OEN Member Spotlight – Erin Stone of RapidMade

Q: What does your business do?
A: RapidMade applies state of the art 3D design, composite material, and additive  manufacturing technologies. By combining these services with supply chain  management, we enable clients to create new products, accelerate speed to market, lower  operating costs and simplify supply chains.

Q: What problem does it solve?
A: Additive manufacturing allows companies to produce complex and highly customized  parts and products locally in small batches, with faster lead times and greatly reduced  material costs. Typically the client will realize a 30-50% improvement in cost, speed or  degree of customization.

Q: How did you come up with this business idea?
A: The technology is being quickly adopted by Fortune 500 companies and we saw an  opportunity to help SMBEs regain a foothold in American manufacturing without having  to invest the enormous capital corporations have.

Q: What are your biggest challenges?
A: Sufficient funding to give us the time to develop a robust market share, train employees  on a new technology, and build a brand is our biggest hurdle.

Q: What are your goals for the company?
A: Securing 16 to 24 clients in 2012 and reaching break-even in 18 months are short-term  goals.  $11.0 million in sales by 2017 at 24% operating profit are long-term goals.

Q: Are you looking for funding?
A: Yes, we are looking for $380,000 in funding for 2012.

Q: What would funding enable you to do?
A: The funding allows us to grow and train our sales and engineering force to secure and  service 50+ clients recurring business that we have projected over the next 18-36  months.

Q: Have you been an entrepreneur before?
A: Our team has over 40 years in direct entrepreneurial experience and over 100 years in  expertise in engineering, sales/marketing, business planning, organizational  development, financial, and senior management experience.

Q: What brought you to OEN? What do you hope to gain from membership?
A: A group of like-minded business executives, the chance to hone our message with their input, and the opportunity for funding in the process attracted us to OEN.

Q: What has been the biggest surprise in your entrepreneurial experience to date?
A: The extensive network of volunteers and the support available for start-up companies  during a tough economic climate has been a pleasant surprise.

Q: What has been the best entrepreneurial advice you’ve received?
A: Ultimately, everything is a percent of sales or revenue, you don’t have a business without customers and cash is king.