TechShop

From makernexuswiki

We have found that a lot of information about TechShop flies by on Facebook, Slack, and Reddit. Here we try to archive relevant information so that it is easy to find.

Archived Notes

Closure

  • September 3, 2019 So far Dan Rasure has spent $2,027,790.25 in attorneys’ fees defending allegations of trademark infringement.
  • August 15, 2019 Dan Rasure sends email announcing the closing of TheShop.build.

Aug 15, 2019 Dan Rasure email - the closing of TheShop.build

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

Appeal

Verdict

  • June 12, 2019, trial jury returns a verdict, finding that "TheShop" willfully infringed on Techshop's service mark, but finding zero profit from the use, and no actual damages
  • April 17, 2019 Dan Rasure sends email complaining about cost of litigation
  • April 16, 2019 court filing accuses Maker Nexus of anti-competitive behavior
  • April 11, 2019 TheShop in San Jose served with a three day notice to either pay $245,307.54 in rent due, or move out.
  • July 2018 bankruptcy trustee communicates about LLC's
  • March 5, 2018 Dan Rasure sends email about TheShop
  • March 3, 2018 Form 309C was received in the US mail

April 17, 2019 Dan Rasure sends email complaining about cost of litigation

Dear member,

I know that most of you have been eagerly waiting to hear from us, hoping to learn about the where the new space will be and when it will be open. We know that the uncertainty has been difficult and we thank everyone for their patience. After months of seeking out the perfect space, we have finally found it, but might not be able to move forward without some help. For those of you who don’t know, TheShop.build was sued by the TechShop board just before they file for bankruptcy. I consider this lawsuit to be frivolous and a near constant harassment.

I woke up this morning fully expecting to sign the lease for the new TheShop.build San Francisco facility, but was met instead with a trial budget for the next 7 weeks of the lawsuit with TechShop considerably higher than I was expecting. Without some help, we simply cannot afford the six figure deposit on our new facility in addition to the exorbitant legal fees this lawsuit requires.

The San Francisco facility was sustainable and I am looking for the next several years to be better even than the first in a larger facility with room to make more projects. I am disgusted at how much time, money, and emotion has been spent on the lawsuit with TechShop. The lawsuit has hurt makers and will continue to do so. Machine access has been near and dear to my heart most of my life. All I wanted to do when I started this project was to get the closed makerspaces open and get each of you back in the space building your projects as fast as possible. Instead it has turned into a project of extreme sacrifice for everyone involved. The burden the lawsuit has put on my family has been tremendous and I have a tough time looking at my family knowing how much pain I have caused them.

If I had known the document production process would be so overreaching and burdensome, I would not have pushed to get the San Jose facility open. I have spent more time on the lawsuit than anything else I have done over the past year. We spent well over a 1000 hours complying with the document requests. Months were spent fighting over my spousal communications with my wife and all of my privileged communications with my lawyers.

This is not a model problem. The money, time, and effort that has gone into this lawsuit would have funded several makerspaces. I expect the final legal costs for the lawsuit to be near $2,000,000.

With all this said we have still served over 2000 makers in the past year, we have seen our first tenant company acquisition, art shows, STEAM camps, investments, CEO presentations by makers, and new makers and ideas coming alive.

I don’t know what form it will take, but my hope is that one of you, or several of you, will be able to help us get beyond this final hurdle and bring the community back together under a new roof. We need your help to open TheShop.build San Francisco.

Thank you, Dan

April 16, 2019 court filing accuses Maker Nexus of anti-competitive behavior

Case 4:18-cv-01044-HSG Document 146 Filed 04/16/19 Page 5 of 6

Defendants will ultimately ask the Court to find that this is an “exceptional” case. Among other bases, the fact that a former officer and Board member of a direct competitor of Defendants brought this case—and did so only one day after resigning from Maker Nexus—suggests that the case was brought for anti-competitive purposes. Further, that Plaintiff’s counsel knew before filing suit that potential customers were well-informed and knew about the negotiations between Plaintiff and Mr. Rasure, such that there could be no confusion, suggests that the case was not brought in good faith. Defendants do not intend to make these arguments before the jury, but do reserve the right to make them before the Court.

To the extent the Court grants this alternative relief, Defendants should still be permitted to introduce the video from the Maker Nexus “town hall meeting” because it is highly relevant and there is no way to remove Plaintiff’s counsel from the video.

July 2018 bankruptcy trustee communicates about LLC's

Text from a PDF file shared on Facebook.

link to original document

Note: The original document contained bold and underlined text that is not reproduced here.

TechShop, Inc., Chapter 7 (Case No. 18‐50398)

United States Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of California

This document is intended solely to provide general information.  Neither the Chapter 7 Trustee, her counsel, nor any other professional of the Trustee can or will provide you with legal advice.      Techshop, Inc., (“Debtor”) filed a voluntary chapter 7 petition on February 26, 2018.  The Court‐ appointed chapter 7 trustee for the Debtor is Doris Kaelin (“Trustee”).

It appears that the Debtor had multiple, separate, limited liability subsidiaries (the “LLC”) that operated shops/facilities (“Shops”) in various locations in the United States under the ‘Techshop’ name.    The LLC’s are not part of the Debtor’s bankruptcy case.

Based on the information currently available (i) the LLCs appear to have ceased operations, but have not filed bankruptcy, (ii) the LLCs operated Shops under their own lease agreements (i.e. the Debtor was not the tenant under the Shop leases), and (iii) the Shops contain equipment and other personal property owned and/or leased by the Debtor.   

When the bankruptcy case was filed, Trustee is informed the Debtor included on its “Creditor Matrix” filed with the Court all customers of the LLCs and other creditors of the LLCs.  The Creditor Matrix has since been modified by order of the Bankruptcy Court so that notices will only be mailed to persons who TechShop, Inc. has identified as its creditors and parties in interest (rather than creditors or parties in interest of the LLCs).  If you are not included on the current Creditor Matrix and you wish to receive notices in the bankruptcy case, you must file a Request for Notice with the Clerk’s Office, United States Bankruptcy Court, 280 South First Street, Room 3035, San Jose, CA 95113. Make sure to reference the case name and case number‐ TechShop, Inc., Case No. 18‐50398 in your Request for Notice.   

If you claim that you are owed money by the Debtor, Techshop, Inc., you must file a Proof of Claim with the Bankruptcy Court.  The Notice of Possible Dividend issued by the Bankruptcy Court on April 27, 2018 (copy attached).  Proofs of Claim are due by July 26, 2018.  Only those persons who are owed money by TechShop, Inc. should file a Proof of Claim with the Bankruptcy Court.  Creditors need to consult with their own advisors on whether they have a claim against TechShop, Inc.  Do not send any claim documentation to the Trustee or her professionals.  They will not take any action with them.  Only documents filed with the Bankruptcy Court will be considered.    

If your address has changed, you must file a notice of change of address with the Bankruptcy Court:   Clerk’s Office, United States Bankruptcy Court, 280 South First Street, Room 3035, San Jose, CA 95113.   Make sure to reference the case name and case number—TechShop, Inc., Case No. 18‐50398. Do not send address changes to the Trustee or her professionals.  They will not take any action with them.

