🏭 Print-on-Demand

Welcome to the 295 new entrepreneurs who joined last week. Congrats to Ethan for collecting the first Trends.vc NFT and becoming a Lifetime Trends Pro Member. Hey there, Welcome to the 295 new entrepreneurs who joined last week. Congrats to [Ethan]( for collecting our last NFT and becoming a Lifetime Trends Pro Member. We have another up for grabs this week with ⏰ 8 hours left in the auction. 👉 To check it out, [click here](. 🏭 Let’s talk about Print-on-Demand. Thanks to [Stewart Townsend]( (Podcast Hawk), [Prachi Sikaria]( (Nutero), [David Horne]( (Calm Capital), [Michell Clark]( (The Creative Summer Company), [Neeraj Hirani](, [Logan Johnson](, [Yarty Kim]( (A4E), [Natwar Maheshwari]( (Engineering Brew), [Mahek Mody]( (React Labs) and [Andrew Swiler]( (Sponsor Fund). We had a great time jamming on this report. What you'll learn: - What is pull manufacturing? - How do storytellers build value? - What is brand dilution? - What is inventory risk? - How to reduce market risk? - How to deal with copycats? - (📈 Pro) How to build a brand? - (📈 Pro) How to validate products fast? - (📈 Pro) Who earned $100,000+ from licensing designs? - (📈 Pro) How to get your audience involved? - (📈 Pro) How do NFTs and print-on-demand join forces? - (📈 Pro) What are the benefits of specialization? - (📈 Pro) How to limit inventory risk? - (📈 Pro) How do agencies leverage print-on-demand? - and much more... Unlock Trends Pro ✅ Access 70+ Trends Pro Reports ✅ Stay Accountable with Daily Standups ✅ Meet Curious Entrepreneurs in Weekly Meetups ✅ Discuss Reports with Domain Experts ✅ Collaborate on Upcoming Reports [Become a Trends Pro Member]( [Print-on-Demand]( View on OpenSea]( “The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller.” — Steve Jobs 💎 Why it Matters Trust is hard to build. But easy to monetize. Print-on-Demand is one of many ways that creators monetize trust. 🔍 Problem Storing goods leads to inventory risk. To free up space, you can wait to sell items, discount or discard them. Leading to capital inefficiencies. 💡 Solution Print-on-Demand follows a “pull manufacturing” model. Goods are bought before they are made. Minimizing market risk and inventory risk while increasing capital efficiency. 🏁 Players Brands - [Indie Hackers]( • Shirts - [Bad Unicorn]( • Hoodies and shirts - [Visualize Value]( • Hats, mugs, shirts - [Unspun]( • Custom-fit, made to order jeans Print-on-Demand Companies - [Printful]( • Create and sell custom items - [Printify]( • Make and sell custom products - [Redbubble]( • Make specialized gifts - [Kindle Direct Publishing]( • Self-publish paperbacks and eBooks - [Cotton Bureau]( • Merch for designers and communities Marketplaces - [Xometry]( • Network of on-demand manufacturers - [Hubs]( • Upload CAD files, have parts sourced and shipped to you - [Etsy]( • Marketplace for unique and creative goods - [Shapeways]( • Product development and manufacturing platform 🔮 Predictions - Local manufacturing will become more common. On-demand manufacturing is paired with automation advances. Lower labor costs leads to more locally produced goods. - Long-tail items will become more accessible. Small production runs have high unit costs. Price and production size are no longer tradeoffs. Only one person needs to be incentivized to make a CAD file that can be produced from anywhere by anyone. - Tailored clothing will become more accessible. See [unspun](. ☁️ Opportunities - Build trust. Brand is a powerful moat. Operations and fulfilment can be commoditized. Trust can’t. [Printful]( users have varying levels of success due to varying levels of trust. - Embed yourself in a marketplace to validate ideas. See [Etsy]( and [Amazon](. This leads to platform risk but mitigates market risk. Which matters more at first? You can move to [Shopify]( later. Which carries another form of platform risk. - Use swag to capture mindshare. [MicroAcquire]( gave [Founder Summit]( attendees free hats. We became walking billboards for the marketplace. - [Presell]( to reduce market risk. This extends to SaaS and conferences. Validate demand before building to save time and money. See our report on [presales](. 🏔️ Risks - Platform Risk • Etsy and Amazon own your top of funnel if you work with them. Manufacturing or shipping delays from Printful may harm your brand. - Brand Dilution • Expanding into too many categories for quick money can lead to short-term gains and long-term losses. Audiences sense authenticity and cash grabs. 🔑 Key Lessons - Value accrues to storytellers. Stories imbue commodities with emotion and boost perceived value. - Competing on scale effects is a race to the button. Stories are non-fungible. Feature parity exists. Not brand parity. 😠Haters “Mass production is cheaper than on-demand manufacturing.” In some cases. But… You may make one million widgets that no one wants. Print-on-Demand helps you mitigate market risk. And makes it affordable to produce long-tail items. “Print-on-Demand is not new.” [Trends.vc]( doesn’t focus on what’s new. We focus on what matters. As a creator, you have more options than ever to monetize. Print-on-Demand is one of many options. “Anyone can copy my design.” The best brands have copycats. Yet they still succeed. ​​🔗 Links - [The Pros & Cons of the Print On Demand Business Model]( • On the pros and cons of print-on-demand businesses. - [It’s a 3D World]( • 3D printing beyond plastics. - [3D Printing Is Changing the World]( • The future of 3D printing body parts. Want the Full Report? Trends PRO #0074 — Print-on-Demand]( has more insights. What you'll get: - 11 Brands (175% More) - 16 Print-on-Demand Companies (220% More) - 11 Marketplaces (175% More) - 7 Predictions (133% More) - 9 Opportunities (125% More) - 4 Key Lessons (100% More) - 10 Links (233% More) - 16-minute audio episode with exclusive Print-on-Demand stories, insights and opportunities. With Trends Pro you'll learn: - (📈 Pro) How to build a brand? - (📈 Pro) How to validate products fast? - (📈 Pro) Who earned $100,000+ from licensing designs? - (📈 Pro) How to get your audience involved? - (📈 Pro) How do NFTs and print-on-demand join forces? - (📈 Pro) What are the benefits of specialization? - (📈 Pro) How to limit inventory risk? - (📈 Pro) How do agencies leverage print-on-demand? - and much more... Unlock Trends Pro ✅ Access 70+ Trends Pro Reports ✅ Stay Accountable with Daily Standups ✅ Meet Curious Entrepreneurs in Weekly Meetups ✅ Discuss Reports with Domain Experts ✅ Collaborate on Upcoming Reports [Become a Trends Pro Member]( Thanks, Dru Riley Founder, Trends.vc Trends.vc 101 Marietta Street Northwest, Atlanta Georgia 30303 United States [twitter]( You signed up on [our website]( to discover new markets and ideas. [Unsubscribe](