New company taking over TechShop name and focus
The abrupt closure in November of TechShop workshops across the country disrupted the lives of small business owners and do-it-yourself hobbyists who relied on the chain’s machinery, from 3-D printers to welding tools.
On Monday, Kansas entrepreneur Dan Rasure plans to reopen the downtown San Francisco workshop as the first step toward rebuilding the chain.
Rasure is CEO of a new company, called TechShop 2.0, that’s leased the workshop on Howard Street from the building’s landlord, 5M Project LLC, owned by The Chronicle’s parent company, Hearst Corp.
Rasure, 35, said he plans to run the company with an eye toward remaining profitable. Part of his business plan includes investing in early stage startups that might use the space and then making a profit if the businesses do well.
“Maker spaces are important; we recognize that,” Rasure said Wednesday as he helped clean up the shop. “This is not about shop profitability — this is about helping people accomplishing their goals and their dreams.”
First opened in 2006 in Menlo Park, TechShop had about 9,000 members nationwide, including about 1,000 for the San Francisco shop. But it closed its 10 U.S. locations with little prior notice on Nov. 15 and said it might file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.
Dan Woods, who served as TechShop’s CEO, could not be reached for comment.
Rasure and one of TechShop’s creditors had reached
an agreement in December to purchase the company’s assets, but that deal fell through. TechShop 2.0 is entirely separate from TechShop.
Rasure said he’s had an affinity for the do-ityourself maker community since he was a young boy, when he would fall asleep in his father’s woodworking shop. As marketing and product development director for metal fabrication machine maker Piranha, he also saw TechShop as a way to introduce his company’s products to startup entrepreneurs who could not yet afford the tools.
TechShop 2.0 plans to offer those who bought lifetime memberships a rate of $500 in total for the first three years, rising to $750 per year after that. Monthly memberships are also available, for $150 for individuals. Rasure said most, but not all, of the tools will be available when the shop reopens, although the long-range plans are to bring in some newer tools.
The company is also close to a deal to open a new, second location in north San Jose, Rasure said.
Nick Pinkston, CEO of Plethora, a San Francisco company that uses 3-D printing and other hightech manufacturing, built its first prototypes at TechShop. Pinkston said the closing was “a big loss to the community,” but he was glad to learn about TechShop 2.0.
“It was a magical place with great people and already abuzz with activity and interesting stuff,” Pinkston said in an email. “They helped a ton of people in the early stages. It was an incubator in all but name.”
Ebitenyefa Baralaye of San Francisco, who was an artist-in-residence at TechShop, said he was stunned when the shop closed the day before the opening reception for an exhibit of his sculptures. He had to quickly move his sculptures out.
“If the suddenness of its reopening matches the suddenness of its closure, then I don’t mind that at all,” he said.