{"data":{"type":"company_profile","id":35511,"entity_id":"wefunder:company:35511","attributes":{"canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company","generated_at":"2026-06-15T14:08:57Z","updated_at":"2026-06-15T05:00:16Z","entity_ids":{"company":"wefunder:company:35511","slug":"wefunder:company_slug:stealth.machine.company"},"profile_visibility":{"owner_published":true,"public_search_results":true,"site_search_listed":false,"privacy_mode":"unlisted","invite_only":false},"provenance":{"source":"wefunder_public_company_profile","as_of":"2026-06-15T14:08:57Z","claims":{"total_amount_raised":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#amount_raised","last_verified_at":"2026-06-15T05:00:16Z","as_of":"2026-06-15T14:08:57Z","confidence":"high"},"total_investors":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#number_of_investors","last_verified_at":"2026-06-15T05:00:16Z","as_of":"2026-06-15T14:08:57Z","confidence":"high"},"active_raise_states":{"source":"Fundraise.visible(nil, nil)","last_verified_at":"2026-03-04T01:12:10Z","as_of":"2026-06-15T14:08:57Z","confidence":"high"},"latest_fundraise_state":{"source":"Fundraise.visible(nil, nil).order(funding_started_at)","last_verified_at":"2026-03-04T01:12:10Z","as_of":"2026-06-15T14:08:57Z","confidence":"medium"}}},"company":{"id":35511,"entity_id":"wefunder:company:35511","slug":"stealth.machine.company","name":"Stealth Machine Company","tagline":"We are manufacturing metal parts 10x more efficiently than anyone else. ","elevator_pitch":"We sell manufacturing capability as a service. We are building a heavily automated machine shop capable of 10x efficiency over current methods. Companies can replace large portions of their expensive manufacturing operations with us at a huge cost saving.","story":"I built my first CNC machine at 16 rather than buying a car.\u0026nbsp;I lived in a small town in East Tennessee.\u0026nbsp;I had no idea what a CNC milling machine looked like. I had no idea how one worked. I just knew what it could do and I wanted one. It took me three months of ordering parts, experimenting, and tinkering before I got it to work.\u0026nbsp;Fourteen years later and I still love machines and manufacturing.I've spent ten years working as a hardware engineer in everything from wind turbines to pet cameras.\u0026nbsp; During that time I've learned about all sorts of manufacturing processes. I've spent almost six months in China.\u0026nbsp;I've visited factories all across the world. I've seen every process from metal stamping to standing inside the giant reactors that make common household chemicals.\u0026nbsp;During this time I've paid attention and asked questions. I also have had more than my share of frustrations with the process. I started to work on alternatives.\u0026nbsp;My first attempt was a project called Knot and Robo. This was a company centered around the automatic manufacture of furniture. A\u0026nbsp;user could enter the dimensions of their ideal shelf or table, then the machines would manufacture it out of high quality plywood.\u0026nbsp;We made some headway into automating the process, but in the end the market just wasn't large enough.\u0026nbsp;However, many of the key ideas from that venture would help form Stealth Machine Company. What if we could provide the automatic customization? What if we could eliminate the 7 lean wastes entirely from the machining process? What if we redesigned the process from the ground up to be built around robots rather than the people heavy process it is today.\u0026nbsp;These questions are the foundation of Stealth\u0026nbsp;Machine Company, and we hope will be the key to a new revolution in manufacturing.\u0026nbsp;","location":"San Francisco","website":"https://stealthmachine.co","total_amount_raised":47323,"total_investors":156,"is_funded":true,"is_active":true,"quality_score":1,"related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company","https://stealthmachine.co"]},"media":{"share_image_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/header_media_photo/35511/xxl_cropped_SMC_square_sm.jpg","logo_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/logo/35511/large_cropped_2019-03-12_14h09_58.png","header_media_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/header_media_photo/35511/standard_cropped_SMC_square_sm.jpg","cover_photo_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/header_media_photo/35511/standard_cropped_SMC_square_sm.jpg","profile_video_url":"https://wefunder.wistia.com/medias/1dvubdcn1o"},"links":{"company_url":"https://stealthmachine.co","youtube_url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4A0lelzKHM"},"highlights":[],"quick_facts":[{"index":1,"claim_id":"claim-fact-1","value":"We are on track to use our machines 10x more efficiently than traditional machine shops."},{"index":2,"claim_id":"claim-fact-2","value":"We are on track to use our human labor 10x more efficiently than traditional machine shops."},{"index":3,"claim_id":"claim-fact-3","value":"We will be able to inspect every single part that leaves our factory."},{"index":4,"claim_id":"claim-fact-4","value":"Customization is free after the initial set-up fee."