The Manufacturing Phenomenon That Is SendCutSend - EP 79 Jim Belosic

**Ashlee Vance** (0:00)
I sit before you with this American flag made out of metal, if you're watching on YouTube or Spotify. And I also have a shot glass made out of metal. We got both these things. We went to Nevada to visit a company called SendCutSend and to interview its founder and CEO, Jim Belosic, who you will hear from today.
I feel like SendCutSend is under the radar, but they are a legit American manufacturing story, the American manufacturing story right now. Jim started this company a few years ago with his own money. Didn't take venture capital. He just wanted to make metal parts for himself. First and foremost, he got some metal cutting machines. And then it turned out a lot of people wanted these parts. And now, if you go to any hardware startup in California or Texas, wherever, there's a really good chance they're getting their parts from SendCutSend. Same thing for the biggest aerospace, automotive manufacturing companies in the United States. SendCutSend is kind of the closest thing we have to China at the moment, where you design a part using computer-aided design software. You want to get it machined instead of sending that off to China, waiting for it to come back. SendCutSend turns these parts around really quickly. They have become a major, major thing. Jim's story is fascinating. The company is fascinating.
You should listen to this interview. I should also note that we are 100% bought and paid for, or at least look like we are. With this episode, SendCutSend has come on as a sponsor. Go to sendcutsend.com/corememory if you want 15% off a metal part. We did this interview months before they came on as a sponsor. I had never even met Jim before. You can feel safe that this interview was done objectively. We hit it off afterwards, hanging out, and then we did this weird thing with the Sam Altman, Greg Brogman podcast we did where I put it under the paywall and angered a bunch of people and Jim ended up unlocking the podcast for everyone by paying $100,000 and he came on as a sponsor of Core Memories podcast. There you go. You're going to enjoy this episode. It's a fascinating story. I'm Ashlee Vance. This is Core Memory. Here we go.
Jim Belosic, how are you?

**Jim Belosic** (2:41)
Great, yeah.

**Ashlee Vance** (2:42)
Thank you for having us here. So just to give people some context, we're in Reno, we're at the headquarters of SendCutSend. We'll explain while we're in this particular building in a minute. We are by an airport right next to it.

**Jim Belosic** (2:57)
You'll hear the planes.

**Ashlee Vance** (2:58)
Yeah, you might hear some planes.

**Jim Belosic** (3:00)
This is the quietest spot that we have.

**Ashlee Vance** (3:02)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, and there's a good reason for that, because you guys are so busy.
Well, look, I've spent the last many years running around the country, visiting manufacturing, operations, startups that are trying to get this stuff going, but then also the actual space companies, defense companies, industrial companies that make stuff, use big machines, and over the last few months, on this long journey that I've been on, I just kept hearing about your company, SendCutSend, over and over and over again. Every time I did it, like a robot startup, rocket company, wherever, and I'd ask where they got their parts, or they were just volunteer, that this company has changed the way we do stuff. So you're like a phenomenon, and I wanted to come here and figure this all out. We had a chance to hang out yesterday. You actually grew up nearby.

**Jim Belosic** (3:54)
Yep.

**Ashlee Vance** (3:55)
Yeah, and so you're local, and yeah, so I want to tell people the story of SendCutSend and how this came to be. How would you, if you have to describe the company to somebody who's not really in the manufacturing business, how would you describe what you guys do?

**Jim Belosic** (4:11)
Well, it's kind of in the name. So people send us their ideas or their design.
We cut it or machine it or whatever, and then send it right back to their door. So really, really quick turn manufacturing, on-demand manufacturing is another way to put it. We started with just ultra-high-mix, low-volume stuff, stuff that you couldn't get anywhere else. Quantity of one of something that didn't exist. It only existed in your mind, and then a couple days later, you can hold it in your hands. That's really the basis.

**Ashlee Vance** (4:43)
And there's a few things going on there. I mean, one is the speed at which you guys do things. Somebody can send you an order by noon today, and it'll be at their shop.