We had the good fortune of connecting with Braydon Moreno and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Braydon, how did you fund your business? Do you think you would do anything different if you could go back?
We initially raised money via a successful Kickstarter launch generating $650,000 to fund our initial development of the first round of 3D printers. From there, we got to a point where we wanted to innovate on a next generation of 3D printers for consumers around the world. It was going to be a sizeable investment both on the engineering side, mechanical and software, so we knew we needed to raise money, which we did. If I were to go back, I wouldn’t have made this move. It put our business in a very vulnerable state where we became influenced by investors to make business decisions that I would have never done if I were funding these decisions with profit in the business. Raising money isn’t a bad thing. Raising money and getting “comfortable” can be. When you operate making business decisions using profit within the business, you become much leaner, strategic, and scrappy. That is how I will continue doing things in the future.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I own a 3D printer company called Robo 3D that sells 3D printers and 3D printable STEM curriculum to K-12 education. We have a full turn key solution for schools to implement this technology in the classroom to allow students to learn design thinking. It is fun and very rewarding to see the impact firsthand that your technology can have on students and even educators.

Any great local spots you’d like to shoutout?
Favorite spots would be Little Italy for food and drinks, a hornblower cruise potentially, balboa park for cruising around, and some hikes like Devil’s Punch Bowl in Julian.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Dedicate my shout out to Senta Clinic in San Diego. Dr. Perry Mansfield has been working with me to develop 3D printed medical masks that work to allow our community of 3D printer users to make personal protective equipment for local hospitals around the country.

Website: www.robo3d.com

Nominate someone: ShoutoutSocal is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.