March 5, 2018 Dan Rasure sends email about TheShop

Dan sent the following email:

Wow, I can’t say anything more than Wow. The first two weeks have been pretty amazing at TheShop. I know many of you haven’t come in to see us yet and I would encourage you to make the trip in soon and bring a friend. We are still cleaning machines, replacing parts, and getting spaces ready for new equipment. We have been rolling out classes slowly and will be rolling out more classes (including STEAM and vacation classes) in the coming weeks.

Many of you have asked what TheShop means to me. To me TheShop is a launching pad for your ideas, our job is to provide a stable and sustainable launch pad. We can’t be flashy because the model doesn’t support flash and nobody is going to pay us millions of dollars with the expectations we will be able to launch a large IPO. TheShop is a simple model of good running machines, quality making space, support for member growth, exciting classes you will want to take, and well trained staff and instructors.

We hosted what hopefully with be the first of many events on the 3rd floor of TheShop. We had over 200 people in attendance and it was great to meet so many makers. If you weren’t able to attend please stop by TheShop and say hello. We have already had several members submit ideas and proposals for improvements, new machines, or new spaces to the shop. We are looking into the ideas and figuring out if we can turn them into a sustainable part of The Shop.

The Shop has a significant amount of space for events in the main shop and gallery. We are offering up to 6 months free membership packages for company employees if your company purchases an event from us in the next 30 days. Please have your company contact us and we will be happy to arrange an event at TheShop or your facility. We are also making our event spaces available to meetup groups and nonprofits. Send us an email at info@theshop.build

As many of you are already aware TechShop announced they filed for bankruptcy on Monday night. I am extremely grateful the TechShop board entertained our first offer and ultimately accepted it. While I was extremely upset when the original MOU was canceled, we didn’t stop working to make a deal happen, we got very close and I am shocked at how close we got to a deal to not get it done for the remaining shops. Regardless we will be working to buy the remaining shops out of Bankruptcy.

The cease and desist Tech Shop sent finally arrived in the mail on Monday 2/27/18. TechShop did not deliver a Cease and Desist to me prior to filing their lawsuit regarding the corporate name we had presented in every offer ever given to them by us. They accepted the name and published it on their own website, social media pages, and press releases when the original MOU was signed. It is frustrating they filed a lawsuit against me while we were still working to get a deal done, almost as frustrating as charging my credit card without authorization to keep their email server running. It was more frustrating to hear Makernexus (directly from Eric Hess) held a board meeting after he reached out to Jim Newton and Dan Woods and were told TechShop planned to let the trustee sort everything out. At some point after the board meeting James Pistorino (MakerNexus VP at the time) reached an agreement with TechShop Inc to sue myself and TechShop 2.0 LLC. I’m not sure why MakerNexus even felt they needed to have a board meeting regarding what TechShop Inc was doing in regards to us. When I heard this I couldn’t help to think about the hoops I had to jump through to make sure the employees of TechShop didn’t get their health insurance paid when TechShop decided to pay themselves instead of their obligations to their employees including health insurance. Regardless our goal from day one has been to get shops open and we are going to continue to work to get shops open whether that be through direct ownership or partnering with other groups who truly care about the community.

It is my firm opinion TechShop did not fail because makerspaces are a bad business model, but instead because of a corporate leadership team who didn’t understand how to keep employees and overspent on the things that didn’t matter instead of the shops. TechShop did many good things over the years as well and we will push everyday to make sure Makers have a solid place to call their shop.

If you haven’t joined TheShop.build yet, please do so at https://theshop.build/Membership-Options We are honoring previously taken SBU’s for everyone who joins before March 21ST. If you are interested in a shop we haven’t announced yet, please join and you can cancel at the payment screen. If you do pay and we don’t open your shop we will refund any payments.

I would like to close with lets move forward together by doing the right things to keep the good things moving forward. Thank you for your support.

Dan

March 3, 2018 form 309C

I received a letter addressed to my consulting dba that invoiced TS when I worked events for them. The letter is titled "Notice of Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Case -- No Proof of Claim Deadline"

Some details from letter
TS EIN: 26-4280301
Date case filed for chapter 7: 2/26/18
Case number: 18-50398 MEH 7
Debtor's attorney
Matthew D. Metzger
1777 Borel Pl. #314
San Mateo, CA 94402
415 513 5980
Bankruptcy trustee
Doris A. Kaelin
PO Box 1582
Santa Cruz, CA 95061
831.600.8093
dktrustee@gmail.com
Meeting of creditors
March 22, 2018 at 2:30PM
US Federal Bldg, 280 S 1st St #130, San Jose, CA 95113
Proof of claim
No property appears to be available to pay creditors. Therefore do not file a proof of claim now.

If it later appears that assets are available to pay creditors, the clerk will send you another
notice telling you that you may file a proof of claim and stating the deadline.

TechShop files for bankruptcy

  • Bankruptcy Forms
  • Feb 26, 2018 Michael Erickson posts to FB a letter from Dan Woods saying bankruptcy is being filed this evening
  • Feb 20, 2018 Dan Rasure: From FB: Talks about his dealing with TS

Feb 26, 2018 Michael Erickson post on FB

This email was just sent out from Dan Woods to all TechShop employees. I’m posting it here because I know that many of you don’t check your email.

Dear Former TechShop Employees,

This evening TechShop's bankruptcy counsel are filing for Chatper-7 bankruptcy protection. I cannot begin to express the depth of my disappointment that we were unable to get the company cash-flow positive and positioned to service the company’s debt.

I want you to know that first and foremost among our objectives in deferring Chapter-7 filing for the past months was to find a solution where employees, instructors and other stakeholders would receive the best possible outcome given the circumstances. In the final analysis, this proved impossible, and the potential investment groups were unable to reach a satisfactory deal with secured creditors. but we felt we needed to give it our very best shot.

I am sorry. I realize those three words are of little solace and won't cure the pain. Still, I want you to know that from the bottom of my heart, I deeply regret that we didn't get the company turned around on my watch, and I continue to agonize every day over the closure and the position this left so many of you in. It sucks. I would do anything to reverse the outcome. I was only the CEO for the final 15 months, but I was the CEO when we closed. So the buck stops with me.

Please know, that regardless of your personal feelings, you can always email me directly at my personal email address: [REDACTED per Michael Erickson request].

I realize that many former employees are no longer checking their TechShop email and soon, it will be turned off altogether. Please consider forwarding this to fellow former employees at their personal email addresses.

Wishing you all the very best in your next endeavor. If I can be of assistance with letters of reference please don't hesitate to let me know.

Warmes Regards,

Dan

-- Dan Woods CEO TechShop daniel.woods@techshop.com

Feb 20, 2018 From Facebook post by Dan Rasure

I want to clear up a few items. I did the deal in San Francisco the way I did, because there was no deal to be made with TechShop or Autodesk. Autodesk let their UCC filing to secure their loan lapse in 2017, and when I asked Autodesk over and over if they had it they said they did. They finally admitted they didn't and refiled UCC'S. This didn't happen until January 5th. TechShop had also started receiving notices about their lease prior to the shop originally closing and continued to receive communication after the close. Between these two very significant failures on the parties,there was no deal to be made with either of them. I made the deal that had to be made to open the shop, I also never lied to either party about San Francisco. I did stop talking about the location after I made it clear to Autodesk the San Francisco assets were gone, TechShop never asked why it disappeared from the new proposals.

