I Made It In San Diego By Voice Of San Diego

Finding shoes that fit perfectly can be hard. After a particularly frustrating day of shoe shopping at a mall,  Lucy Beard had a big aha moment while drinking her Starbucks latte. Beard happened to pick up an article about 3D printing technology and she thought, if these machines can create one-of-a-kind objects, couldn't they be used to make customized shoes? "I could have any kind of coffee I want from two little machines, and yet I couldn't get a pair of shoes that fit," she said. "And that was where that light bulb moment came off." Beard decided right then and there to get into the shoe business. In the latest episode of I Made it in San Diego, a podcast illuminating the stories behind the region’s businesses and entrepreneurs, I sat down with Beard to talk about Feetz, the company she launched last year that uses a smartphone app and a warehouse filled with 3D printers to create one-of-a-kind shoes for its customers. Beard knew nothing about 3D printers when she decided to build a business around t