PROGRAM 02 · PARTNER DIRECT

Stop Renting Customers.
Own Them.

You did the prototype. You proved the part. The production order went to someone else, or worse, overseas. We're done watching shops get squeezed by Xometry, Fictiv, and Hubs. Partner with Reliable Punch and keep what you build.

"It's a race to the bottom, AND YOU AREN'T BUILDING A CUSTOMER BASE. You sort of are building a customer base, but it's for Xometry, not for you."

Real shop owner · Practical Machinist forum

3 MINUTES · NO NDAs · NO PLATFORM CONTRACTS · STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL

01

What's your shop's name?

press Enter ↵

02

Where are you located?

03

How long have you been running your shop?

A Under 2 years

B 2 to 5 years

C 5 to 10 years

D 10+ years

04

Which platforms are you currently working with?

Select all that apply.

1 Xometry

2 Fictiv

3 Hubs (Protolabs)

4 Jiga

5 Protolabs Direct

6 RapidDirect

7 Other

8 None, direct only

05

What % of your revenue comes from platforms?

Be honest with yourself.

A Less than 25%

B 25 to 50%

C 50 to 75%

D 75%+ (basically all of it)

06

What frustrates you most about platform work?

Pick the one that hurts the most.

A Prices keep dropping, race to the bottom

B Prototypes never turn into production for ME

C Platform owns the customer relationship

D Their cut keeps growing (30%+ now)

E Forced to use their material at markup

F Short lead times, low margins, no flexibility

G All of the above

07

Have you ever done a prototype and watched the production order go to another shop?

A Yes, happens all the time

B Yes, at least a few times I know of

C Probably, but I can't track it

D No, I've never lost a production order

08

What can you actually make well?

Your bread and butter. Select all that apply.

1 Pins & Dowels

2 Dies & Tooling

3 Punches

4 Brackets & Mounts

5 Medical-Grade Components

6 Production Runs (1K+ units)

7 Custom / Complex Geometries

8 Tight Tolerance Work

09

How many CNC machines do you run?

A 1 to 2

B 3 to 5

C 6 to 10

D 10+

10

Here's what the platforms are costing you.

Based on industry data and what shop owners report on forums, this is the gap between renting platform customers and owning direct customers.

Monthly platform revenue:

Platform vs. Direct · 5-Year View

REALITY CHECK

PLATFORM PATH

$540K

5 years of platform work, before their cut grows again

DIRECT PATH

$1.35M

Same volume, direct customers, production runs included

5-YEAR LOST OPPORTUNITY

$810,000

What platform dependency is costing you over 5 years

Platform Take

30%

Their cut. Growing every quarter.

Our Cut

0%

We feed you direct work. You keep the relationship.

Industry data: Xometry's "take" reported at 25-39% in their own 10-K filings. Direct production orders are typically 2.5× the lifetime value of prototype-only platform work. Numbers are illustrative, actual results depend on your shop and work mix.

11

What would actually help your shop right now?

Select all that apply.

1 Direct customer relationships (you own them)

2 Steady production work, not prototype-only

3 Fair margins, set once, not bid every job

4 Off the platform job board entirely

5 Work from our stamping & perforation pipeline

6 Operational support (sales, admin, materials)

12

What's your name?

13

How can we reach you?

Your info stays private. We don't sell leads. We don't add you to a platform.

14

Anything else we should know?

Optional. War stories welcome. Customer concentration risks. Specific jobs you lost to platforms. Whatever you want us to understand.

CONFIDENTIAL · WE WILL NEVER SHARE YOUR INFO OR USE IT TO COMPETE WITH YOU

✓

You're in good hands.

We'll review what you sent and reach out within 48 hours. No NDAs. No platform contracts. Just a real conversation about getting you off the bidding treadmill and onto direct customer work.

Stop Renting Customers.Own Them.