Since we started Makers I’ve made it a priority to try to visit Adafruit Industries, the amazing Manhattan-based electronics shop run by Limor Fried. Fried started her company out of her dorm room at MIT, building cool electronics kits for her friends. She slowly expanded into other hobbyist realms including Arduino add-ons, how-to books, and cases. Now her store is bustling with 1,302 items for sale with about 600 orders per day.
Their revenue is also impressive: $15 million per year without VC backing of any kind. In short, Fried AKA Ladyada is killing it.
We had the unique opportunity to tour her brand new Manhattan warehouse/design center/factory in Soho where she and her team create amazing gizmos and gadgets. They are also working on student outreach via their superfun Circuit Playground in order to convince kids that STEM is actually cool.
This visit we saw Adafruit’s mini-fabrication line, their amazing, home-grown CRM system, and, most important, Adabot, the company’s robotic mascot.
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