A deal can be made that gets the employees paid, but it is very clear Autodesk and TechShop do not want this to happen. Autodesk has repeatedly said they prefer bankruptcy. I have proposed deals that pay all of the employees prior to bankruptcy, allow the shops to open, and rent the equipment so a trustee can help decide fair value. The board doesn't want to take the risk of paying employees who they have an obligation to pay, and then file for bankruptcy. As well as the rental offers, cash proposals have also been made.

The obligation to pay employees was that of TechShop; they failed, and they need to get it paid. TechShop has not been honest with many parties for quite some time, so I'm not sure why anybody thinks they are now.

Theshop opens

  • Feb 19, 2018: TheShop.build opens its doors in San Francisco! Members start using the shop!!
  • Feb 17, 2018 TechShop2 changes their name on their website and FB pages to TheShop.build

Lawsuit

  • Feb 16,2018 TechShop sues TS2 for trademark issues, court documents
  • Feb 15, 2018 Press Release about opening SF shop
  • Feb 13, 2018 Facebook posting of letter from Dan Woods posted by Eric Stratten on TechShop Detroit Refugees See below.
  • Feb 12, 2018 TechShop 2.0 website TechShop 2.0 San Francisco to open February 19th, 2018
  • Feb 1, 2018 Dan Rasure: From Facebook: Still working nonstop to bring this to a resolution and open shops.
  • Jan 15, 2018 Email from Dan Rasure
  • Jan 14, 2018 Dan Rasure: From Facebook "Would you like to work for TechShop 2.0? Do you have a product you think we need? Do you provide a service that we should consider? Do you have a class you think we should offer, and you’d love to teach? Please visit www.techshop2.com and click on the more button to apply or submit your proposal. We look forward to hearing from you!" (Note: "more" only appears on small screens. On a laptop it says "Job Application" and "Suppliers")
  • Jan 4, 2018 Dan Rasure : From Facebook "I know I promised another update in 24 hours. We have a few details that are taking a little bit longer than anticipated as people get back from New Years. I will provide a more in-depth update as soon as we can. Thank you"
  • Jan 1, 2018 Dan Rasure : From Facebook: "It has been a good weekend. We received a key document from one of the 3rd party TechShop partners late Friday night and the lawyers will be discussing the finer points on Tuesday. I also have a longer update to post and will do so in the next 24 hrs. Thank you for your patience."
  • Dec 28, 2017 Dan Rasure: From Facebook: Report that contractors may be paid as part of the deal.
  • Dec 16, 2017 Dan Rasure: From Facebook: TS2 might be on again

Feb 15, 2018

An email sent by TS2.0 to wide distribution. Formatting here is slightly different.

TechShop 2.0 San Francisco Opening February 19th

We are excited to announce to the following to the maker community in San Francisco. Enclosed below you will find a copy of the press release we published announcing our upcoming opening.

Visit TechShop2.com and check out the membership options. Be one of the first to sign up.

Immediate Release 2/15/2018 TechShop 2.0 to Open in San Francisco

San Francisco, CA— 2/9/2018 — Today, TechShop 2.0 announced the company will be reopening the former SOMA TechShop facility on Howard Street. The company plans on opening the shop on February 19th, 2018.

TechShop 2.0 completed a transaction to purchase the equipment located at the facility and entered into a new lease for the facilities.

Tech Shop 2.0 will be providing access to advanced and basic tools, including milling machines, cnc routers, laser cutters, welders, 3D printers, woodworking machines, vinyl cutting, sewing, injection molding, design software, and is already looking at additional equipment based on community feedback. The company will be creating a class offering to expand and compliment equipment skills from novice to advanced.

“We are excited to join the community makers, hobbyists, students, and entrepreneurs as they bring their ideas and dreams to life,” Dan Rasure, Tech Shop 2.0 CE0.

For more information, press only: PR Contact Name Megan Drew Wieslander Email Megan.Drew@techshop2.com For more information on: TechShop2.0 www.techshop2.com

Feb 13, 2018 Facebook posting of letter from Dan Woods

As you know, Dan Rasure had been negotiating with Autodesk, Lowe's, TechShop and landlords regarding his desire to acquire assets and re-open several TechShop locations. However, after consulting with the secured creditors and under advisement of our attorneys TechShop, Inc's Board of Directors has concluded that there is no imminent agreement in play between Mr. Rasure and either the secured creditors or TechShop, Inc. Therefore, we will be moving ahead with Chapter-7 filing.

Further, there is absolutely no relationship between Mr. Rasure's TechShop 2.0 entity and TechShop, Inc. or it's LLCs.

Mr. Rasure's representations online and social media are his own. We are aware that yesterday he promised to open a makerspace in TechShop San Francisco's former location by next Monday. However, we (nor any of our partners or secured creditors) were party to that agreement.

I can be reached at (redacted phone number) if you or anyone on your team would like to discuss further.

Warm Regards,

Dan

Feb 1, 2018 The following appeared on Facebook

This is Dan and I wanted to first thank everyone for continuing to hang in there as we finalize the transactions. This has turned into a very complicated deal with more than 20 major players involved, this doesn't include employees, instructors, vendors, or investors.

We are working nonstop to bring this to a resolution and announce shop openings. Every day I think we will be able to announce something and something else keeps us from completing a transaction. To say the least, it has been extremely disappointing at times, but your desire to have your shops open again is a strong motivator to continue forging ahead.

I wish I had more to share, but the negotiations are still sensitive at this point. We will have a ton to share and I am looking forward to talking to all of you soon. Thank you again.


Dec 28, 2017 Reported by Seth Abbott Newsome‎ on FB

Dan Rasure, manager of TS 2.0, just called me personally to say a few things to the group. As with anything related to Techshop, Ill believe it when I see it. But he said that he is proceeding with the deal to try and open most of the shops in January.

He also said that if that can go forward he is fully committed to paying 100% of employee and contractor pay. There is of course still the issue of reclassification, and he seems to agree that likely at least some of the contractor positions were inappropriate, but its a different discussion.

He is drafting a personal message to be posted to the group later. Will keep you posted.

Posted by Dan Rasure on FB:

We are working diligently to get the employees and instructors paid. There is a ton of details to get covered in the agreements.

Waiting on all of the final documents to come back. Everything is extremely close.

Dec 16, 2017 Dan Rasure public post in Facebook

I haven’t posted anything for a few days and I wanted to provide a brief update. We don’t have a signed agreement yet, but the framework has been established and we received an important set of documents last night. With Christmas just 9 days away and many people leaving offices early we are working through the weekend as we have for the past month to finally deliver the news of when shops will be reopening.

This week has been a frustrating week for everyone involved and I feel things got out of hand on social media. This has been an interesting transaction from the beginning to say the least. I felt there was a need to communicate with the community 2 weeks ago when the MOU was agreed to and even before, but typically the entire deal would have been agreed to prior to an announcement. I wish we would have been able to do that and if we had, I think the shops would have already started opening back up. I appreciate all of the feedback each of you have provided and the open communication will resume, but at this time we need to focus on completing the transaction.

Thank you for your patience as we work to reopen Tech Shop.