},{"index":5,"claim_id":"claim-fact-5","value":"Once a customer orders a run, they can order any size of that run at no additional cost from us without ever interacting with a person."},{"index":6,"claim_id":"claim-fact-6","value":"We think we're the first to approach this problem in this way."}],"team":[{"id":420216,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:420216","user_entity_id":"wefunder:user:222316","role":"founder","name":"Gerrit Coetzee","title":"Founder at Stealth Machine Company","bio":"Born in South Africa. Built my first CNC machine at 16 rather than buying a car. 4 mass-produced products in market, one red dot award winner. Engineer in heavy industry, renewable power, consumer goods.","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/420216/square_cropped_DSC06557-square_lowerres2k2k.jpg?1678406025","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/gerrit.coetzee","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerrit-coetzee/","twitter_url":"https://twitter.com/dammitcoetzee","related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/gerrit.coetzee"]},{"id":700590,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:700590","user_entity_id":"wefunder:user:275891","role":"founder","name":"Jl Mitra","title":"Founder at Stealth Machine Company","bio":"Formerly enterprise technical sales and account management in datacenter infrastructure and autonomous vehicles. Managed cutting-edge technology accounts of over $100M in revenue. Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering.","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/700590/square_cropped_JLMitra.jpg?1569607854","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/jl.mitra.2","personal_url":"http://stealthmachine.co","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/jlmitra/","related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/jl.mitra.2","http://stealthmachine.co"]}],"featured_investors":[],"investor_memos":[],"tab_counts":{"posts":0,"ask_questions":19,"featured_investors":0,"faq_entries":5},"active_fundraises":[{"id":25382,"entity_id":"wefunder:fundraise:25382","state":"successful","offering_type":"4(a)(6)","funding_type":"note","structure":"custom","security_type":"custom","currency":"USD","testing_the_waters":false,"min_purchase":100,"max_purchase":9,"funding_target":20000.0,"minimum_target":"50000.0","funding_started_at":"2019-05-25T01:38:26Z","funding_closed_at":"2019-10-01T04:01:18Z","auto_close_at":"2019-10-01T03:59:59Z"}],"latest_fundraise":{"id":25382,"entity_id":"wefunder:fundraise:25382","state":"successful","offering_type":"4(a)(6)","structure":"custom","testing_the_waters":false,"can_invest_now":false,"funding_started_at":"2019-05-25T01:38:26Z","funding_closed_at":"2019-10-01T04:01:18Z","terms":{"eb":null,"nb":null,"txt":null}},"recent_posts":[],"q_and_a":[{"id":137516,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:137516","question":"How's things looking for 2021? Still going strong?","author_name":"Michael Rains","votes":1,"created_at":"2021-03-24T20:13:26Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-137516","answers":[]},{"id":125022,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:125022","question":"Any updates on the business. An investor here.","author_name":"Arun S Ramasubramanian","votes":1,"created_at":"2021-01-17T12:31:50Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-125022","answers":[{"id":125236,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:125236","answer":"Arun, Thanks for reaching out. We will have our 2020 wefunder investor summary done in the next few weeks. I appreciate your patience. We are hard at work getting 2021 off to a good start.","author_name":"Gerrit Coetzee","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-01-18T21:34:49Z"}]},{"id":63903,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:63903","question":"Myself and another Caltech Alumnus sat down with Gerrit \u0026amp; JL last night and talked through their business for more than 2 hours. These guys aren't just blowin' smoke, folks. They REALLY ARE on track to hit the 10x improvement they're claiming. (in my question on Aug 1st, you can see that I was initially quite skeptical of this claim) They've thought this through quite thoroughly and neither of us could find any flaws in their plan. The only question remaining is whether they can ramp the business up without any major hiccups. The plan there is to try and ramp linearly - no \"hockey stick\" for them. Quite sensible in our opinion. Too many businesses embrace the hockey stick growth pattern, and they can't support the growth while maintaining the quality of their product AND their process. They end up cutting corners, and process improvement goes right out the window in favor of meeting the exponentially growing demand. Stealth Machine Co. has a vision which maintains and even improves process quality as the business expands. This growth won't happen over night, so will they be copied and surpassed? No one else seems to be even close to the sort of process they've planned out. And as slowly as existing machine shops are known to innovate, these guys should have plenty of head start on 'em. By the time their \"competitors\" can pivot, I don't think they'll see Stealth