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This is not surprising to me. I've worked in this space, and I think consumer hardware startups are just incredibly hard. I just finished my stint at one (https
by csytan 9y ago
This is not surprising to me. I've worked in this space, and I think consumer hardware startups are just incredibly hard. I just finished my stint at one (https://www.electricobjects.com/ https://www.electricobjects.com/) last year after we failed to raise series B.
Why are consumer hardware startups hard?
- Consumers have high expectations and want high quality products from the get go.
- Quality products are incredibly capital intensive, resulting in much shorter runways.
- Building a quality product often times means partnering with an expensive design firm + hiring the engineering talent to back it up.
- Margins are much lower than a typical SAAS. This makes it less appealing for VCs than a pure software play.
- Scaling hardware is harder than scaling software. Lead times are long. The right decisions have to be made ahead of time. Any missteps or problems with your suppliers will delay your launch. If this happens around Black Friday / Christmas -- it's a big deal.
- Not only do delays impact your sales, they will also delay fundraises for much needed cash infusions.