Rescue fails

  • Dec 13, 2017 Doug Busch: From Facebook: An update on the TS situation after news of the collapse of the Memo of Understanding came out. See below.
  • Dec 13, 2017 Dan Rasure: From Facebook: Dan's public post after news of the MoU collapse came out. See below.
  • Dec 5, 2017 Web Archive: "Stay tuned for the next iteration of TechShop" appears on TechShop website
  • Dec 5, 2017 AdaFruit interview with Dan Rasure
  • Dec 5, 2017 Facebook post by Dan Rasure, see below.

Dec 13, 2017 Posted to Facebook Maker Orphans group

Update to TechShop, Inc. Stakeholders (from Doug Busch)

A few days ago I posted a fairly detailed explanation of the circumstances leading to TechShop, Inc’s closure and subsequent decision to work with Dan Rasure, rather than file Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Since then, a lot has happened. As you may have seen, yesterday the TechShop, Inc. board ended the MoU we had established with Mr. Rasure. I want to update the stakeholder community.

As a reminder, I am an independent Director on the board of TechShop, Inc., one of the earliest and larger individual investors, and an active maker. When we started discussions with Mr. Rasure, we made it very clear that the company had no cash left, and we could not pay for fundamental services needed to plan for and execute the deal he proposed. At that time, our only option was to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy and let the court appointed Trustee deal with financial and legal details. Consequently, after some tense negotiation, we agreed that Mr. Rasure’s new company would make direct payments to various service providers to enable the deal to be completed, and to prevent some adverse events from happening.

This included: keeping TechShop, Inc’s cloud services contract in force, so that email and other systems would stay alive; paying for necessary legal services to write and review sale documents; and paying the healthcare insurance bill for all TechShop employees, to ensure coverage was in place through the end of November for care already received. Mr. Rasure’s team did make those payments. They also made some very limited arrangements to hire a few former employees as temporary contractors to do specific tasks. (Note that there were no agreements with executives of the company—no one in senior management or the board has been paid by anyone as part of this process.) The payments were a small fraction of the $200,000 max commitment for wind down expenses that was part of the MOU.

We were advised by our attorneys that we have an obligation to have ‘reasonable assurance’ that anyone we sell assets to has the capability to execute the commitments made. This includes seeing evidence that the buyer has sufficient capital to get started operating the business, that they have a management team that can start the operation, and that they have a company structure (‘legal entities’) established. We requested that information from Mr. Rasure prior to signing the MoU.

To date, we have not received the information required. At about the same time we ended the MoU, he provided a document showing access to some capital, although in the opinion of the board it is insufficient to get the business restarted. We have not received any information regarding team members that would be involved in day to day operations; so far the only individual we have had any communication with is Mr. Rasure, despite our efforts to contact individuals he identified as his Board. We have not seen any documents describing the legal structure of his company, or its ownership. Mr. Rasure has also been very reluctant to engage other resources that are needed to do an orderly wind down of TechShop, Inc, including our accountants and finance team.

The TechShop, Inc. team has provided all of the information required and legally allowed. We have provided full financial data. We provided a draft sales agreement to Mr. Rasure for review, but have not received any comments or feedback. We also expedited closure of the deal by getting approval from 51% of our Series A and B shareholders to waive a required notification period. Mr. Rasure has requested member contact information; unfortunately, we are legally not allowed to transfer this information, but we have proposed effective ways for his team to engage members. We have done everything we can to move this deal forward.

We don’t wish to cast any aspersions on Mr. Rasure’s intentions or ability to run a ‘TechShop 2.0’ business. He has to make decisions about how to proceed with this deal in his best interest. However, given the lack of clarity on some really basic and critical aspects of the deal, we decided we needed to consider other alternatives.

In the past few days, we have been approached by other parties who have an interest in reopening one or several locations. We are entertaining discussions with them. We will continue to talk to Mr. Rasure as he moves forward. We also have to keep the possibility of filing Chapter 7 as an alternative, if none of the other options materialize.

There have been comments in social media about the motivations and actions of the senior management and board of TechShop, Inc. in this process. I completely understand the emotion of this situation, and the impact it has had on people’s personal finances, their businesses, and their livelihoods. I need to say that throughout this unfortunate and difficult process, the decisions and actions of the board have been driven exclusively by what we believe will produce the best outcome for all of the stakeholders, exclusive of us personally. The Board and senior management team will get no financial benefit from any decision we make—the senior management team stopped getting paid well before other employees saw any impact, there are no severance payments being made, as an investor I’m losing everything I put in, just like all other investors. Several of us have written substantial personal checks to help get to a better outcome. We have been working uncompensated to drive this to a positive conclusion. The lowest risk and impact for us as directors and officers would have been to simply file Chapter 7, but when we saw the possibility of a better outcome we decided without flinching to take on additional risk and uncompensated work to try to make it happen. This is what responsible people do; we can do no less.

Dec 13, 2017 From Facebook: Dan Rasure's public post after news of the MoU collapse came out.

I wanted to clear up a few things and I will be posting a letter soon. I did not walk from the deal with TechShop. They had received money to pay for their lawyer, health insurance for their employees, some staff pay, and money for their email services (it is amazing how much money it cost to keep their email alive).

I am extremely disappointed. I will be posting more and through this process I have seen many ways I can help each of you as inventors and the other maker spaces. Please send me a message if you have any questions.

Dec 5, 2017 From Facebook, Dan talks about machine use fees

We are currently working on membership rates, but I wanted to address machine use fees. Machine use fees will be for machines/processes with higher operating cost, acquisition cost, or specialty machines/jigs. I can see many members continuing to only see a membership fee without any additional use charges.

Currently the water jet cost $3 per minute. At this point, I haven't seen any calculations for anything higher than the water jet. This makes sense to me, because waterjets have a high operating and maintenance cost.

I would like to see a 5x10 plasma or fiber laser (possibly both) in most shops. Both of these machines would have a significantly lower cost per hour than the waterjet.

The second part of Machine use time is how the calculation is done. Is it the total time on the machine or only when the machine is running. One theory is to charge for total time. Second is only when the machine is running. Third is a hybrid.

Since only one person can be on a machine at a time, I believe total time or hybrid is the best going forward. I am strongly leaning towards a hybrid, with machine time charged in 30 minute increments and run time by the minute.

In my experience when someone knows they are getting charged by the minute they make better use of their time. This means being more prepared when they start, getting better trained, and organizing their project more effeciently. In my opinion the burden of training falls on the member and TechShop.

The goal is not to nickel and dime members, but set up processes to keep rates fair for all members and cover the true cost of running a machine the same way a Manufacturer does in their shop.

I understand you may say to yourself, I can justify this machine for this project, but I can't for this one. I hope you do. It will make you a better designer and the shop more sustainable.

We are also exploring equipment rentals to members for a dedicated machine. This may be for a day, week, month, or longer.

Please feel free to continue asking questions as we all work towards a better place to create.

