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Startup wows in specialized market: 3D-printing furniture

Wth a Texas lineage well-versed in dreaming and doing big things, Jay Rogers makes St. Pete a focal point of his latest venture: robots that make tables and chairs.


  • By Mark Gordon
  • | 5:00 a.m. March 8, 2024
  • | 0 Free Articles Remaining!
Jay Rogers believes Haddy can be a $100 million business by 2030.
Jay Rogers believes Haddy can be a $100 million business by 2030.
Photo by Mark Wemple
  • Tampa Bay-Lakeland
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St. Petersburg manufacturing entrepreneur Jay Rogers has worked and lived in multiple time zones and countries. In the states, spots range from Phoenix to Boston to San Francisco to now Florida. He led military units as a U.S. Marine in Iraq. Before that he helped grow a medical device startup in China that Bristol Myers acquired. And when he was a teenager he sailed around the world with his parents — for seven years.

In all those experiences, Rogers has had some extreme highs and lows. In one way, those travels have prepared Rogers for his latest, and what he believes can be his greatest, venture: making stylish yet functional furniture from AI-powered, robotic 3D printers. In another way, this new company, Haddy, is both a bit of deja vu and a chance for the opportunistic Rogers to build upon some ideas with his most recent previous business: Local Motors.

 


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author

Mark Gordon

Mark Gordon is the managing editor of the Business Observer. He has worked for the Business Observer since 2005. He previously worked for newspapers and magazines in upstate New York, suburban Philadelphia and Jacksonville.

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