3D printing is a large industry but it’s also a very fragmented industry with a lot of different sub-industries. These include everything from commercial and consumer printer manufacturers and the companies that make the printing materials, to service bureaus, scanning companies, and companies selling 3D-printable content. Then there are software publishers that make the modeling software. We are positioned on the services side.

When people think of 3D printing they usually think about quick print jobs. You plug in a USB cable to a printer and out comes the end product. It’s not that easy. It takes a lot of work to prepare for a 3D print job. When we say we’re a service organization, that’s true because we are providing a service for other companies. But we have a lot of software and intellectual property on the front end to help us deliver a great quality product. In that respect, it’s nothing like your local copy center.

Mckinsey and Company, a worldwide management consulting firm, has said they believe that by the year 2025 there will be $4 trillion dollars of consumer products that could be 3D printed. That doesn't mean they will be, but they could be. They analyzed actual products that they believe will be printed, and that could be a $100 billion to $300 billion marketplace by 2025. That is the exact market that we are going after. 

Gartner, a research and consulting company, just published a new report stating that the 3D Printing Market will be $30 billion by 2023.

We get asked that a lot. 

Here are a few unique ones that stand out:

- An 11 foot tall Shera character for the Dreamworks display at NY Comic-con.

- The entire signature display for CES - it included large objects such as a robot, goggles, headphone, stadium, and many others.

- Thomas Davis (Carolina Panthers Linebacker) brace.  He wore the first 3D printed brace ever used in an NFL game and it happened to be Superbowl 50.

- Nasal cavity for Layla, a Black Rhino at the Brookfield Zoo.

- USS Arizona replica - joint project with Autodesk - they did the scanning of the ship as it rests today

- Thousands of small parts involved in a fast turnaround for an automobile recall.

- Dota Game Diorama

- 1/3 Scale model of an FA18 Hornet Jet for the NHL

- A 12 foot tall cake decorating tool

- An 8 foot tall Soccer Glove

- A model for NASA of the Eta Carina Nebula - 7,500 light years from earth

- Anything that has to do patient-specific medical models - we always know that we are helping to save lives or organs.  

We've built an end-to-end software platform, what we call a 3DaaS (3D-as-a-service) platform. It allows us to go into multiple verticals. The process is basically the same for each vertical. Today, we work in these areas: medical, veterinary, architectural, gaming, trade shows and footwear. We try to identify marketplaces where personalization and customization play a big part. In the future, there will be other areas that we put additional resources into.

With 800+ customers, we work with a lot of brands as well as many Fortune 1000 (America's largest companies).  Over 70 Fortune 1000 companies have now put their trust into WhiteClouds.  Some of these companies including Walmart, Microsoft, Siemens, Target, Wolverine, Autodesk, Sony, and many others. Most of those companies are in the infancy of 3D printing and how it will impact their businesses.  We believe that almost every company can use our services, which gives us a large marketplace.

We work with different hospital chains directly - a few customers are Intermountain Healthcare, University of Utah, Stanford, UCLA, and University of Texas. Keep in mind, 3D Printing is still extremely early in the healthcare sector. We have forged a very strong partnership with TeraRecon, the largest 3D Visualization software provider in the medical space. Globally, they have approximately 4,500 hospital networks using their software. Their software is vendor neutral, meaning they work with any CAT scan or MRI provider - it may be GE, Toshiba, or Philips. Our partnership with TeraRecon provides the first end-to-end click-to-print solution for the medical professional to segment (select the region of interest from a CAT-Scan/MRI) the 2D data and receive a 3D printed anatomical model. WhiteClouds’ software and design professionals position the model for best display capabilities including the use of our patent-pending hinge and slice functions.
These models are used in preoperative collaboration for surgical planning and patient education. TeraRecon sells what are called “PrintPacks” to hospitals - bundles from 50-5,000 prints.

We are also working with Anatomy Warehouse, a global company that provides standard anatomical models to hospitals, research centers, and educational institutions. We are providing the customization and personalization of 3D prints from CAT Scans and MRIs or special prints to be used in displays. 

Recently, we have begun working with Sectra, a large 3D Visualization software provider in Europe, to provide 3D printed medical models to their hospital networks.