My email is Dan.rasure@techshop2.com

Rescue plan

  • Dec 3, 2017 Dan Rasure: An email to TS members about Dan Rasure's plans for the new TS2.0. Reproduced below.
  • Dec 3, 2017 Doug Woods: An email about a deal with Dan. Unknown distribution list. Reproduced below.
  • Dec 1, 2017 TechShop sends Notice of Liquidation Event and Memo of Understanding to the Holders of Series A Preferred Stock and Series B Preferred Stock of TechShop, Inc., a California corporation ("TechShop")
  • Nov 19, 2017 Town Hall: A meeting of TS members held in Santa Clara, California to talk about what we should do next. The genesis point of Maker Nexus. Notes of the meeting are below.

Email from Dan Rasure Dec 3, 2017

An email to TS members about Dan Rasure's plans for the new TS2.0

Dear Members of TechShop,

Are you ready to get building again? We are and I know the past three weeks have been a very frustrating time for you. I believe there is much we can do to build on the good and leave the bad in the past. Some of the changes will start immediately and others will take a considerable amount of time and the support of the members to accomplish.

Our new legal entity name is TechShop 2.0 LLC, but we will continue to operate the shops at TechShop. The name is just a name, but the shop has always been about you and we are going to put our focus into you and helping you succeed with your projects.

TechShop for years has been saddled with an extremely heavy debt load. This debt load was unsustainable to operate a business. Going forward we will operate the company in a fiscally responsible fashion while putting a focus on members and machines. The original TechShop did not have a stand alone corporate office, but the corporate expenses provided minimal value to TechShop and represented a very large % of the company revenue. Going forward we will have a very flat structure focused on each shop. I look forward to meeting each and everyone of you in one of the shops as you work on your projects.

To me customer service isn’t a cliché, it is a way of life. I believe in perfect machines and helping customers succeed. I know Tech Shop had many great people, but I haven’t found many staff members who felt they were appreciated. In fairness to the previous management team, I believe they spent a significant amount of time trying to make sure the bills were getting paid and when you are focused on payroll this week, it makes it very hard to move a company forward and take care of everyone. Given the financial strain, I feel staff training became lacking in some areas, as well as machine maintenance. Going forward please look forward to and demand more from TechShop.

As we integrate better training procedures adopted from each manufacturer’s recommended training procedures we will also be changing how we do our initial safety training for each area. The goal will always be to minimize the impact on other members who need to use equipment, but in many areas so many courses are taught each year to justify training equipment. In some cases the equipment will just be used for training and a copy of what is in the shop, but in other cases the training setup will be provided by the equipment manufacturer and specifically for training. Examples of the specific training modules are CNC control units for machining centers, welder simulators, ect. Creating a better training environment will also transfer over to STEAM education. STEAM education should continue to grow at TechShop, but it can’t be to the detriment of members who need to run their business.

In regards to running your business, we want to keep more businesses inside Tech Shop longer. To do this we are already exploring how we can make more space available for rent within the facilities or nearby. As we add more equipment to each shop our goal is to make it easier to operate your business at Tech Shop. Several members have already mentioned mail boxes and office space not inside the actual Tech Shop space. Small business services and classes will become part of our normal member offering.

I am rarely able to complete a project without at least one stop to the lumberyard. Where possible, TechShop will be putting a greater emphasis on retail supplies available at a fair price to members as well as access to our entire offering of supplies. Special order supplies will be available as part of our normal vendor delivery or next day via UPS or FedEx. This will include tools and machines if you decide to outfit your own shop.

When a company is running tight on funds, often times machine maintenance takes a back seat. One of our first priorities once we receive keys to shops will be to evaluate, clean, fix (if needed), add hour meters to machines without them, and calibrate machines. Preventative maintenance and knowing how much each machine is operating is critical to preventing unplanned breakdowns. Machine Performance Audits will be completed by the manufacturer on a recommended schedule by the manufacturer. A safety stock of repair parts will be added at each store and on a company wide basis based on repair frequency and part lead time. Machines needing repair will be logged immediately to be repaired and will be visible to all leadership. This is a simple process and we will use it to drive machine uptime the same way I do currently with thousands of machines in service.

I got an early start in the rental equipment industry, I had to take apart a nail gun and replace the o-rings and the tasks grew from there. I see many similarities between a rental equipment store and TechShop. Machines use has to be priced at a fair price to the customer and allow for maintenance, operating cost, and depreciation. If this isn’t done membership rates unfairly subsidize users who use expensive machines. As space and member demand drives larger machines such as a fiber laser, machining center, bigger panel routers, ect machines will be priced and marketed to reduce shop and member risk instead of increasing it. The other part of equipment management is not over utilizing equipment. As utilization goes above 70% the more risk you have in disappointing customers. The reservation system will be getting an overhaul after we get more feedback from the members. I am a firm believer in buying quality tools and we will be removing Harbor Freight tools.

A greater emphasis will be placed on target marketing to hobbyist, professionals, entrepreneurs, businesses, and STEAM opportunities. We will complete this in a focused and planned manner in each market we serve. We will also provide incentives to members to bring new members into the shop. The more each shop grows the more we can offer to you. The marketing will also include marketing TechShop services using available machines at each shop. TechShop has a great opportunity to do more for each community it is lucky enough to be a part of, this can include more events or donating machine use for community projects. Members will have the opportunity to drive this involvement with the support of TechShop. I am looking forward to hearing your ideas on how you would like Tech Shop more involved in the community and events for both members and nonmembers.

I have heard a tremendous amount of good and bad from several hundred members at this point and I believe Tech Shop community is extremely strong. I encourage everyone of you to have open communication with the Tech Shop team. I believe in the product we are going to deliver to each of you and going forward we will be an extensive user of open forums as an extension to the shops.

Thank you for your patience as we are working around the clock to get shops open to the public. I know there is so much more to cover with each of you and we are looking forward to digging in with each of you.

Sincerely,

Dan Rasure

Tech Shop 2.0

Dec 3, 2017 Doug Woods email

Email header

This email was sent out with the following header: 

From: "Dan Woods -- TechShop CEO" <ceo@techshop.ws>
To: ***** <****>
Subject: **** -- TechShop Inc Signs MOU With Third Party To Reopen Makerspaces...
Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2017 06:03:35 -0800 (PST)

The above recipient was a lender to TechShop.

Email body

TechShop, Inc. has reached an agreement with a third party to acquire all company assets. The new entity, TechShop 2.0, LLC, plans to re-open as many stores as possible, as soon as possible. The acquiring partnership is led by Dan Rasure and Bill Lloyd (Owner of BHL Services Inc. of Minneapolis).

On November 17th, just hours before we had planned to file Chapter-7, Mr. Rasure approached with an interest in acquiring the entire company. Being struck by his sincerity, business acumen, and resolve to re-open shops quickly, TechShop, Inc's Board and a small team of former employees embarked on a non-stop eleven-day effort. The end result, an arrangement with Mr. Rasure and Lloyd to re-open the next iteration of TechShop.

Throughout this effort our goal was to restore service to communities and members, rehire as many employees as possible, and provide a more sustainable path forward for TechShop's members.

None of TechShop's Directors and Officers have or will receive so much as a dollar from this deal -- either through equity, cash payments, or compensation.

TechShop 2.0's shop re-opening schedule and member re-engagement plan are currently being finalized. This information will be released in the coming days. TechShop 2.0 will work with members at each location for the purpose of assisting anyone who may need to remove personal materials from one of our locations.

For those who submitted email to trustee.techshop@gmail.com we will be accessing the account and responding to all of you as promptly as possible. For now, I invite you to visit TechShop.com and stay tuned to @techshop for further developments and reopening details.