coming up from behind - they'll already have been passed by.","author_name":"John Brooks","votes":1,"created_at":"2019-09-20T20:57:50Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-63903","answers":[]},{"id":56567,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:56567","question":"Sounds interesting but I'm afraid I haven't understood what you plan to do. You are going to be a machine shop? If so, how will you achieve higher efficiency vs existing machine shops? Or will you rent machines to firms when they need them? Would they be on-prem with the client, then? Or are you designing a new kind of CNC router (that fits in a server rack)? If so, what does it look like? Also: What are you going to do with $20k? Seems like too small an amount.","author_name":"Carl Lumma","votes":1,"created_at":"2019-07-05T00:01:25Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-56567","answers":[{"id":57892,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:57892","answer":"Thanks for the questions! You more or less have the idea. Current machine shops are designed around maximizing the efficiency of a human operator performing low volume high mix (many types of parts) work. When companies like Apple set out to achieve higher throughput for their mass production they hire a company to build a robotic automation around their CNC machines to achieve maximum efficiency. They can do this because their volume is high but their mix is low. However, when they need to produce a new product they need to redesign their line. We are designing a factory that is meant to be automated and flexible from the beginning. We believe we can abstract away the things that make a high mix of parts difficult to automate around and that we can achieve close to the same throughput regardless of parts mix. Our aim is first to build and mature the factory. We are starting with very simple parts that fit into a mid range machine. Things like signs, front panels, and small plastic and aluminum parts that only require one fixture. As our technology matures we can offer a larger set of parts and operations. This allows us to grow a machine shop without significant capital investment up front. As we grow we can leverage the data we've collected about our improved margins to raise funding through business loans, investments, etc. to expand our capability. Our end goal is to do as you say and sell our technology platform to factories, machine builders, and resellers. We'd love to set-up a meeting with you to answer more questions. You can reach us at wefunder@stealthmachine.co.","author_name":"Gerrit Coetzee","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-07-25T20:30:27Z"}]},{"id":283277,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:283277","question":"How do I get my money back I invested $100 years ago and nothing.","author_name":"Irvin Hinojosa","votes":0,"created_at":"2024-05-09T15:25:55Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-283277","answers":[]},{"id":268407,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:268407","question":"What a horrible investment. Oh well. live and learn.","author_name":"James Cholke","votes":0,"created_at":"2023-11-08T15:57:16Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-268407","answers":[]},{"id":64899,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:64899","question":"This seems like a very interesting investment opportunity, but I lacked the time to properly look into it prior the deadline yesterday. With that said, my understanding is that you plan to scale up incrementally using additional rounds of funding in the future. Will you be considering doing a larger second round of funding on WeFunder down the road? If so, aside from following this page, what would be the best way to stay informed about this company?","author_name":"Anthony Wynne","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-10-01T16:05:10Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-64899","answers":[{"id":64940,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:64940","answer":"Hi Anthony, Your understanding is correct, we will be seeking additional funding rounds in the future, though we have not yet determined the method or platform for raising. Aside from following this page, you can sign up for our mailing list here: https://mailchi.mp/a86650749ead/stealthmachineco","author_name":"Jl Mitra","votes":1,"created_at":"2019-10-02T00:47:41Z"}]},{"id":64713,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:64713","question":"I really want to invest in your company before it closes. I am a machinist. And so maybe I'm just too close to what you are doing is it company to where it seems ambiguous and I just don't really understand what 10 times more efficient means. Can you please elaborate?","author_name":"Jeremy Davies","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-09-30T13:40:26Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-64713","answers":[{"id":64729,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:64729","answer":"Hi Jeremy, Our technology and process results in a machine shop with many more spindles and much fewer human operators compared to what exists today, resulting in an estimated 10x annual