Formlabs announced yesterday that Carl Bass, longtime CEO of Autodesk, would join their board of directors.
Boards of Directors are critically important for any company, and if they function well, then the company’s fortunes substantially improve. A look at a company’s board composition can sometimes tell you a great deal about who the company operates and where it might be headed.
According to Bloomberg, Formlabs has a relatively small board composed of only five people:
- Max Lobovsky and John David Cranor III, the young founders of the company;
- Barry Schuler, the former CEO of AOL during it’s huge internet growth phase, and CEO of several notable startup companies;
- Brad Feld, serial startup investor, whose Foundry Group has assisted countless startups to grow.
And now Carl Bass. Bass spent 24 years at Autodesk in a variety of positions culminating as CEO. In this role Bass saw the entire 3D industry, from software to hardware and bring great perspective on the industry. And in particular, Bass will bring to Formlabs leadership valuable insights on business use of 3D software and 3D printing, a market targeted by Formlabs.
It seems to me that Formlabs has chosen a very wise group of folks to stand at the helm of their operation. As a very young company, Formlabs needs the advice of those with more experience and it seems they have it.
I take Bass’s addition as further evidence that Formlabs is moving towards a business-focused operation. That’s where the money is these days in 3D printing. Formlabs has recently increased their offerings to that market with a powder-based SLS system that would have been impossible to market to their previous hobbyist market.
Via Formlabs