Announcing the closure of TechShop was the most difficult thing I've had to do in my career. When the opportunity for a different path forward presented itself, we did whatever humanly possible to work with Dan Rasure and make TechShop 2.0 a reality. I want to thank Dan and Bill for their perseverance and commitment to re-kindle the dream that is TechShop.

The Nov 19, 2017 Town Hall

20 November 2017 18:00 - This document has been shared for commenting and viewing with a large number of people.

On November 19, 2017 at 1 PM a town hall meeting was held in the Santa Clara Hacker Dojo to discuss the creation of an organization to replace TechShop. The meeting was announced on at least the Facebook group TechShop Orphans and the Slack site of SFBayAreaMakers. This document servers to capture the essence of the meeting. Comments to help make this record more complete and accurate are welcome. Please make your comments about correcting or adding to documenting what what said. Comments of “I agree” or “this is important” are not useful unless your point is that the group meeting felt it was important and I failed to adequately note that here.

Jim Schrempp

Overview

The meeting started at 1PM. Eric Hess led the meeting. We had about 40 people in the room to begin with. As the meeting progressed the crowd quickly grew to about 50. The vast majority of attendees were TechShop members, employees, or contractors. There were a few people from the Hacker Dojo.

This meeting was meant to solicit ideas and information from a large group of potential members. There is currently an organizing committee led by Eric Hess. We are interested in having other people join us who are serious about doing the work required to get a new organization going.

At this time there is no specific plan to present. After this meeting the organizing committee will come up with a description of a new shop that they can present to a group and get feedback on that plan.

I will add that the meeting was fabulous. Thanks to everyone who attended! We are all part of a great community.

  • Stay connected
  • Stay connected with this group!
  • Join social media, we’ll announce more meetings there:
  • Facebook group: TechShop Orphans [now Maker Orphans]
  • Slack: SFBayAreaMakers
Quick Poll Results

A number of times during the meeting a question was asked and a quick show of hands was given in response. Many of these polls were framed as “for you to be interested in joining…” We realize that the results of this poll only reflect the opinions of those 50 people in the room - who were mostly from TSMP and TSSJ which will result in some geographical bias. There were also probably a lot of motivated people with work to do at the meeting; hobbyists might be underrepresented. Lastly, some people were out scrambling to get their business back on line and didn’t have time for a meeting.We did not conduct a detailed count; this documents the approximate votes.


  1. Business Users
    1. I ran a business out of TechShop: 10
    2. Note that many small business users might be very interested in the next TechShop but can’t make meetings right now because they are too busy scrambling to keep their business going.
  2. Cost: TechShop membership cost
    1. Cost Too Much 8
    2. Cost Too Little 20
    3. Cost About Right 20
    4. Note that it was said the overall blended TS membership was $90/month
  3. Parking: The shop must
    1. Be near public transit 5
    2. Have parking 25
  4. Location 1: The shop should
    1. Have multiple sites in the SF bay area 15
    2. Have one site near me 30
    3. Grow to have sites across the US 10
  5. Location 2: If there was one shop in this location then I would NOT be interested
    1. Only SF 30 not interested
    2. Only SJ 5 not interested
    3. Only RWC 7 not interested
    4. Near Hacker Dojo 7 not interested
    5. Note: Lots of interest in a shop between RWC and SJ.
  6. Machine Shop:
    1. The shop must have equivalent to HAAS CNC mill 20
    2. Note: Or space to rent to put in a high end mill with operation restricted to pro users.
  7. Education: Does the shop need to address everything from beginner to professional, or could it just focus on one narrow objective in that range?
    1. Full range 30
    2. Specific focus - This seemed an important option to some people but we were not able to clarify the exact point.
  8. Dedicated Table: How much extra would you pay per month to have a 4x4 table space that was yours to use exclusively and leave your stuff there?
    1. $20/month 30 people
    2. $100/month 15 people
    3. Note that people said this is priced in competition to having to pay to bring your stuff to/from the shop each day. If close parking is $10/day, then this just has to be cheaper than that.
  9. 24x7:
    1. Would pay $50/month extra for 24 hour access 15
  10. Tools: What is required for you to be interested in the new shop?
    1. ShopBot 20
    2. Tormach and lathe 20
    3. Welding 10
    4. Woodshop 30
    5. WaterJet 1
    6. Plasma Cutter 10
    7. Laser only shop 5
    8. Note: lots of interest in lasers, but not in a laser only shop. There is of course a lot of synergy between these tool groupings and we did not test that complexity in the meeting.
  11. Board:
    1. Would you work to help run the organization? 10
  12. Raising money:
    1. Would you donate $500 now? 30
    2. Would you donate $1000 now? 15
    3. Would you donate more now? 10
    4. Would you pay your membership 1 year ahead? 35
    5. Interested in REIT to buy a building 15
Meeting Notes

These are notes about what was said in the meeting. The information below is not asserted to be true or complete. Some of these items were mentioned by one or two people only. Sometimes there was broad consensus on the item. I tried to capture as much as I could here as just raw information. It’s important to remember that we may need 500 members to make a shop really work and we only had 50 in our meeting. If only one person in the meeting brought up an item, that still might represent the feeling of many who were not here. To know if something is true and important to the entire community we would need to do more investigation.


  • Hacker Dojo
    • Is a non-profit collective space. Mostly for software development but recently added small makerspace.
    • Costs $125/month
    • has a large bed 120 watt laser cutter
    • Open to expanding in directions that members want. Willing to talk to a group of potential members who would say, “if you do this then we’ll join.”
    • Initially ran their laser first come, first served; no rules. Then at members request set up an online calendar with the rule: “only sign up for 2 hours at a time”. Still run very loosely.
    • Will there be a culture clash between the Dojo collective mentality and the TS more rigid rules based mentality?
  • There is a google doc out listing alternative sources of tools for makers. It is linked through the social media. Please contribute to this document as you find new sources. The following were mentioned as being in the document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iVCKAojmuTeLjwvuDNswxecZMtwRYursKwR7ax2AhuA/edit?usp=sharing
    • Plasma cutter
    • Panel Cutter
    • CNC Mill
    • Someone is looking for a large format printer for fabric
    • If you need a daily work space in south SJ
    • To get references to other makerspaces around the country
  • Three core constituencies, can we put them all in one shop?
    • Membership of all kinds
    • Professionals - power users
    • Educational mission - STEAM, community improvement
  • People would like to have some kind of unified cross makerspace certification. If they are certified to use a professional CNC mill at one makerspace, they’d like that certification to be honored at other makerspaces. Maybe with only a cursory “prove it” check out. There may be a national organization working on this.
  • We need multiple spaces for different classes of users.
    • Professional CNC machinists are frustrated when they find a mill has been tweaked by a beginner user who broke something. Also true of laser cutter users finding a laser filthy or damaged. A popular solution is to have a separate set of tools that are only accessible by the “professional” level member. They pay more for this and probably get to reserve longer time blocks as well. They know the machines are going to be clean and working well.

