Michael Natkin

Michael has made Terminators and T-Rexes for ILM. He’s worked on set-top boxes, early 3D for the web, and Adobe After Effects. Before Glowforge, he was the founding CTO of ChefSteps and led the software development teams for the Joule sous vide tool. He also wrote a cookbook that was nominated for a James Beard award.

Company Culture

Strong Opinions Loosely Held Might be the Worst Idea in Tech
I misspent just about every night for 7 years at an old school pool hall in Milwaukee. This was an “action” room, where a regular lineup of shady characters was perched, ready to relieve you of any excess cash that might...
April 30, 2019
Michael Natkin

Learning & Support

You Aren’t Communicating Nearly Enough
Imagine for a moment that you have a new friend, and you notice you haven’t heard from them for a while. They haven’t replied to your last couple of texts. Would you wonder if you’ve been ghosted? Of course, on some leve...
January 26, 2020
Michael Natkin

EDU

This Is (Not?) The Startup You Are Looking For – Part One: Revenue Growth
There are many reasons why you might consider working at a high growth startup – the opportunity to have a big impact, work with amazing people, move fast and learn fast, tilt the world on its axis a bit – and hopefully,...
March 03, 2020
Michael Natkin

Glowforge Lasers

Worldwide Laser Thursday (Laser Optional)
From the early days of Glowforge, when we had our first working units in the office, we had a tradition of Laser Thursdays – an event where everyone that works at the company can spend an evening sharing a meal, getting ...
April 02, 2020
Michael Natkin

Software

Our Software Engineering Values
At Glowforge, we believe that communicating with kindness and transparency with potential future colleagues is vital to hiring amazing people. We document our health care plan, our diversity referral bonus, and our unusu...
July 06, 2020
Michael Natkin

Glowforge Lasers

Cutting + Engraving Wood with a Laser
“Can I cut wood with my Glowforge?” We keep a list of our most-asked questions, and this is right at the top. The short answer is an enthusiastic “yes!” But let’s dive in a bit deeper. Whether you’re an
July 14, 2020
Michael Natkin

Software

AI SaaS Tools: Don’t Trust, Definitely Verify
Everybody’s trying to sell you AI. Your legal software? AI-assisted. Your customer service? AI-enhanced. We haven’t seen a janitorial service with AI superpowers yet, but I suspect one is on the horizon. And why not? The...
June 18, 2023
Michael Natkin

Learning & Support

Introducing Project Print-A-Toy
I’m Dan! I’m a father of 15 year old twins, long (!) time Glowforge owner, cofounder of the company, and CEO. If you read the monthly updates on our forum, you’ve probably run into me already. I love creating things.
July 02, 2024
Michael Natkin