Could Glowforge have been as big as XTool?
I remember the hype in 2015 when Glowforge introduced, via crowdfunding, a relatively affordable laser for the consumer. We are here because we already know the story. It took a few years to get it to market. The company didn't really expand well into other products, but leaned into software as a service and pushed $50/month subscriptions, a. It also has had different financial struggles over the years.
Meanwhile, XTool, which also started from a small company makerblock that raised a meager $23,000 on Kickstarter in 2012 and eventually grew up into the XTool that we know today, with a plethora of hardware and pretty robust software. They're now owning the biggest chunk of market share. I was just wondering the other day if Glowforge would have had a different fate if it had made different decisions, or if it's just a reality of the difference between making business in the States and in China.
I definitely give Glowforge credit for being the first company to give an opportunity for what used to be only an industrial machine to the general public.