If you think about most of the medical advances in humans, from drugs to equipment, most of them had their beginnings in the veterinary industry.  23 months ago we began a trial program in veterinary 3D printing with the largest provider of veterinary surgical centers in the US - about 1,870 centers.  We began with trials in angular limb deformity in dogs - we 3D Print the exact replicas of the dogs orthopedic structure allowing the surgeon to measure, practice, and pre-fabricate metal plates that would be used on the dog during surgery.  Reducing anesthesia time on animals helps the success rate of the surgery.  We are beginning to do all types of 3D prints in animals related to orthopedic, vascular, tumor resection and soft-tissue functions. This is very new to the Veterinary industry and we are excited to expand our relationships with the largest players in the space.

There are a number of competitors in each of the verticals we participate in. With our partners and customers, we believe we lead many of the vertical segments we are in. There are a lot of smaller companies that are trying to enter the marketplace. The barriers-to-entry are quite high. Most of our competitors focus more on 3D Printing prototypes as opposed to end products which is the bulk of our business. There are a number of different 3D printing technologies - we focus our efforts on the technologies that produce full-color prints. Many of our competitors are focused on technologies in the non-color plastics used to produce prototypes.

That's a huge obstacle, and it's something that all of us in the industry have to overcome as 3D content explodes.  When we first started the company, every potential customer needed education as part of the sales process.  Sometimes this could go on for months and in a few cases - years.  During 2018, our sales and marketing strategy shifted to an inbound strategy.  Through our SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing) efforts, we now focus on potential customers who are very much educated and are much closer to the purchase cycle.  Our sales cycles have gone from months/years to days/weeks.

Jerry: I had a very successful company before this. I was the founder and CEO of Purch, which is one of the largest internet technology media companies in the world. We owned about a dozen different websites related to helping consumers purchase technology products and services. I was at a time in my life where I wanted some change, and wanted to start a new company based on new, up-and-coming technologies. With my love for building things, 3D printing was a natural fit. The co-founders and I thought this would be an exciting thing to do and an easy process to get started. We were wrong on that. It took us a couple of years to figure out how to get good quality prints and how to identify the right markets to go into. That was part of our early startup. Now we're ready and expecting to increase our sales and marketing and really grow. That's part of the reason why we're doing this Wefunder project.

We have grown from that first color printer we purchased in 2013 to having approximately 70 production printers in a 60,000-square-foot facility. We moved into our new facility in October of 2015 and that was a nice milestone for us. We were in very cramped quarters and to be able to move into this facility, and be prepared for our future growth, was one of the best decisions we have made. The move, along with additional 3D printer purchases, made us the largest full-color 3D printing company in the world.

As we have grown, we have increased our R&D expenditures to make sure we are continuing to innovate. For example, in early 2015, we invested heavily in healthcare 3D printing--being able to take CAT-Scans and MRI’s and converting them into personalized anatomical models for surgeons to use.

In 2017, we filed our first patent. It is our sliced hinged model for medical use. We completed two acquisitions over the last 3 years, two 3D printing related software companies, Sandboxr and 3DPlusMe.

In 2018, we started using 3D printing farms - this is where we have many small 3D Printers working together on one 3D print.  For example, when we need to 3D Print something that is 10' tall, we will have many pieces 3D printed and then assembled into the final product.  The post processing is still complicated, but this allows for scalability by using very inexpensive 3D printers, some that are sub $500 in cost.

We believe that 70 Fortune 1000 companies putting their trust in us, helps validate our business model.

We want to increase our sales and marketing efforts and then capitalize on what we've already built.   We have seen recent success in driving sales in 3D fabrication with the use of mixed-media technologies.  This new 3D technology fabrication has allowed us to build much larger 3D models.  Whether dioramas or large 3D structures, we can now use 3D Printing along with other technologies to create some awesome looking models. Our most recent success has come from the Trade Show industry, which is a ready marketplace - we will continue more sales and marketing efforts in this area.

We believe the thing we are better at than anyone is the quality of our 3D, full-color prints. We don't think there's anyone who can match our quality. We also think we have automated significant amounts of the process that takes existing 2D content and converts it into 3D printable content. That is a strong core element of what we do. With our software interfaces in our 3DaaS (3D-as-a-service) platform, we are continually improving our channel connections as much as possible. There are times where it still requires a human designer to complete the design to make it truly print-ready and we have one of the best teams of designers in the industry.

