#1 - Please don't share this page with anyone. This is a private, Magnus Customer only thing (I'm going to remove the link on the Blog Post that sent you here once most people on the email list have ready the post). Thank you.

and

#2 - I am just assessing potential interest at this stage.

I am assessing interest in something I will call "The Foundry".

What is The Foundry?

Simply put... it is a facility where private individuals can lend funds to the Magnus business and receive an annual return in the form of a fixed interest rate (as well as other "perks") for the lending of this capital.

I'm going to pull back the curtain somewhat on the business and explain how it operates a bit more than I typically would.

I will also cover how supporting Magnus would likely work in practice.

Lastly, I will provide a way for you to apply to join The Foundry programme.

I will provide some details of how we operate here (however, more in-depth details about the business will only be discussed if you are successfully past the initial application).

When you strip back what we do here ...we essentially manufacture metal components. Yes, I know, this kind of "bursts the bubble" of the Magnus brand a little - but it is accurate.

Of course, there is a lot of other things: designing, testing, finishing, quality control, ecommerce, and so on.

But, at the core, we physically transform raw materials into precision made components. These components then get assembled into final, finished products.

Labor is the highest cost in the business (just like almost every other business). But, because we are specifically in metal manufacturing, the second highest cost for us is loan repayments for CNC machines (as well as a few other supporting metal-work machines).

We registered the business here in New Zealand in November 2013 (Initially as Cogent Industries Limited ...but changed the legal name to Magnus Industries Limited a few years later).

In 2016 I took out the first bank loan for a piece of equipment (not for a CNC milling machine, but a machine to tumble and finish titanium parts). That machine was fully paid off many years ago. Since then we have taken out many more loans for additional equipment (mostly CNC milling machines). So we have 9+ years of taking out bank loans and making repayments (with some machines fully paid off).

Taking out loans to fund equipment just makes sound business sense - well, it certainly does for us. The monthly repayments (principle + interest) is significantly less than the revenue each machine can produce. For us it is a no-brainer to keep doing this.

We currently have 10 CNC machines (4 x horizontal CNC milling machines, 3 x vertical CNC milling machines, a 5-axis CNC milling machine, a CNC lathe and a sliding-head CNC lathe).

We have recently ordered our 11th CNC milling machine - another horizontal (to take the total to 5 horizontals). We plan to order another two of these machines soon with the help of the private loans I talked about in the Blog Post that landed you on this page. The 11th machine is being built now in Japan and should be installed in March/April 2026.

Around 80% to 90% of our business revenue is from fidgets (mainly Sliders) and the remainder from Pens. The percentage varies from month to month depending how much emphasis we put on the production of each of these products.

The 11th and 12th machine will likely be added to the manufacturing of Sliders (to help meet the demand). There is a chance the 13th machine needs to be used for Sliders ...but, honestly, I'm trying to free up some machining capacity to finally get our high-end knives into production.

Our machine utilization is very high. Not only do we run 24 hours per weekday on most machines - we have recently started running on Saturday and Sunday too. Of 168 possible machining hours available each week... we are somewhere in the 150 to 160+ hours range (we still have a bit more to push). This is not very typical in CNC machining. To get these hours a company would typically run multiple human shifts - however we do this all unattended (what they call "lights out" in the industry).

I'm telling you about machine utilization to show that, before we look to buy a new machine, we have maxed-out the potential of all the current machines. We're not just "throwing money" at new machines.

I tend not to talk about the size of the business -- or really the business itself -- in blog posts, social media, etc.. I focus on the products, the story and that kind of thing.

But truth is... we are a thriving business. We have an incredible team. The core reason our sales are higher than ever is the team we have. We relentlessly push hard to come out with new designs - this is absolutely one of our strengths as a team and business.

