Jim Newton figured out how to make money from crazy inventors.

In 2006, former Mythbusters science consultant and BattleBots robotics competitor Jim Newton flipped through his notebook of 224 invention ideas. He compiled them into a spreadsheet and began compiling a list of the equipment needed to implement each idea: a CNC milling machine for the production of a new open-source letterpress press, a laser cutter for a sensor that warns the pilot of approaching aircraft... The final list of equipment, which includes an industrial sewing machine and a plasma cutter, formed the basis of the list of equipment for TechShop - a magical land for craftsmen with an area of 1400 square meters. m.

TechShop workshops have already opened in six cities. For $125 a month, the company offers customers—both amateur and professional engineers—a workspace and access to all sorts of tools to realize their ideas. “The passion for making things is human nature,” explains company CEO Mark Hatch, backing his point with references to Jung and Hegel. “For the price a coffee lover spends a month at Starbucks, we give you the tools to do whatever you want.”

Square co-founder Jim McKelvey created his card reader at the first TechShop in Menlo Park. Other inventors assembled jetpacks, nanosatellites and remote-controlled submarines in the workshop. Hatch, a former paratrooper, believes the do-it-yourself spirit is more than just a fad. He compares the DIY movement, which runs the gamut from 3D printing enthusiasts to wood carvers, to the rise of the fitness club industry—it's a major cultural shift, and TechShop intends to capitalize on it. Cheap and accessible tools help popularize this hobby. Today, a CNC router costs 10 times less than it did a few years ago, and every hobbyist who owns a computer can understand computer-aided design programs like 123D Make from Autodesk. Stagnating incomes and the growth of the experience economy are creating the conditions for such hobbies to become widespread, Hatch said.

So far, 4,000 people have used the company's workshops in San Francisco, San Jose, Raleigh-Durham, Detroit and Austin. Next year, Hatch hopes to open new locations in Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C. and Brooklyn. When choosing cities, they are guided by Table 2-B from Richard Florida’s book “The Rise of the Creative Class” (2002), which ranks cities by concentration of engineers, scientists and creative workers. “This is the cheapest market research I can remember,” he jokes. TechShop deviates from this list only when an attractive partnership offer comes along, as in Detroit (Ford), Washington (DAR) and Pittsburgh (Department of Veterans Affairs).

Before gaining access to the equipment, which, if handled incorrectly, can easily leave the operator without a finger, clients undergo three-hour training courses and confirm their skills in practice. TechShop offers a total of 150 training courses each month, typically costing between $50 and $100. To prevent newcomers from accessing equipment they do not own, the system reads users' unique RFID tags before operating each device.

Although Hatch declined to discuss the cost of equipping one TechShop, a 2008 Forbes article pegged the figure at $350,000. Revenue last year was $2.5 million and is expected to reach $6 million this year. Each shop breaks even with 400 to 500 repeat customers.

The growth in the number of subscribers in new workshops is accelerating. The number of users of the first workshop in Menlo Park reached 600 people within three years of operation. The San Francisco workshop achieved the same numbers in eight months; in San Jose - in six months. The Detroit workshop had 500 subscribers when it opened. The company has not yet determined the user limit for each workshop, but Hatch believes it could be around 2,000 people.

In hopes of generating additional sources of income, Hatch is gradually starting to offer model production services to individuals and small companies. Customers at the newly opened TechShop in Austin can have a model quickly created from a CAD file at a fraction of the cost of production. Hatch plans to start small - laser engraving - and gradually move on to using more and more complex machines.

Despite the impressive growth rate, Hatch continues to complain that competing for customers is a steeplechase. “Creating a new service category is really difficult,” he says. “People don’t wake up thinking: maybe today I’ll weld myself a bench.”

TechShop: Dream workshop in your area