Ben, Dan and Nancy have joined the Shapeways team at our New York office. I asked them each a few questions so we can get to know them a bit better. Welcome on board, guys!

Ben Horst

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’ve been living in New York City for the past six years where I’ve worked for a number of startups including SharedBook, Air America, Six Apart, and others. I’m interested in open source software and online communities, as well as outdoor activities like hiking, biking and camping.

Why did you decide to work for Shapeways?

Shapeways fascinated me from the first time I discovered it via a post on Boing Boing. Having read books like The Diamond Age, I’ve long thought that 3D printing represents a major shift in manufacturing that will prove to be as influential as mass production. The economic and cultural effects over the next few decades will be enormous and exciting–and I want to be a part of this world.

What’s going to be your role?

I’m the product lead for the Shapeways web platform. I’ll take feedback from customers and community members, combine that with our strategic plans, and implement the result on our website.

What will be the first thing we see from you?

The first thing could turn out to be an upgrade to our company blogging platform, or some upgrades to our widgets for displaying shop content on external sites and blogs. We’ll see which makes it to the finish line first!
Dan Fried

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. When I’m not coding, I like to juggle, ride my bike around New York City, and cook Asian food.

Why did you decide to work for Shapeways?

Because Shapeways is going to change the world. Seeing all the amazing stuff that people have designed using Shapeways is really inspiring, and I’m excited to be part of that process.

What’s going to be your role?

I’m a web developer. I’ll be working to improve the website, adding features, fixing bugs and improving performance.

What will be the first thing we see from you?

Today I did some work that should speed up the website quite a bit. Other than that, we have a lot of exciting new features coming over the next few months.

Nancy Liang

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I love technology and design, so I’m super excited to be a part of the Shapeways family. Previously, I’ve worked in Sales and Marketing at Google and Intel. I’ve also done a 2 year stint in management for a hedge fund. In addition, I’m currently on the board of 2 non profits–one doing work with the Asian American community, another a career accelerator program in international development. In my free time, I love organizing fun, quirky excursions with my friends, like going to Come Out and Play or organizing walk on water races. I’m also interested in hacking together random web tools and discovering random interesting products and toys.

Why did you decide to work for Shapeways?

It’s the perfect intersection of all things I love: creating cool products + technology + design + community building + FUN! All the people here are crazy passionate about what they do, and really dedicated to their products and customers. I’m really happy to be a part of Shapeways.

What’s going to be your role?

I am a product manager for materials and content. This means I will work on introducing new materials to our portfolio for you guys, and work to get better pricing for those materials. I will also work on managing the content of what Shapeways offers–the products you see online, including the co-creation platform. My goal here is to make 3D Design accessible to anybody, regardless of their 3D modeling abilities. Got any ideas on how to make this work? Let me know!

What will be the first thing we see from you?

It’s too early to tell (my second day!) exactly what my priorities will be–but hopefully you’ll see a new emphasis on co creation, a lot more clever tools to help everybody design and customize products, and new materials and finishing options. What that will eventually translate into will be more designs and a growth in our community… and a larger drain on my bank account since I’m love buying cool designs.