revenue capability with higher profitability. We can make more parts, more profitably, than traditional machine shops due to being designed from the ground up to be robot-first. Since our machine tools themselves are not built around human operators, we can have many more spindles cutting parts simultaneously in the same space and cost of a single VMC. Software defines and optimizes job and operation scheduling, while robotic arms do most of the work of moving parts around. This automation is designed to keep a skilled machinist doing the hard work that humans are really great at, while robots take care of the rest.","author_name":"Jl Mitra","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-09-30T16:47:57Z"}]},{"id":61827,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:61827","question":"What is the valuation cap for this SAFE? I don't see that on this page.","author_name":"Umair Shams","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-09-05T18:45:18Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-61827","answers":[{"id":64285,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:64285","answer":"Hi Umair, This is an uncapped SAFE with Most Favored Investor clause.","author_name":"Jl Mitra","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-09-25T18:07:56Z"}]},{"id":61245,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:61245","question":"The most versatile machine is a lathe. Why are you not looking at this issue. Is the machine you are looking at being a mill going to be a vertical or horizontal. How are you going to compete with the likes of Haas and Doosan etc? No threaded holes? Are you looking at flat sheet metal or plates? What about bending? With any machine there is generally a cad/cam design aspect. How are you getting around this? Where is the inspection point? Who or what is doing the inspection? Do you already have the machines in place? How many do you have? The money you are asking for is that for the purchase machines, client acquisition, or just to keep the lights on? You talk about Apple is that a current customer?","author_name":"Greg Dwight","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-08-30T14:03:53Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-61245","answers":[{"id":63092,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:63092","answer":"Greg, I can tell you have a lot of experience in this field and I'm glad you're giving us an opportunity to answer some of these questions. At this stage most of our current decisions are based purely on economics rather than searching for the ideal machines. Lathes are definitely appealing but the start-up cost for automated ones is high simply because the expected precision from turned parts is much higher than the expected precision for many milled parts. We intend to add them to our production one when it becomes economically feasible for us to do so. This also explains why we are not offering threaded holes, bending, or any of those services at this time. The complexity and cost is just too much for us at this early stage. Our goal is not necessarily to compete with Haas and Doosan. They are very good at what they do. We are working on a new machining process but don't aspire to be machine builders on their scale. We can see a potential partnership in the future once we have our basic designs a little further along. Inspection is currently done optically with a vision based measuring machine. This is possible since we only offer 2.5D machining from one side at this early stage. Later we plan to automate a CMM for this process, but it is far down our development timeline. CAM is done the traditional way for difficult parts, but many of our parts are done automatically with a generative engine. The money we are asking for is to build the most rudimentary machine shop utilizing gantry mills rather than proper VMCs. Our primary goal at this stage is to get customers to test the unit economics of our process. Once we have it ironed out we can take this data to raise additional funding. We currently have three machines running and four more will arrive in the next month and a half. As for Apple. We hope to scale to that level one day!","author_name":"Gerrit Coetzee","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-09-12T23:49:57Z"}]},{"id":61184,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:61184","question":"From your reply on July 25th, you said: \"Our aim is first to build and mature the factory. We are starting with very simple parts that fit into a mid range machine. Things like signs, front panels, and small plastic and aluminum parts that only require one fixture.\" Do you or will you have actual orders for these parts, that will bring in some revenue? OR will you be producing many parts, that will be thrown out or recycled?","author_name":"Erick Skiest","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-08-30T04:36:50Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-61184","answers":[{"id":63093,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:63093","answer":"Hi Erick, Our future customers have expressed interest in ordering real parts from us once our first-generation machines are developed.","author_name":"Gerrit Coetzee","votes":1,"created_at":"2019-09-12T23:50:38Z"}]},{"id":60746,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:60746","question":"Why are you in \"stealth\" mode still?","author_name":"Francis Erdman","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-08-26T15:18:53Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-60746","answers":[{"id":60764,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:60764","answer":"Not in stealth!