne way is to rank high on Google for the topic, as phrased by a semi informed journalism major. I am so not joking.
- Devilboy 16y agoScott Summit got a lot of press after this presentation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lJ8vId4HF8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lJ8vId4HF8 Not sure where the presentation was held or how he organised it but it's been doing the rounds for a while now.
- danwolff2 16y agoHelp A Reporter Out (HARO) - http://www.helpareporter.com http://www.helpareporter.com
- gojomo 16y agoBe known and easily reachable. Be capable of pithy statements that can flesh out the larger narrative with details. Get the reporters covering the space to know about you, even without a story, so they think of you when related stories come up. There's also 'Help a Reporter Out', aka 'HARO', where you register yourself as a ready source beforehand: http://www.helpareporter.com/ http://www.helpareporter.com/
- snprbob86 16y agoI'm really excited for when piracy and IP debates beings to extend to the physical world. It is going to be super entertaining to watch the DRM debacle over my right to print objects.
- maxjg 16y agoSoon enough we'll find out if most people _would_ 'steal' a car.
- Kliment 16y agoHere's a very detailed article on the subject. http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/script-ed/vol7-1/bradshaw.asp http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/script-ed/vol7-1/bradshaw.asp Come to think of it, I'll go ahead and submit it on its own.
- Derferman 16y agoYou might enjoy Cory Doctrow's Print Crime[1] which centers on this exact topic. [1]: http://craphound.com/?p=573 http://craphound.com/?p=573
- gojomo 16y agoAlso Bruce Sterling's Kiosk: http://web.archive.org/web/20080115084153/http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/fiction/bs01.htm http://web.archive.org/web/20080115084153/http://www.sfsite....
- olegkikin 16y ago"You wouldn't download a car"
- breckognize 16y agoOne really cool startup in this space is cloudfab.com (AlphaLab '08). They're a platform/market for the mass customization the article describes.
- steveklabnik 16y agoThanks for the mention, Breck. :) If you didn't see this, a few days ago... I think the 'email Shoefitr' note is still in my inbox: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1672993 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1672993
- joubert 16y agoOne should hire one of the best 3-D printers, and with it, print your own 3-D printer.
- fab13n 16y agoYou sound like you're joking; some did it: http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page
- joelhaus 16y agoWill self-aware computers be able to reproduce? Based on some optimal energy consumption models (in the future, this code will need to make moral judgments)? Someone's definitely already told them how much energy humans throw off. Then they print out a lollipop that's really a brain implant, and ...Poof... they own us. We feed ourselves to them. Matrix movie theory be damned, this will have big implications.