Bre Pettis

Here’s a detailed profile of Bre Pettis — his life, work, influence, and lessons.

Bre Pettis – Life, Entrepreneurship, and Maker Culture

Explore the life of Bre Pettis — American entrepreneur, artist, and pioneer of the maker movement. Learn about his journey from teaching to co-founding MakerBot, his vision for democratized fabrication, notable quotes, and key lessons for innovators.

Introduction

Bre Pettis (born July 14, 1972) is an American entrepreneur, creative technologist, video host, and thought leader in the “maker” / DIY space. He is perhaps best known as a cofounder and former CEO of MakerBot Industries, a company that helped popularize desktop 3D printing. Beyond that, Pettis has been a speaker, educator, artist, and continues to explore the intersections between art and technology. His work reflects the belief that ordinary people should have tools to make, invent, and shape their own world.

Early Life & Education

• Bre Pettis was born in 1972 and grew up in Ithaca, New York in his early years.

• When he was about 13, his family moved to the Seattle area, where he later attended Bellevue High School.

• He went on to study at The Evergreen State College, graduating in 1995. At Evergreen he studied psychology, mythology, and performing arts — disciplines that would later inform his creative sensibility.

• Later, he also earned a teaching certificate from Pacific Oaks College.

These educational roots — a mix of arts, psychology, and performance — provided him a foundation not only for technology, but for thinking about how humans engage with tools, aesthetics, and making.

Career & Major Achievements

Early Work & Maker Ethos

• After college, Pettis worked in media and art-related roles. He served as a floor runner and camera assistant on film sets in Prague, and later worked at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop in London.

• These roles exposed him to prototyping, fabrication, visual effects, and mechanical artistry.

• He later became involved in the DIY / maker / hacker scene. Around Brooklyn, he co-founded the hacker space NYC Resistor, which became a hub for prototyping, collaboration, and hardware experimentation.

• He also produced and hosted video podcasts (e.g. Weekend Projects for MAKE magazine) that taught viewers how to build things — from pinhole cameras to electronics — bridging art, instruction, and empowerment.

MakerBot & 3D Printing

• Pettis is best known as a cofounder of MakerBot Industries, a company focused on bringing affordable, desktop 3D printing to consumers.

• He served as CEO of MakerBot from its early stages (~2009) until around 2014.

• Under his leadership, MakerBot gained significant attention and helped catalyze interest in personal fabrication.

• In 2013, MakerBot was acquired by the 3D-printing giant Stratasys in a deal valued around USD 403 million (in stock).

• After the acquisition, Pettis transitioned out of the CEO role (Jenny Lawton became CEO) and later pursued new ventures.

Later Ventures & Bantam Tools

• In June 2017, Pettis acquired Other Machine Co., a small fabrication hardware startup, and rebranded it Bantam Tools.

• Bantam Tools focuses on computer-controlled machines — for example, drawing, painting, and handwriting machines, as well as other digital fabrication tools.

• In November 2019, Bantam Tools moved its facilities to Peekskill, New York.

• In January 2024, Bantam Tools acquired Evil Mad Scientist, a company known for creative hardware projects like the AxiDraw drawing machine, further strengthening their product lineup.

Throughout, Pettis has remained an evangelist for democratized making, blending artistry, hardware, and community.

Personality, Philosophy & Creative Stance

• Pettis is both maker and storyteller. He often frames technology in human, narrative terms — not just as cold tools but as vehicles for creativity and expression.

• He emphasizes open source, community, and sharing: early MakerBot origins were tied to open hardware and DIY culture.

• He embodies a bridging posture: between artist and engineer, between teaching and entrepreneurship, between craft and scale.

• He is vocal about how values and rules matter: his talks often reflect on how a founder’s ethos shapes the trajectory of a technology venture. (See his Big Think interview)

• He is flexible, iterative, and willing to pivot — as reflected in his transitions from MakerBot to Bantam Tools and exploring different fabrication domains.

Selected Quotes

Here are a few notable quotes and ideas attributed to or associated with Pettis:

“You need a manifesto and rules so you don’t lose your way.”

From his Big Think profile: “Entrepreneur, You Need a Manifesto | MakerBot’s Bre Pettis” — highlighting the importance of clarity of values when scaling innovation.

While Pettis is less known for pithy public quotes than for his actions and projects, the ideas above capture his mindset around values, creativity, and consistency.

Lessons from Bre Pettis’s Journey

From his path and work, we can draw several lessons useful for creators, entrepreneurs, and technologists:

1. Start with making, not business
   Pettis began as an artist, maker, and teacher — his product ideas grew from doing rather than market predictions.

2. Build community alongside product
   The maker movement, hacker spaces, open sharing — these weren’t just side elements; they were essential to the adoption and ethos of his ventures.

3. Iterate, test, pivot
   Hardware, especially for new domains like personal 3D printing, is full of unknowns — being willing to try, fail, and adjust is crucial.

4. Prioritize values early
   As he says, manifestos and rules help maintain alignment as complexity grows. Founders should define the culture they want before scale pressures override it.

5. Blend art and engineering
   Technological products that resonate often carry aesthetic, narrative, or expressive dimensions, not purely functional ones.

6. Embrace transitions
   Pettis didn’t cling to MakerBot forever; he moved on to new challenges and under­standing when to let roles evolve.