\u0026nbsp;It's our registered operating name,\u0026nbsp;Stealth Machine Company, Inc.\u0026nbsp;:)\u0026nbsp;","author_name":"Gerrit Coetzee","votes":1,"created_at":"2019-08-26T19:09:16Z"}]},{"id":59502,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:59502","question":"What's your approach to staffing going to look like? I do employee benefits in MN, and have talked to a ton of machine shops with an aging (and somewhat replaceable workforce). More than one plans to simply liquidate as the existing workers retire, as they're unable to find younger qualified workers.","author_name":"Matthew J Vinez","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-08-12T14:38:37Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-59502","answers":[{"id":59698,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:59698","answer":"We believe that machining services in the US needs to be radically different in order to survive. Being a machinist for Stealth Machine Co will look very different from being a machinist anywhere else. Building a new, robot-first approach to machining will allow us to attract and retain talent with higher compensation for fewer employees. The skills our employees will learn from being the critical humans-in-the-loop in a highly-automated process also better prepare them for the future of industry. The talent pool of younger, qualified workers will have a more rewarding career trajectory versus the status quo.","author_name":"Jl Mitra","votes":3,"created_at":"2019-08-15T14:56:35Z"}]},{"id":58958,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:58958","question":"What mechanisms do you have in place to prevent your larger competitors from simply stealing your ideas and then undercutting you? Or does your business model allow for other companies to incorporate the innovations you have made?","author_name":"Tony Manifold","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-08-05T04:27:44Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-58958","answers":[{"id":59311,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:59311","answer":"Much of our defensibility will be in trade secrets, data, and some patents. Even so, existing machine tool makers would have to worry about re-training an aging customer workforce on a very different approach to manufacturing, and would risk significant R\u0026amp;D costs to develop a product their customers may not readily adopt, despite efficiency gains. Traditional machine shops are focused on process improvement with existing machinery and niche expertise. Our end goal is not to only own a machine shop, but also to license and sell our technology to those who would copy us. Much like Microsoft, which machines our software runs on isn't as important to us as it is that all the machines run it.","author_name":"Jl Mitra","votes":3,"created_at":"2019-08-09T22:23:15Z"}]},{"id":58589,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:58589","question":"\"1 We are on track to use our machines 10x more efficiently than traditional machine shops. 2 We are on track to use our human labor 10x more efficiently than traditional machine shops.\" #2 seems like a somewhat reasonable claim. If you automate 90% of what human operators are required to do in a traditional machine shop, you hit this goal. But #1 seems to be a totally outlandish claim. You're saying that over 90% of the time on a CNC machine today is wasted? If you were comparing yourself to a fully-manual machine shop, you might claim 168 hours per machine per week vs 40 hours. That's a bit over 4x efficiency improvement. But CNC machines today can already be run round-the-clock. Where can you possibly gain this 10x efficiency advantage in machine usage?","author_name":"John Brooks","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-08-01T18:10:07Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-58589","answers":[{"id":58625,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:58625","answer":"Great question. When we refer to machine use we aren't referring specifically to machine time. When we began to dive into the problem of waste in a machine shop we discovered many areas that need attention. To name a few: 1. Often machines are oversized for the work they are performing. Machine shops typically purchase the machine that allows them to accept the largest spread of job types. 2. Often machines are sitting idle between jobs or waiting to switch between jobs. We have interviewed many machine shops and have heard around 1 to 4 hours of down time between jobs or when setting up for a new job. Also, most machine shops do not run 24/7. 3. For manually loaded and unloaded machines there can be a significant time waste over the length of the entire order. 