Another big differentiator WhiteClouds has is when it comes to capacity and turnaround times. With the largest number of full-color 3D printers under one roof, we are able to produce items within a few days--in some cases, next day. We have the capacity to be able to take on very large deals.

WhiteClouds has a patent-pending "Hinge and Slice" technology that allows for examining specific areas of interest inside the body (usually a living organ) by evaluating various slices of the anatomical model.   These individual slices are hinged together, similar in function to an unfolded-fan.  It allows doctors to plan for surgical procedures and patient education.  The model can be built using a specified number of slices and by specified thicknesses in each slice.  

We are now beginning to use this same "Hinge and Slice" technology in the Veterinary space.  The patent was filed on July  6, 2016 and has been assigned Application No. 62/359,086.

We have been working with Freeman, the worlds largest Experiential Trade show management company in the world for the last 18 months.  We are getting more and more 3D requests from them.  When one of their trade show customers need something really cool and unique, we get the call from Freeman. We anticipate they will become WhiteClouds largest customer in the near future.  The potential is huge with Freeman and other Trade Show/Event/Agency companies.  We have been steadily bringing on more and more agencies during 2018, for example, George P. Johnson is one of our newest customers.  

Yes, we work with a lot of businesses that are trying to unlock the mystery of how 3D Printing works and how this impacts unique personalization in various products. Many of them are in the early stages of this. It makes sense to do one-time orders to get the process started, but in time, we anticipate these will turn into large-scale production orders where each and every product will be unique. 

We actively pursue marketing opportunities, SEO, SEM, social, email campaigns, and direct marketing. In 2018, we have really increased our efforts in these areas.  We have steadily increased the number of new customers throughout 2018: 77 in Q1, 93, in Q2, 142 in Q3, and 181 in Q4.  With customer acquisition costs averaging $496 per customer and an average customer life-time value of $21,578 (calculated over 3 years), we know that we need to invest more in our sales and marketing.  That will be the primary use of this Wefunder campaign.

Often, we reach out to potential customers that will be strategic in nature--channel partners. Together, we may be building the first product in that particular segment. We do a lot of channel development with the businesses who already have large customer bases. We don’t have to sell to their end-consumer--the channel partner does this. We help the channel partner build out a new personalized product line.  Some of the successes we have seen with our channel partners is going to require us to put more efforts into sell-through activities within these partners.  One of our growing customers has about 3,000 employees in their sales departments and we need all 3,000 of them to know exactly what we can offer them as they are preparing solutions for their customers.

Most of our fund raising will go towards sales and marketing activities. We plan to increase the breadth of the sales team, invest in brand recognition, conduct general marketing activities and build out our channel development.   

Joey: I joined WhiteClouds in mid-2015. The bulk of my career is with large software companies where I developed software products. Notably, I was vice-president over global software for Brooks Automation (NASD: BRKS). The software portion of the company generated about $110 million a year, and I was over all of the software product management and marketing. After that, I built up and sold a couple of software companies, and then did some consulting work while looking for the next big thing. I'm extremely excited about joining WhiteClouds and believe strongly in what we can do. My strength is not only in software but in efficiency and manufacturing improvements. Most of the software products that I helped develop, or at least managed, were manufacturing software products, so I have a lot of experience in that.

Jerry: I have 35 years of experience in technology-related companies, primarily software and media. I have created 8 companies (5 of which still exist). Prior to WhiteClouds, I was the founder of Purch, a large global Internet technology media company that helps consumers purchase technology products. Purch recently sold the consumer division for $132M.  Before the sale, it had approximately 125 Million monthly unique visitors from websites such as TopTenReviews, Toms Hardware, Laptop Magazine, BuyerZone, Business.com and many others.

We have a great team chemistry and we are excited for the future.

Imagine the future when 3D printing has significantly altered how products are designed and manufactured, allowing complete personalization in all business sectors. Whiteclouds will be the enabler for businesses to accomplish this. Behind the scenes we are building a great company and setting about to make a difference in the world. We think we're early in 3D Printing and this industry has unlimited potential. We have built a great foundation and are well poised for the future.