It was suggested that the shop should have some cheaper equipment for beginners. Perhaps a metal lathe from Harbor Freight that is cheap and less costly to repair. These would not stand up to long professional work, but that would be done on the more expensive “pro only” equipment. Many people complained that classes would monopolize the shop. For instance, when a woodshop SBU is in progress the woodshop is unavailable to members. If the shop teaches two woodshop SBUs back to back that essentially shuts down the woodshop for an entire day. Also, no way to find out online that the woodshop is unavailable due to a class; this is part of a larger operational communication issue. Several instructors found it difficult to teach a class with background noise. For instance, teaching a woodshop SBU while a plasma cutter is running on the other side of the wall.

  • There was a lot of frustration about STEAM classes monopolizing parts of the shop for weeks at a time. It was said that they were poorly supervised at times and often left a mess in the shop. Some people wanted to eliminate STEAM classes, others thought it was an important part of the mission of the shop. It was noted that STEAM summer camps generated a lot of profit for TechShop.
    • Could be addressed with better management
    • Could be handled with separate space, or even location, for STEAM type classes
  • We have seen woodshop groups start up and eventually fail. The successful ones did not rely only on membership dues; they also sold classes and materials.
  • Could revenue come from contract manufacturing? For instance, someone drops off a DXF file for laser cutting. Those sit in a queue that a qualified member could pick up and execute using shop supplied materials. The customer pays the shop and the shop pays the member who did the work; the shop keeps some amount for itself.
  • Non-profit. We discussed this a bit. Some people wanted the shop to be non-profit, others were ambivalent - they just wanted something that worked. Nonprofits cannot distribute profits to members or employees. One side said a non-profit could not pay high enough salary and benefits to attract quality employees, that a non-profit prevents hiring talented employees; another side said that wasn’t true at all. In the end the organizing committee will have to sort this out.
  • There is a member segment of extremely casual users. Drop-ins. They felt a monthly TS charge was too high. One suggestion was to sell a punch card of 10 one day visits. That was well received.
  • Some would like more mentoring of new members. They felt that after the SBU they were left to sink or swim. They wanted to have people help them more. It could be done in more classes or 1/1 help. Maybe building more community of similar people so they could help each other.
  • Many people said they did not like that there was only one price for everyone at TS. The hobbyist who came once a month paid the same as the professional who was there every day. It felt inherently unfair. Either the light user should pay much less or the pro should pay much more.
  • Many professional users said they did not like that the hobbyists got in their way of using the machines. The pros could not reserve as much time on the equipment as they needed to get their work done. The hobbyists might damage the machine and not report it. The pro machinists said that it isn’t just scheduling; they really need separate machines that only they get to use. The need for separate pro level lasers was not as clear; for lasers it might be ok to share with hobbyists as long as the lasers are cleaned and maintained and pros could schedule more time. It was mentioned several times that there was not enough laser capacity. TSSF had something like this with the Trotec lasers that cost $10/hour to operate.
  • How do you know who’s a pro skilled person and who isn’t? 4 hours is not enough training to use a CNC mill safely and correctly. Some people will claim to be a pro skill level and yet will be seen to use a machine incorrectly, maybe even dangerously. Some true pros will often take a shortcut on a machine because they feel it is safe if they do it. If we have some pro skill level membership, how do we enforce that? Do we have some skills based test? If someone buys pro skill level access, under what circumstances do we take that away? “We saw you in the pro level shop without safety glasses, you now lose your pro skill access”? “You did not close the welding curtain behind you when you started, you now lose your pro skill access”? “You ran the laser cutter head into something you thought would clear, you now lose your pro skill access”? Losing pro skill access could be a big deal for a member, how do they get redress?
    • Perhaps lost pro status could be restored by taking a very thorough shop safety course. Especially concerning that machine, but including general safety precautions and reminders to be aware. This would need to focus on building the right habits, so that they don’t keep making those mistakes.
  • Allen Tucker is interested in starting a pro level CNC machine shop. He might like it to be a dedicated small part of a larger shop. Contact him if this is your interest.
  • There is a lot of value in having access to all kinds of equipment. Many people might heavily use just one part of the shop, but they loved the fact that the other tool areas were available to them when needed. A heavy woodshop user might still need a laser cutter or metal shear from time to time. And a heavy laser user might need a panel cutter to slice up material to size.
  • The open shop fostered an atmosphere of cross idea fertilization that was very valuable. Valuable as part of the membership but also valuable to society as a whole. Some people found the ability to meet other makers and get feedback on their own projects to be valuable.
  • SBUs were often low information density and didn’t give enough time to really learn the machine. Some would prefer to pay for a quick 1/1 checkout session. Or instead of a 6 student 3 hour class, they’d pay for a single student 1.5 hour class.
  • Big work table space was very valuable. Some people brought their own tools, soldering irons, etc but used the shop for the easy workspace it provided. The new shop should have this same kind of space.
  • There was often not enough table space in TS. Members would come in to find that all the tables were already taken. Particularly bad to find a number of tables being used to store projects with no one actively using the table.
  • Some shops had only standing tables and bar stools. This was unworkable for a person who wants to set up their own sewing machine or computer. They should have had some regular desk height tables and chairs. (some locations did).
  • Could the shop be set up so a person in a wheelchair is able to use it? One person remembered a person in a wheelchair touring TSSJ and saying, “I can’t use any of the tools here.”
  • Private airplane clubs often own a plane and then rent it back to members on an hourly basis. Could that model work at our shop? Perhaps a member would buy a laser cutter or CNC mill and put it in the shop, getting paid for every hour it is used.
  • Within the community we might want to establish a sub tribe of members with kids. Help them to coordinate their needs and use.
  • Some information on TS finances was mentioned around the room; we have no way of knowing if this is accurate
    • 30% of revenue came from classes
    • TSMP had 604 members and a goal to be profitable on memberships alone with 750 members.
    • Summer camp STEAM classes at one location generated $30k in profit.
    • Other classes generated very little profit. (Due to the unlimited class membership deal?)
    • Average blended membership rate was $90/month
    • TSMP rent was $32k/month
    • Took $90k/month in revenue to keep a TS profitable
    • Santa Clara electric utility rates are 20% below other cities.
  • Shop sizes:
    • TSMP 21,000 sqft
    • TSSJ old location 10,000 sqft
    • TSSJ new location 17,000 sqft
  • Cost of moving from one space to another is huge and a problem. The new shop should try to get a space that will last. Of course another option is to limit growth to what the space can handle; being for-profit TS felt it had to keep growing, a non-profit would not necessarily feel that pressure.
  • One idea: put the shop into trailers or shipping containers. This would make it easier to relocate. Could also be a short term bridge to a longer term shop location.
  • Consider a space that would let us sublease sections of about 300 sqft to other companies. The space would have to have plenty of power and exhaust.
  • There was a significant interest in the room for investing in a REIT that would buy a property to lease to the new shop. That interest persisted even when we said, “that would mean a lot of money.”
  • Maybe have the main shop in an industrial location with parking and a satellite location downtown where there is lots of foot traffic. The downtown location would only have the light tools and maybe host the STEAM classes. Location like this would also be good for edutainment classes like “laser etching date night.”
  • Equipment TS did not have that members would like to have:
    • CNC lathe
    • A mill between a Bridgeport and a CNC
    • Kiln - mid sized - for glass, ceramics, etc
    • Metal sintering
    • Metal cutting laser
  • One suggestion was to set a bar for the next meeting. We let anyone donate $500 to the startup fund. If you put money in the bank you get to vote. If not, you can talk and participate in the meeting (we might even count those hands that go up) but all the steering committee energy would go towards what the donors want; or if we don’t have enough donors, to changing the proposal until we do.