5 minutes here and there really add up. We've met few machine shops that use automated loading for the majority of their jobs. 4. Machines may go down or experience technical glitches. 5. There is also machine maintenance, the space the machine requires, electricity, insurance, tooling, and many more variables that factor into the overall economic efficiency of a machine. We get around these wastes in many ways. First, we employ a network of many small machines designed from the ground-up to be automated and run in parallel. This parallelization reduces the hourly rate economics for machine time greatly, while simultaneously increasing our throughput dramatically for the same capital cost and space requirements. Also, since our machines are managed by an algorithm we utilize the right sized machine for each job. None of our machines are ever set-up for a specific job. This set-up is done on fixtures separately. Since we have many small machines, downtime has a very low impact on us. It is worth noting that once fixtures are prepared there is no reason the machine shop can't run unattended. We are aiming for 20 hours a day of machine operation. When you begin to add all this up we have a massive advantage in the economics of running the machines. We'd love to set-up a meeting with you to answer more questions. You can reach us at wefunder@stealthmachine.co.","author_name":"Gerrit Coetzee","votes":2,"created_at":"2019-08-02T00:05:48Z"}]},{"id":57745,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:57745","question":"What is the valuation of the company? I have been looking around on the company documents and on the SAFE details, but there hasn't been anything. It's always great to see startups from the SF Bay Area on Wefunder and to have the opportunity to invest in my community.","author_name":"Timothy Schoonover","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-07-24T04:51:33Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-57745","answers":[{"id":57893,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:57893","answer":"Timothy, Thanks for reaching out. We are a very early stage company pre-valuation. We have been working on this for around 10 months and hope to take our first beta customers in Late November.","author_name":"Gerrit Coetzee","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-07-25T20:31:05Z"}]},{"id":57648,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:57648","question":"I am interested in what you are planning to accomplish. I am an engineer and machinist so I have a feel for some of the problems you wish to solve. Are you working on this project at the present time? How much time per week? Have you invested any of your own funds? What so you expect to accomplish with the $20k that you get in this raise? How do you differentiate yourself from companies like Protolabs?","author_name":"Douglas Garber","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-07-22T21:18:10Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-57648","answers":[{"id":57894,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:57894","answer":"Douglas, Appreciate your questions. There are two people working on this full time. We have been working on this for ten months and hope to take our first beta customers in Late November. We have invested a significant portion of our savings into this company. The 20k will help us build our MVP which is a small grid of mills that will allow us to take very simple jobs. We want to prove our economics and get customer feedback before we raise additional funding. Protolabs focuses mainly on small prototype runs of less than two hundred parts; we are designing around the mid range of parts from 200 to 10k, with the ability to accommodate lower volume runs when needed. We'd love to set-up a meeting with you to answer more questions. You can reach us at wefunder@stealthmachine.co.","author_name":"Gerrit Coetzee","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-07-25T20:31:36Z"}]},{"id":56996,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:56996","question":"The use of robots in manufacturing depend entirely on the part being manufactured. How do you work with a part that can't be moved with end of arm tooling? What kind of accuracy and repeatability is the system going to have? What size parts are you going to be able to manufacture? How does this address setup costs, which are often the largest cost driver in small part runs? And how are you going to be able to build a MVP with only $20k?","author_name":"Nick Rosati","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-07-11T20:46:06Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-56996","answers":[{"id":57895,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:57895","answer":"Nick, Thanks for your questions. We are building our capability slowly. Our first product offering is simple parts out of plastic and aluminum that don't require a fixture change. These are parts like signs and parts for hobbyists. As our capability grows we can offer more elaborate part set-ups and materials. The $20k will help us build our MVP which is a small grid of mills that will allow us to take very simple jobs. We want to prove our economics and get customer feedback before