Maker Business Spotlight: Kickstart Design LLC

Maker News
Maker Business Spotlight: Kickstart Design LLC

 Where are you located?

 Milwaukee, WI

| Website |

What kinds of stuff do you make? 

PCB assemblies, consumer products, fabrication machines

How did you get started making stuff? 

Myself and the 2 other owners went to UW-Milwaukee for Digital Design and Fabrication, which is essentially a major on how to become a maker. After a few years working different jobs in the manufacturing and engineering sector, we decided to create a business using our knowledge on making things

What is something that you’ve made that you’re really proud of? 

Our AmpRipper 3000 is a printed circuit board assembly that will hopefully be the next big thing for makers who need battery power in their projects. It is a true 5V-3A USB-C charge & boost module with unparalleled performance. After a year of designing and testing, we’re finally ready to start getting our beta units into the hands of makers for field testing.

What is next on your project list? 

We’d like to keep making more DIY and Maker oriented PCB assemblies to help makers create their electronics projects easier and faster.

What is something you’d like to work with but you haven’t yet? 

One thing we’d really like to start working on is our own line of tools designed to help people in the DIY and Maker space. Small-run and homemade products have a lot of inefficiencies that we’ve noticed over the years, and we aim to make tools that will help people increase efficiency and at make at home production more viable for small businesses and independent makers.

Any advice for people reading this? 

If you iterate enough on your designs, you will eventually get to something that works the way you want to.

 

Are you going to show off at a maker faire in the near future? If so, which one?

We will be at Makerfaire Milwaukee

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Jennifer Blakeslee keeps the Global Maker Faire program running smoothly and has been a maker at Maker Faire since 2011. Among other things, she really likes to travel, write, cook, hike, make big art, and swim in the ocean.

View more articles by Jennifer Blakeslee

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