Techshop closes

Financial appeal

Social Media

Facebook

Reddit

Slack

News on Individual TechShops:

Austin

12/8 (post from Dan Rasure on TechShop2.0 FB group) "targeting San Francisco, Detroit,and Austin as the first 3 shops to open. "

c12/15 (extracted from posts on FB)... The County initially petitioned the courts over nonpayment of taxes back in July 2017 (probably over taxes due 31 January 2017) .The TechShop higher-ups hung a lock on things 2 days before the court date in JP Court 2, and probably didn't bother to show up. default judgement to the county. Tax lien forfeiture notice sent on Nov 17.

From the Wilco Search page click on Civil, Family & Probate Case Records, then select the Search by Case radio button. Put this case # in the search field: 17-0819-T425 and click search. As of 12/19, there isn't much info there other than a note on who the defendants and plaintiffs are, and what happened on the 12th.

Digging a little deeper in the WilCo tax records. When I look at the paid tax records for Techshop 1.0, the only paid receipt that I found was for 2013 - and they were paid 2/25/2014 -- 25 days after the drop dead date of 1/31/2014. Anything paid late has a penalty added in. So TS 1.0 was late paying their taxes.

When I pull up the equivalent tax page for Lowe's, right next door, there are tax statements from 2012 through 2017.

What this tells me is that TS 1.0 did not pay their $413 taxes for 2014, 2015, 2016 OR 2017. If TS1.0 had paid their taxes for those years, there would have been a payment record.

12/29 (Quote from St. Louis Post-Dispatch Article) “Detroit, San Francisco, Austin and Chandler, Ariz., are on our priority list” to reopen, Rasure said Thursday. “We are pushing hard to reopen some shops within the next few weeks.”

San Francisco

12/8 (post from Dan Rasure on TechShop2.0 FB group) "targeting San Francisco, Detroit,and Austin as the first 3 shops to open. "

12/29 (Quote from St. Louis Post-Dispatch Article) “Detroit, San Francisco, Austin and Chandler, Ariz., are on our priority list” to reopen, Rasure said Thursday. “We are pushing hard to reopen some shops within the next few weeks.”

2/12 (from Techshop 2.0 website) TechShop 2.0 San Francisco to open February 19th, 2018 On February 12th Dan Rasure announced that TechShop 2.0 San Francisco will be the first TechShop 2.0 to open. This has been in the works since TechShop closed on November 15th, 2017. In the coming days and weeks we hope to announce more shop openings. One of our first priorities will be to make sure all tools and equipment are safe and within normal operating condition. We will also begin tracking usage to make sure we have the right amount of equipment available. Our goal is to support our members by ensuring we have the proper amount of tools and equipment to meet member demand.

2/19 TheShop.build opens its doors to new members in the old TSSF location. Great news for the maker community!

Detroit

12/8 (post from Dan Rasure on TechShop2.0 FB group) "targeting San Francisco, Detroit,and Austin as the first 3 shops to open. "

12/29 (Quote from St. Louis Post-Dispatch Article) “Detroit, San Francisco, Austin and Chandler, Ariz., are on our priority list” to reopen, Rasure said Thursday. “We are pushing hard to reopen some shops within the next few weeks.”

Chandler/ASU

11/21 from Meetup event and recordings Town Hall attended by press, officials, and Dan Rasure

12/5 From Adafruit Interview: "And the Chandler, Arizona facility and the Brooklyn facility were a partnership with either Arizona State or the city of New York. So we’re trying to get through that process as well. And given that a public entity is involved, it’s not just about calling up the landlord and saying, hey, we did this. Can we come in and get to work. It is a more extensive process."

12/27 (post from TechShop Thereafter FB group): "a post from one of our Chandler City Councilmen (Mark Stewart) that TS Chandler is being re-opened as a local effort between the city and ASU. "

12/29 (Quote from St. Louis Post-Dispatch Article) “Detroit, San Francisco, Austin and Chandler, Ariz., are on our priority list” to reopen, Rasure said Thursday. “We are pushing hard to reopen some shops within the next few weeks.”

Brooklyn

12/5 From Adafruit Interview: "And the Chandler, Arizona facility and the Brooklyn facility were a partnership with either Arizona State or the city of New York. So we’re trying to get through that process as well. And given that a public entity is involved, it’s not just about calling up the landlord and saying, hey, we did this. Can we come in and get to work. It is a more extensive process."

San Jose

12/5 From Adafruit Interview: "The San Jose location is a brand new or almost brand new facility, but it doesn’t have — the parking situation is a little bit questionable. It also doesn’t have a ton of space in that facility. So we’re evaluating our options there."

St Louis

11/28 Article about TS reopening as Maker Studio

12/29 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Article: Jim McKelvey buys building on Delmar to replace shuttered TechShop

Pittsburgh

8/31 TS Reforms as ProtoHaven

12/5 From Adafruit Interview: "Pittsburgh for sure has to move."

12/22 Reported on FB: This is the last email I receive December 22 --

The Holiday Season is Upon Us...Gifts Abound!

We are grateful for the support, cheers and involvement from customers and sponsors as we drive on toward opening Factory Unlocked.

We have a signed letter of intent with our future landlord and are moving to finalize our lease. The location is sizable - over 30,000 SF and in the City of Pittsburgh. Logistics are challenging to meet all of the considerations we must provide in order to develop the start-up space and production needs...but we are getting there!

We expect to commence build out in January and are considering a soft opening with lasers for production and a full prototype studio with computers, software and 3D printers on the first day with metal, wood and machine shops right behind them within 30-40 days.

Thank you for reaching out from last week for your inquiries and we hope our responses fulfilled what you had hoped. Please let me know if you have any comments, questions or concerns.

Have a wonderful holiday season

Bernie Lynch

1/19/2018 Reported on FB: Lawsuit filed January 10, 2018 in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. GD-18-000348

Arlington

1/19/2018: [Reported on FB] I talked to the Sheriff office - they will start eviction of TechShop Arlington on January 23, at 10am. I explained them the situation with the members storage and lack of access - they didn’t realize there was such problem, now they do.

MidPeninsula

View through glass door of mid-peninsula TechShop in Redwood City, California

1/13 From TechShop 2.0 Facebook report from Nick Michlig "The latest at mid penn: lots of stuff in the trash cans and dumpsters, including equipment and cars" Comment from Michael Erickson "It actually just looks like some rusted scrap metal from the shop and Dave Howard’s office. Sadly, the cars have been that way for a while."

Letter from Harry Price to Dan Woods, page 1
Letter from Harry Price to Dan Woods, page 2

On February 9, someone passing by observed several notices attached to the door. One was a letter of January 29, from Harry Price to Dan Woods, stating the TechShop failed to pay the rent due on November 1, 2017, and that the premisses had been abandoned on November 15, 2017. The letter asks Woods to remove the shop tools and equipment by February 18, 2018. If the property is not claimed by February 18, it will be sold at a public sale.

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