- Feb 22, 2015
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EDIT: November 17, 2017
I'm thrilled to be able to officially unveil a project that I've been working on for some time now.
A while ago, Dan and I were talking shop about case manufacturing, and the conversation inevitably pivoted towards how hard it was to sell and scale our work. We knew instinctively that our enclosures (and those of our contemporaries) had the potential to benefit many, many enthusiasts - but we were also intimately aware of how hard it was for a small upstart to break into the marketplace. If only there was a platform that could support and promote this work, we imagined, then perhaps we could finally proliferate our values of quality and focused design beyond the small form factor landscape.
Well, we've done more than imagine. Today, we can finally begin to share an experimental solution we've made to solve this problem. Dubbed SFFLAB (or 'the lab' colloquially), this website is meant to be an international marketplace that features a curated collection of enclosures and related hardware, made by and for enthusiasts. More than that, though, SFFLAB is a platform that - in the long run - will leverage collaboration and community engagement to amplify and promote the sorts of projects that have transformed the small form factor community.
As a part of this launch, I am honored to be able to share our starting roster of partners for this endeavor. From day one, we're excited to announce that we'll be opening up pre-ordering of NFC's S4 Mini on 11/24. We will also soon be selling wares from NCASE, DAN Cases, and KMPKT as well, with dates for those sales to come. Through our direct partnerships with these brands, SFFLAB will soon be promoting and selling the fantastic enclosures, power supplies and other accessories that these enthusiasts have crafted. And this is just the start - we have more to come in our pipeline, and our ambition spans well beyond the products you can see on our website today.
To be sure, our launch today is but a small step. Our ambition is to empower enthusiasts - operationally and financially - to realize the next amazing products only they can invent, at a grand scale. This will require more than a storefront. A lot more. It will also require the sort of experimentation that will bring with it successes and failures alike.
But we'll be throwing ourselves at this challenge, and trying to make it work. Because if we can support the projects of our fellow enthusiasts, and bridge the boundaries to market entry, we can accelerate innovation and make our community - and our lives - all the better from it.
So, welcome to the lab. We can't wait to show you what's next.
- Joshua
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