we raise additional funding. We'd love to set-up a meeting with you to answer more questions. You can reach us at wefunder@stealthmachine.co.","author_name":"Gerrit Coetzee","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-07-25T20:32:14Z"}]},{"id":56995,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:56995","question":"This sounds like a great idea. Do you have more details on the IP and unique technology you have for this that others don't? Related, why haven't others in the industry done what you are hoping to do?","author_name":"000 000","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-07-11T20:33:24Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/stealth.machine.company#question-56995","answers":[{"id":57896,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:57896","answer":"Julian, Appreciate your interest. At our core we have a software enabled process innovation. We are not heavily innovating in how machines are built or operate. Others in the industry are slowly adding more automation to their products. However, they are trying to optimize the existing process designed around human operators, while we are building a new one designed around automation. We believe the incremental approach of industry incumbents leaves too much value on the table, so our solution leverages existing technologies to help manufacturing take a long-overdue leap forward. We'd love to set-up a meeting with you to answer more questions. You can reach us at wefunder@stealthmachine.co.","author_name":"Gerrit Coetzee","votes":0,"created_at":"2019-07-25T20:32:56Z"}]}],"faq":[{"question":"Sounds interesting but I'm afraid I haven't understood what you plan to do. You are going to be a machine shop? If so, how will you achieve higher efficiency vs existing machine shops? Or will you rent machines to firms when they need them? Would they be on-prem with the clien...","answer":"Thanks for the questions! You more or less have the idea. Current machine shops are designed around maximizing the efficiency of a human operator performing low volume high mix (many types of parts) work. When companies like Apple set out to achieve higher throughput for their mass production they hire a company to build a robotic automation around their CNC machines to achieve maximum efficiency. They can do this because their volume is high but their mix is low. However, when they need to p..."},{"question":"This sounds like a great idea. Do you have more details on the IP and unique technology you have for this that others don't? Related, why haven't others in the industry done what you are hoping to do?","answer":"Julian, Appreciate your interest. At our core we have a software enabled process innovation. We are not heavily innovating in how machines are built or operate. Others in the industry are slowly adding more automation to their products. However, they are trying to optimize the existing process designed around human operators, while we are building a new one designed around automation. We believe the incremental approach of industry incumbents leaves too much value on the table, so our solutio..."},{"question":"The use of robots in manufacturing depend entirely on the part being manufactured. How do you work with a part that can't be moved with end of arm tooling? What kind of accuracy and repeatability is the system going to have? What size parts are you going to be able to manufact...","answer":"Nick, Thanks for your questions. We are building our capability slowly. Our first product offering is simple parts out of plastic and aluminum that don't require a fixture change. These are parts like signs and parts for hobbyists. As our capability grows we can offer more elaborate part set-ups and materials. The $20k will help us build our MVP which is a small grid of mills that will allow us to take very simple jobs. We want to prove our economics and get customer feedback before we raise ..."},{"question":"I am interested in what you are planning to accomplish. I am an engineer and machinist so I have a feel for some of the problems you wish to solve. Are you working on this project at the present time? How much time per week? Have you invested any of your own funds? What so you...","answer":"Douglas, Appreciate your questions. There are two people working on this full time. We have been working on this for ten months and hope to take our first beta customers in Late November. We have invested a significant portion of our savings into this company. The 20k will help us build our MVP which is a small grid of mills that will allow us to take very simple jobs. We want to prove our economics and get customer feedback before we raise additional funding. Protolabs focuses mainly on smal..."},{"question":"What is the valuation of the company? I have been looking around on the company documents and on the SAFE details, but there hasn't been anything. It's always great to see startups from the SF Bay Area on Wefunder and to have the opportunity to invest in my community.","answer":"Timothy, Thanks for reaching out. We are a very early stage company pre-valuation. We have been working on this for around 10 months and hope to take our first beta customers in Late November."}]}}}