LaserFish
Laser engraving entrepreneurs running businesses from their garages. They have the machine. They need the platform.
Executive Summary
Small-scale laser engraving operators buy a machine and start taking orders. The machine works fine. Everything around it - quoting, order management, file preparation, customer communication - is duct tape. We are building a platform for one person running a machine from a home shop. The laser is the easy part. The $50,000 problem is everything before and after the beam hits the material.
The lifecycle of a laser product
Architecture
End-to-end platform for small-scale laser engraving operations
End-to-end platform for small-scale laser engraving operations
The Problem
Small-scale laser engraving operators buy a machine and start taking orders. The machine works fine. Everything around it is duct tape.
Admin Overhead
Operators spend more time on quoting, order management, file preparation, and customer communication than on the laser itself.
No Purpose-Built Tools
Generic business tools do not understand engraving workflows. Operators cobble together solutions from unrelated software.
Solo Operations
Most operators are one person running a machine from a home shop. The platform has to be simple enough for a solo operation.
A $5,000 machine can produce professional-grade work. The $50,000 problem is everything that happens before and after the beam hits the material.
What We Built
A platform built specifically for small engraving operations, designed for one person running a machine from a home shop.
Order Management
- Customer order intake and tracking
- Automated quoting based on material and complexity
- Production queue management
File Preparation
- Automated file prep for laser machines
- Template library for common products
- Customer proof generation and approval
In discovery phase - validating the workflow with active laser engraving operators.
Execution
Market Research
CurrentInterviewing small-scale laser engraving operators to map their workflows and identify the highest-friction points in the order-to-delivery cycle.
The pattern is consistent: operators love the craft and hate the admin. File preparation and customer communication are the two biggest time sinks.
Interested in this kind of work?
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