The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

TooTallToby and The Gamification of 3D CAD– Too Tall Toby– ep 157 

TooTallToby started a company that specializes in gamifying 3D CAD Modeling. We’ve built a website that allows users to practice their 3D CAD speedmodeling skills. They are CAD agnostic, which means users can practice with any CAD system. Along with providing practice material, we also provide tips & tricks, and competitions that allow users to test their skills against others.

Number one tip:

Use Control S. save constantly

Contact info:

www.tootalltoby.com

https://www.youtube.com/@TooTallToby 

This week we have guest David Hirschfield, a veteran software developer and AI expert, to discuss his career and insights on technology evolution.

David shares his journey from studying physics to excelling in sales and eventually founding a successful software company, which he sold in 2000.

He explains the rise and fall of IEF, a tool for enterprise software development in the late 80s and 90s, and how outdated systems still impact industries like car rentals today.

The conversation shifts to modern innovations like AI and alternative rental models like Turo, which offers a more seamless customer experience.

Number one tip:

If you are a startup, trust yourself but don’t believe in it.

If you aren’t sure how to speak to AI, ask it how you should use it.

Contact info:

Website tekyz.com

david@tekyz.com

Click on info page, heard you on the podcast

Email David@tekyz.com

https://www.engineeringcareeraccelerator.com/engineeringentrepreneur

The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast is produced by Scott Tarcy, President of CADdesignhelp.com. You can reach me at info@caddesignhelp.com

Investing with Real Estate Syndicates – Dr. Allen Lomax– ep 147 

Dr. Allen, a seasoned leader with a Ph.D. in Organizational Systems Psychology. He has over three decades of experience. He underwent a transformative shift after years of working with horses and realizing the power of quiet mindfulness for personal and organizational growth. With expertise in college student development and psychology, he found fulfillment in academia while securing financial stability through real estate investing. Driven by a passion to empower others financially, he founded Steed Talker Capital and hosts the podcast Real Estate Investing Abundance, aiming to help leaders achieve abundance in all aspects of life. 

Most of our conversation focused on investing in large real estate deals through syndicates.  

Find a place that’s a quiet plate to find peace of mind to let your ideas come to surface. 

To invent and design, you don’t need to put yourself under pressure. 

Contact info: 

www.Steedtalker.com 

Creating Software Products – Jay Gibb – Ep57

Jay Gibb is a software engineer, but he is also an entrepreneur. He has started 2 companies, Arizona Bay and Cloudsponge (links are at the end).

Arizona Bay is a consulting firm that builds custom software. Cloudsponge is a digital asset (a product) that makes it easy for people to recommend your website to a friend. The easiest way to explain it is, imagine you just booked a place on Airbnb and want to recommend it to friend (or all your friends). Most websites have a place where you can type in each and every name, but good luck remembering all your friend’s email addresses. Cloudsponge solves this by integrating with your address book and you can simply click next to each name you want to send the Airbnb listing to.

Jay and I discuss how each business operates and how he came up with the idea for Cloudsponge. His advice: the best products come from solving your problems first and finding out many other people have the same problem.

We also touch on machine learning, which I didn’t know a lot about previously. Cool stuff!

You can contact Jay at:

Arizonabay.com

Cloudsponge.com

Jay Gibb LinkedIn

The Patent Process Explained – James Wilson – Ep56

This episode is one that you inventors out there should definitely listen to. Most people know what a patent is but not many understand the process it takes to get one.

In this episode I talked with James Wilson from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). James is the Assistant Regional Director of the Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional Office in Detroit.

We talk about the entire patent process, from idea creation to provisional patent, to non-provisional application and the review process. We uncover all the details inventors want to know, like costs, time frames, and the process.

There are some links from the podcast I will add once I get them from James. But those will be for the resources he described including how to get assistance on patent applications.

James’ parting advice is that the UPSTO strives to be one of the best government entities and that they are looking to hire more examiners. So if you are a professional with a technical degree, there might be an opportunity for you at the USPTO.

You can contact James at:

midwestregion@USPTO.gov

313-446-4800

The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast is produced by Scott Tarcy, President of CADdesignhelp.com. You can reach me at info@caddesignhelp.com

Innovation Freak Podcast – Nathan Kemmerer – Ep55

It’s not often the title of my podcast is about another podcast, but that is the case this week.

