ShopSmith Future Direction

[FreddyK]

It’s been a few months since Mr Cupps has taken ownership of the company. I’m sure he’s learned a great deal (both good and bad) and is beginning to formulate future direction for the company.

What do you all think is the best way to keep this forum informed? Another Scott M type video? More meetings for ShopSmith owners in Dayton? Some kind of an online group event where we could ask questions and provide comments? Other?

A few things I have been thinking about in no particular order:

- Did ShopSmith ever have an officially publicized mission and vision?
- Do they understand core values and customer needs in this ever changing environment we live today? Are they still aiming towards a multi-woodworking tool in a space saving capacity? Is that the bread and butter? Is there an interest in more stand alone tools? Or more alliances with other companies aka Excalibur scroll saw? Should ShopSmith be more of a competitor for standalone tools?
- Do they know who the customer is and/or could /should be? Established vs new, men/women, etc.
- Will advertising begin again?

Not sure about you all but I get emails with specials every three days or so. I do believe they are really trying. Or maybe they just have a lot of stock they want to clear first for future endeavors.

I really just want to get your thoughts. Maybe we can be a voice to help this company move forward. What do you all think? I’m guessing ShopSmith would want to know our opinions?

[RFGuy]

Freddy,

Keep in mind that Shopsmith is and has been a private company for some time now. Yes, you can invest in Shopsmith L.P. (new legal entity name for Cupps version of it), but you would be doing so as a private investor and the company is private. Being a private company, they keep their financials and honestly most of their intent (customers they go after, business strategies, etc.) a secret. Only publicly traded companies have to disclose much more info to the real world. Don't get me wrong, I applaud you for asking these questions but don't be surprised if you get crickets in response. Scott is pretty good at responding on his YT comments. IF you'd like an update from Saint Nick, perhaps ask Scott in the comments of that YT interview video he did with him for a follow-up video? Perhaps he will make it happen. I could be wrong, but historically I don't think Shopsmith paid much attention to this forum, so if you want to give feedback to the company it would have to be through someone more closely linked to the mothership like Scott or attempting contact on one of the company's social media channels. They used to have a couple of FB groups, but I don't know if they still monitor them or not. Or even direct call the company. IF you really want to get their attention and the "scoop", Saint Nick is taking on investors. It requires but a small investment of $10k to get some of the answers you seek!

Shopsmith L.P. Equity Round Form D Filing for the SEC:
https://capedge.com/filing/1980786/0001 ... 3-000001/D

[JPG]

I do not think it has been "a FEW months" since he acquired ownership. More recent than that is my understanding.

Interesting questions. Not sure they are all relevant at this point in time(more so long term relevance).

When you say SS mission... are you referring to recently or back in the middle of the previous century and the period in between?

At this point I think the primary goal is to make the company more profitable and viable for the near future.

All those other questions above are (maybe) options that may be actively considered.

I see no reason for SS management to publicly divulge their goals nor how they are considering pursuing them.

My recent observation is that their marketing has taken a new approach. It seems to me to be more in tune with methods more update.

I consider the task to be somewhat onerous and the development of a new 'owner' base critical.

Unfortunately it has to shed the perception of being grandad's tool of choice.

Today's younger set has the misguided opinion that old design is not good in spite of objective reality. Only us old farts respect good old stuff.(likes attract!)

We can banter here til the cows come to the barn but it will not be terribly relevant to what happens.

I do hope Nick will turn things into a long term survivable business which retains vision to the uniqueness we have been accustomed to in the past that has allowed it to survive this long.

[RFGuy]

JPG,

As always your feedback is greatly appreciated and I agree with most of your comments.

I do not think it has been "a FEW months" since he acquired ownership. More recent than that is my understanding.

The equity filing with the SEC was dated June 29th of 2023, but I could have sworn on that interview with Scott, he said the takeover was back in March.

Interesting questions. Not sure they are all relevant at this point in time(more so long term relevance).

I see no reason for SS management to publicly divulge their goals nor how they are considering pursuing them.

Today's younger set has the misguided opinion that old design is not good in spite of objective reality. Only us old farts respect good old stuff.(likes attract!)

I agree we likely won't get answers, but the one point I want to make is that I don't really know who Shopsmith is anymore or what they are pursuing. Really disheartened to see the planer dropped as a product by them on the new website. I don't even know if I am their target demographic, but I think so. I have hinted at my age many times in the past here. I started woodworking as a teenager and have been doing it for 3 decades now. I believe Saint Nick mentioned on that interview he wanted to target my age group, but openly said he didn't intend or think he could get the generation after mine (WHY NOT?). Not willing to re-watch that interview to confirm, but that is what I think he said. Most companies you have kind of a clear idea of who they are. I can't tell if Shopsmith intends to focus primarily on the Mark 7 and slowly drop the SPT's I care about. Do they intend to focus only on service/repair parts? Honestly I am a bit confused what their mission is at the moment...who is Shopsmith L.P.???

I think some of us are rare breeds. I love vintage (old) style tools (quality, performance, aesthetics, etc.), but can't afford the time or $$$ to restore them. I had wanted to get a 10ER but it just hasn't been a possibility in my local market yet. I really love many of the older woodworking machines and older drill presses. Would love to have a shop full of them, but more importantly to put them to work!

I do hope Nick will turn things into a long term survivable business which retains vision to the uniqueness we have been accustomed to in the past that has allowed it to survive this long.