While we are probably the most well-know fidget maker (or at least right up there) - we have other products in the works. We are currently working on a folding knife in the background. We have made knives before so it's not totally new territory for us. But, in saying that, we have made at least 60 or 70 different Titanium products over the years -- tweezers, domino sets, fountain pens, spinning tops, carabiners, pill containers, etc.. We are familiar with designing, prototyping and getting new products into production.

You may be wondering why not just keeping taking out bank loans? Why bother to open up to private loans?

My simple answer is...

Why give interest to a bank -- who, let's face it, are purely in it for the money and absolutely nothing else -- if there are people out there who love the Magnus brand and love what we do ...AND have the desire and means to go deeper and provide a loan to us for continued growth?

I'm not sure what it's like in your part of the world - but, here in New Zealand, the days of having a bank manager that understands your business and you have a relationship with are ancient history. Everything is just numbers now. They look at your Profit and Loss Report and give you a yes or no. It's all very clinical and impersonal.

This is fine, BUT...

I feel there is so many potential positives for both the Magnus business and Customers who desire to support us in a different way.

It is absolutely critical I make it clear that I am offering the opportunity to provide a loan to the Magnus business.

It is NOT an investment. It is a private individual providing funds and receiving an agreed-upon annual interest rate for the loan of these funds.

Accepting a loan from a Customer -- or even just someone I know -- is the core of what makes this whole thing possible.

Trying to offer any sort of equity in the company or such is a totally different beast and not something I would be interested in pursuing (it's complicated and falls in an area where there is legal and regulatory requirements). A loan is much simpler.

We have 9+ years of taking out bank loans for machines and making repayments - we are familiar and confident in this process of growing the business.

As I mentioned above... I am just assessing this entire thing that the moment. Essentially feeling out what interest there is.

With this in mind, I've put together an initial list of what a Magnus Customer could expect from providing a loan:

-- Knowing their money is helping a (relatively) small company -- a company they are almost certainly very familiar with.

-- An 8% annual return on their loan amount (this is roughly the same rate we pay to the bank).

-- Detailed behind-the-scenes information about the Magnus business - our plans, strategy, upcoming products, and so on.

-- "Other perks" (Note: these are fine to offer to someone who has provided a loan ...I just have to be careful not to attach specific dollar values to these) such as gifts, access to products unavailable to regular Customers, and so on. It can muddy-the-waters for regulators if I get too specific with these things ...so I'm going to just leave it as "other perks" that are at the discretion of Magnus.

The following is roughly how it would work:

-- Magnus (the business) would offer what are called "Loan Notes" (this is an industry standard term). Each Loan Note would likely cost $10,000(USD).

-- A Customer would then "buy" a minimum of one of these Loan Notes (although I would put a cap on the total number any one Customer can buy).

-- The term of the Loan Note would be 3 years (this is typically the most common time-frame).

We would then offer two repayment options for the buyer of the Loan Notes:

Option #1: Let the annual 8% interest accrue over the 3 years and repay the principle + total interest at the end of year 3.

or

Option #2: Repay the 8% interest annually and then, at the end of the three years, repay the principle back.

So, in practice, recalling the two people I mentioned in the Blog Post who will be providing loans to the business... one will be buying 11 Loan Notes ($110,000) and the other will be buying 14 Loan Notes ($140,000).

I feel it's a good middle-of-the-road amount.

Offering smaller dollar-value Loan Notes would mean a lot of paperwork and overhead relative to the value of the Loan Note.

A CNC machine typically costs around $180,000 to $200,000(USD). So, even at $10,000 per Loan Note, it still takes 20 x Loan Notes to fund a new machine.

I am definitely not going to try and "sell" you on this. And, in fact, I can't legally do that.

I can however "sell you" on the business - where we're at, where we're going, how good the team is, the new products we're working on and so on.

There is, of course, risk to your capital. You would be providing an unsecured loan. You can potentially lose all your money.

If you understand the above and you are still interested, then CLICK HERE to apply - or click the button below:

I will, of course, provide more information about the business for those who are successful in their application.