Feld backs nonprofit TinkerMill in Longmont

LONGMONT – A year into its existence, TinkerMill, a “makerspace” in Longmont, has launched a sponsorship program, and landed a couple of well-known initial donors that founders hope will help the program take off.

Venture capitalist Brad Feld and his wife, Amy Batchelor, have donated $5,000 to TinkerMill, a nonprofit community workshop where members – artists, scientists, engineers or other creatives – can go to use the tools there.

“That will help flavor the types of people who might be interested (in donating),´ said Scott Converse, TinkerMill’s founder and president.

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TinkerMill has a pair of locations: a 6,100-square-foot space at 1840 Delaware Place and a 1,500-square-foot space at 519 4th Ave. downtown.

From woodworking to 3-D printing to beer-brewing equipment, there are all types of tools available at the space for working on inventions, prototyping and learning from others. In addition, Converse said there is office space where about four or five startups are working to get their business ideas off the ground.

Converse, a former Apple employee who founded startups ClickCaster and Medioh before their acquisitions by other companies, opened TinkerMill one year ago almost to the day.

Already, the space has 93 members, with memberships costing $50 per month for individuals, $25 for students and $75 for families.

Converse said that, in addition to Feld, his Foundry Group business partner Seth Levine and associate Eugene Wan are both among TinkerMill’s members.

“I did not expect things to ramp up so quickly,” Converse said.