+10

[FreddyK]

I appreciate the feedback. It appears clear that the answers to my initial questions are “I don’t know.” Maybe that is ok, but I kind of think it’s more of a concern.

I don’t expect to necessarily get answers to my questions from ShopSmith. I do hope by our responses it gives them something to think about. I remember in the original Mr Cupps interview with Scott is that he wanted feedback. It would seem silly to have this forum and not have ShopSmith monitor, at least a little. Here’s an opportunity.

I agree that it appears that we don’t really know the direction. At some point, shouldn’t we? My thought is never say never. At least we are trying!

[edma194]

Shopsmith L.P. Equity Round Form D Filing for the SEC:
https://capedge.com/filing/1980786/0001 ... 3-000001/D

Ok, who wants to pitch in and form an LLC to buy one $10,000 share of the company? Then we'll be owners of Shopsmith machines and owners of Shopsmith itself. If we can get 100 people together that's only $100 each. Since we have easily 1/10th of that number of people steadily contributing to this forum then... well it's going to cost more than $100 each. So how much is it worth to have virtually no say in running the company but able to proudly state "I own a piece of the business!". Then every time we buy something from Shopsmith we're increasing the value of our investment. I can see humor in this, but I would seriously consider doing it.

[RFGuy]

Ok, who wants to pitch in and form an LLC to buy one $10,000 share of the company? Then we'll be owners of Shopsmith machines and owners of Shopsmith itself. If we can get 100 people together that's only $100 each. Since we have easily 1/10th of that number of people steadily contributing to this forum then... well it's going to cost more than $100 each. So how much is it worth to have virtually no say in running the company but able to proudly state "I own a piece of the business!". Then every time we buy something from Shopsmith we're increasing the value of our investment.I can see humor in this, but I would seriously consider doing it.

Honestly, it'd be different IF it was a publicly traded company. Since it is totally private you have little insight into what they are doing, what the financials are, etc. In the past, I have had no problem investing in companies that I admire, whose products I love, etc., etc. However, doing so blind through private equity is just not a gamble I am willing to take. Not trying to discourage anyone else and I understand why this company is private and not publicly traded. Not exactly a shrewd investment without more to go on, but hey you have until Dec. 24th to roll the dice and wait and see what comes the next day from Saint Nick!

[edma194]

However, doing so blind through private equity is just not a gamble I am willing to take.

It's not a gamble. In gambling you have some chance of coming out ahead

[BigSky]

It’s been a few months since Mr Cupps has taken ownership of the company. I’m sure he’s learned a great deal (both good and bad) and is beginning to formulate future direction for the company.

What do you all think is the best way to keep this forum informed? Another Scott M type video? More meetings for ShopSmith owners in Dayton? Some kind of an online group event where we could ask questions and provide comments? Other?

A few things I have been thinking about in no particular order:

- Did ShopSmith ever have an officially publicized mission and vision?
- Do they understand core values and customer needs in this ever changing environment we live today? Are they still aiming towards a multi-woodworking tool in a space saving capacity? Is that the bread and butter? Is there an interest in more stand alone tools? Or more alliances with other companies aka Excalibur scroll saw? Should ShopSmith be more of a competitor for standalone tools?
- Do they know who the customer is and/or could /should be? Established vs new, men/women, etc.
- Will advertising begin again?

Not sure about you all but I get emails with specials every three days or so. I do believe they are really trying. Or maybe they just have a lot of stock they want to clear first for future endeavors.

I really just want to get your thoughts. Maybe we can be a voice to help this company move forward. What do you all think? I’m guessing ShopSmith would want to know our opinions?

I believe Mr Cupps has been the new owner for much less time than stated....like maybe 6 weeks.

[RFGuy]

I believe Mr Cupps has been the new owner for much less time than stated....like maybe 6 weeks.

Thanks. You are right. So, I went back and re-watched part of the Saint Nick video and I was mistaken. In the video where Scott and Tom talk about the 75th anniversary event, they mention Saint Nick was introduced and that "officially" was the new owner of Shopsmith as of a week prior to the 75th anniversary. So, it must have been around the end of September 2023 that he took ownership. In hindsight this makes sense, because the Form D (equity filing) must be filed with the SEC within 15 days of the first sale of a security, in this case equity in Shopsmith L.P. as an entity. We know the Form D was filed on June 23rd, 2023 so it took from then until end of September to get enough private investors, negotiate the sale, finalize legal, completing the purchase, etc. before announcing it at the 75th anniversary celebration. Sorry for any confusion, but technically Saint Nick has only had possession of Shopsmith for about 6 weeks now even though he was taking on money for the sale well before this. Shopsmith L.P. existed since at least June 23rd, 2023, but had none of the Shopsmith (Folkerth) assets until send of September.

In re-watching a portion of that interview, there was an interesting tidbit where Saint Nick said basically that for the last 10 years there have been NO NEW customers for Shopsmith. So, in other words everyone buying from the website are existing owners, i.e. customers of Shopsmith. I found this fact interesting, though I still don't know how much of their attention is on keeping these customers happy and how much is on trying to draw in and attract NEW customers. Hence, I think some of the discussions we have had on multiple threads are all relevant as I do believe Shopsmith is trying to figure out what direction to go in for the future IMHO. Still sad to see them discontinue the planer.