The ongoing saga that is TechShop continues to have twists and turns. Adafruit has reported that the Memorandum of Understanding (a document that outlines a partnership plan but isn’t legally binding) has been cancelled. This document was between Dan Rasure and the TechShop board.
From the tidbits that Phil Torrone has collected, it would appear that the current TechShop board did not have faith that Dan Rasure was capable of taking over the business, so they cancelled the Memorandum of Understanding. This happens, it isn’t extremely rare either. What makes this especially messy is that Rasure had begun paying money to vendors to cover bills for TechShop. Rasure said:
I wanted to clear up a few things and I will be posting a letter soon. I did not walk from the deal with TechShop. They had received money to pay for their lawyer, health insurance for their employees, some staff pay, and money for their email services (it is amazing how much money it cost to keep their email alive).
This of course means that Rasure won’t simply walk away, having already begun investing in his TechShop 2.0. The board of TechShop meanwhile is talking to multiple parties about purchase, and still considering chapter 7 bankruptcy.
While it may be easy to disregard this whole mess as a few investors battling over the remains, we need to remember there are many makers impacted by this closure. There are startups who can’t access their materials, at the most important time of year no less, to create their products or projects.
This post at Adafruit is getting updated regularly with details and quotes, keep checking there for the latest.
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