Nathan Kemmerer (also a mechanical engineer like me) runs the Innovation Freak Podcast, which is a podcast that covers new innovation/technology around the world that has a positive impact.

Some of his episodes cover topics such as:

1. Trash collection machine in the Baltimore bay
2. Open sourced 3D printed prosthetic hands
3. Airwolf 3D printers

Nathan also has some 3D printers of his own that we discuss, including the CR-10 and Tevo Tarantula.

You can contact Nathan at:

natek@innovationfreak.com

http://innovationfreak.com/

The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast is produced by Scott Tarcy, President of CADdesignhelp.com. You can reach me at info@caddesignhelp.com

The Dadsak Invention and the Startup Bus – Jeremy Losaw – Ep54

Jeremy is the engineering director for Enventys Partners. He just got back from Startup Bus where his team, Sak Labs placed 2nd in the competition with the Dadsak, the world’s first fully integrated infant carrier and backpack diaper bag.

I have worked with Jeremy on quite a few other projects.

In this podcast, we talk about the Dadsak invention and the Startup Bus. We cover many topics that will be of interest to inventors, including initial concepts, prototyping, provisional patents, and pitching investors.

You can contact Jeremy at:

Jeremy.losaw@enventyspartners.com

Jeremylosaw.com

www.dadsak.com

Other links mentioned:

Startup Bus

How Does 3D Scanning Really Work? – Matt Holling – Ep53

Matt Holling is the engineering manager at Dezignworks. His company specializes in reverse engineering using both laser scanning and bridge CMM. If you don’t know what that is, listen to the podcast, we go over it.

Matt and I have done a lot of work together. While there are many ways to reverse engineer a part, laser scanning is becoming one of the most popular ways and I am often having him do this for me. Once I have the model, I can make edits to the model (add holes, threads, mirror the part, etc).

One major misconception about 3D scanning is that you simply scan a part and instantly have a usable CAD file. The reality is far from this, as the scanner itself only creates a point cloud file. We go over ALL the steps needed to go from the scan, to an STL file, and finally to a fully defined Solidworks file. His company has created a proprietary Solidworks add in to do this work, and the software is impressive (the software also works on Autodesk products).

You can contact Matt at:

sales@dezignworks.com

website: Dezignworks

The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast is produced by Scott Tarcy, President of CADdesignhelp.com. You can reach me at info@caddesignhelp.com

From 3D Printed Dive Masks to Business Development Lead at Formlabs – Ryan Turk – Ep52

Ryan Turk and I first met about 3 years ago on Upwork.com. He was looking for an engineer to assist in his new business venture. His idea was to create custom dive masks using 3D scanning and 3D printing.

He ended up hiring another engineer, but he did successfully make custom masks. We talk about how he accomplished that, through 3D scanning, using Geomagic software to process the scans, and 3D printing the molds for the masks.

Even though he could create the masks, the business opportunity is not quite there now. The costs are too high given the price point he can get for the product. So, for the time being, Ryan has changed paths by taking a job at Formlabs. He is working as the business development lead on mass customization. His new role is the find opportunities in the market to use 3d printing to make end use parts, not just prototypes.

You can contact Ryan at turk@formlabs.com

The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast is produced by Scott Tarcy, President of CADdesignhelp.com. You can reach me at info@caddesignhelp.com

The Million Dollar Collar Invention – Rob Kessler – Ep51

Five years ago (2013) Rob was getting married in Jamaica. Everything went well except when Rob saw his wedding photos, he was shocked. His shirt collar was a sloppy, droopy mess. He does not like wearing ties, so he started looking for another solution.

He searched online but every existing product was a collar stay and that just didn’t work. He set out to make his own solution. His first prototype was made from a cardboard box.

He spent years developing the design, especially the material. One major challenge was he needed to find a plastic that could withstand dry cleaning machine temperatures (up to 700F).

We discuss his journey. He had a failed Kickstarter, he tried different marketing methods, and we talk about the patent process for him. If you are an inventor, this is an invaluable episode for you to check out, as Rob went through EVERYTHING to get his product to market.

You can contact Rob at rob@milliondollarcollar.com

Website: https://milliondollarcollar.com/

The Engineering Entrepreneur Podcast is produced by Scott Tarcy, President of CADdesignhelp.com. You can reach me at info@caddesignhelp.com