FeatherFab

FeatherFab makes it drastically easier for creatives to design physical things. Our mission is to make physical design as easy as drawing on paper, and we think VR is the breakthrough platform that will make it possible. We’re making physical design software, native to VR, with cloud-based collaboration features. It’s Tilt Brush meets AutoCAD meets GitHub-style sharing community.

Product Prototype Video (1 min): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYLPfdjSn7U

-Breakthrough: VR provides a native 3D environment for working with 3D data, whereas current CAD is implemented using 2D screens and inputs and “thinking like the machine”
-Problem: “Non-technical creatives” find CAD either too challenging or too time-consuming to learn, and will contract out CAD modeling work at high rates
-Solution: Native modeling in a 3D environment will be more intuitive and accessible, so the creative will be able to design models themselves, faster and more cheaply
-Business: FeatherFab is taking a freemium SaaS-based approach, with cloud-based GitHub-style sharing features to drive network effects by building a community for creatives
-Progress: Built a prototype and promoted to potential users across target segments, confirming high interest among creatives, won Princeton Entrepreneurs’ Network pitch competition

Team
-Phil Chacko: Formerly strategy & infrastructure planning at Netflix, now a self-taught VR developer and entrepreneur (Princeton engineering)
-Will Watts: Founded Blackbox Mfg, creating carbon fiber parts using 3D printed molds for fashion designers, the US Paralympic team, and others (Princeton engineering)

Advisors
-Jordan Brandt: Founded Horizontal Systems, a collaboration platform for AEC which was acquired by Autodesk, where he subsequently managed their $100m Spark venture fund
-Jimm Meloy: Was VP, Products & Marketing at CADKEY, acquired by Autodesk