August 15, 2019 Dan Rasure sends email

From: "Dan" <info@bayareamakerspace.com> Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2019 15:15:50 -0700

Over the past 18 months, we have had the pleasure of working with over 4000 makers coming from all over the world. Providing a space for so many to create has truly been an honor. We have seen artists receive awards and commissions, entrepreneurs get funded and acquired, students present their first businesses/projects, new makers learn and use tools for the first time, and so much more. Making has and will always be amazing to me.

At the same time, we had to fight a lawsuit that was filed by TechShop Inc. against us 3 days before we opened our doors. We have always believed that the lawsuit was baseless because TechShop had agreed to us using the name TechShop 2.0 for over two months when we were negotiating a potential deal with TechShop, and we stopped using the name TechShop 2.0 immediately after TechShop filed the lawsuit. TechShop even called us TechShop 2.0. We were pleased that the jury did not award TechShop any damages.

Even though the jury did not award TechShop damages, the lawsuit took a toll on our business and my life, and so we have made the extremely difficult decision to close the location of TheShop.build San Jose LLC on August 18 at 10 PM. Since the lawsuit was filed 3 days before we opened our doors, we have always operated under the cloud of litigation. The lawsuit also affected the business’ credit and our ability to obtain a new lease for our San Francisco location. We closed the San Francisco location earlier this year when we could not find a suitable new lease because landlords did not want to rent to us due to the lawsuit. We have also faced significant legal costs. My family as a result of my extensive time away from home operating the business and dealing with the litigation has also suffered.

Our business goals were always much bigger than just the Bay Area. Many programs were well on their way to be an additional tool for makerspaces around the country, but we needed time and resources to bring those projects to fruition. I do not believe that our closing is due to a failed business model. The significant resources needed to successfully defend against the lawsuit interfered with our ability to devote those resources to building our business. In the end, it is more important to devote to me to devote myself to my family than to continue operating the business.

Thank you for your support, we were here because of you

Dan