3 ms·

I've been doing this for the past 18 months with a Raspberry Pi-based network administration tool called TinyPilot. I originally launched it on HN in 2020[0], a

I've been doing this for the past 18 months with a Raspberry Pi-based network administration tool called TinyPilot. I originally launched it on HN in 2020[0], and there was enough interest that I turned it into a real product[1] and have been iterating on it ever since. Like you, my background is in software, and I had no hardware experience aside from using the Raspberry Pi as a cheap server on a few projects. I've never found a good guide on how to get started in hardware or eCommerce, but I've been posting yearly[2], monthly[3], and weekly[4] updates about my experience learning as I go. One thing I wish I knew at the beginning: it's difficult! Scaling a hardware product is probably 10-100x harder than scaling a software product. There's nothing like GCP or AWS that scales from one to thousands. Vendors that offer fulfillment services won't work with you when you're only selling tens to hundreds per month, so you have to do everything yourself. I built my own fulfillment center[5] and hired people to staff it, and that's complicated because that gets into inventory management, employee payroll and benefits, insurance, etc. The difficulty is a double-edged sword, though. It prevents people from competing with you because nobody else wants the hassle. But the downside is that you're the one who has to deal with the difficulty. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23927380 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23927380 [1] https://tinypilotkvm.com/ https://tinypilotkvm.com/ [2] https://mtlynch.io/solo-developer-year-4/ https://mtlynch.io/solo-developer-year-4/ [3] https://mtlynch.io/retrospectives/ https://mtlynch.io/retrospectives/ [4] https://whatgotdone.com/michael/project/tinypilot https://whatgotdone.com/michael/project/tinypilot [5] https://mtlynch.io/retrospectives/2021/05/ https://mtlynch.io/retrospectives/2021/05/

binbag 5y ago
Sounds like you might have a software startup rather than a hardware one.
- OJFord 5y ago
  Most of the value may be in the software for sure, but TinyPilot is a KVM (I had to look it up; knew I recognised it from somewhere but couldn't think what it was. Think I saw Jeff Geerling review it.) so there's hardware involved, inventory, a product to ship.
ttcbj 5y ago
I write this with true love for your effort, but do I read your 2021 annual retrospective correctly stating that you made $13K on $477K in revenue? Maybe some of your expenses are paying yourself for software development, and that's just your corporate income? Consider reading this book: https://www.amazon.com/Sell-Margins-Higher-Than-Competitors/dp/0471744832/ref=sr_1_1 https://www.amazon.com/Sell-Margins-Higher-Than-Competitors/... I would really consider raising your prices. I found that when I first started my business, I had a subconscious desire to replicate my income at my previous job, which caused me to irrationally underprice my products. After 2 years, I got over it, and it transformed my life. You've done an amazing amount of work. You should get paid for it (or, if people won't pay for it, get out). My dad used to say, "I don't do work for practice."
- mtlynch 5y ago
  >I write this with true love for your effort, but do I read your 2021 annual retrospective correctly stating that you made $13K on $477K in revenue? Maybe some of your expenses are paying yourself for software development, and that's just your corporate income? Thanks for reading! No, that doesn't include paying myself. But it's also worth mentioning I also had $59k in raw materials at year-end. If I had to liquidate everything, it would cost about $5k to assemble the raw materials into ~$200k of product and ship them to customers, so I'd theoretically walk away with $195k. I've always had a hard time assessing the financial health of the business because I'm investing a lot into future growth. Because of the supply shortage, I have to stockpile a lot more raw materials, so as sales grow, I'm also buying more materials to meet the new scale. And a lot of my costs are one-time events that I expect to pay dividends over time (e.g., hiring EE vendors to design a new product, hiring a design firm to overhaul the website, paying developers to add features). >I would really consider raising your prices. I found that when I first started my business, I had a subconscious desire to replicate my income at my previous job, which caused me to irrationally underprice my products. After 2 years, I got over it, and it transformed my life. You've done an amazing amount of work. You should get paid for it (or, if people won't pay for it, get out). My dad used to say, "I don't do work for practice." Thanks! This is something I have trouble with because it's hard for me to measure the optimal price. My volumes are too small to really A/B test different prices effectively. Over the course of the business, I keep raising the $50 thinking the new price is crazy, and then people continue buying anyway.

binbag 5y ago

Sounds like you might have a software startup rather than a hardware one.

OJFord 5y ago
Most of the value may be in the software for sure, but TinyPilot is a KVM (I had to look it up; knew I recognised it from somewhere but couldn't think what it was. Think I saw Jeff Geerling review it.) so there's hardware involved, inventory, a product to ship.

ttcbj 5y ago

I write this with true love for your effort, but do I read your 2021 annual retrospective correctly stating that you made $13K on $477K in revenue? Maybe some of your expenses are paying yourself for software development, and that's just your corporate income? Consider reading this book: https://www.amazon.com/Sell-Margins-Higher-Than-Competitors/dp/0471744832/ref=sr_1_1 https://www.amazon.com/Sell-Margins-Higher-Than-Competitors/... I would really consider raising your prices. I found that when I first started my business, I had a subconscious desire to replicate my income at my previous job, which caused me to irrationally underprice my products. After 2 years, I got over it, and it transformed my life. You've done an amazing amount of work. You should get paid for it (or, if people won't pay for it, get out). My dad used to say, "I don't do work for practice."

mtlynch 5y ago
>I write this with true love for your effort, but do I read your 2021 annual retrospective correctly stating that you made $13K on $477K in revenue? Maybe some of your expenses are paying yourself for software development, and that's just your corporate income? Thanks for reading! No, that doesn't include paying myself. But it's also worth mentioning I also had $59k in raw materials at year-end. If I had to liquidate everything, it would cost about $5k to assemble the raw materials into ~$200k of product and ship them to customers, so I'd theoretically walk away with $195k. I've always had a hard time assessing the financial health of the business because I'm investing a lot into future growth. Because of the supply shortage, I have to stockpile a lot more raw materials, so as sales grow, I'm also buying more materials to meet the new scale. And a lot of my costs are one-time events that I expect to pay dividends over time (e.g., hiring EE vendors to design a new product, hiring a design firm to overhaul the website, paying developers to add features). >I would really consider raising your prices. I found that when I first started my business, I had a subconscious desire to replicate my income at my previous job, which caused me to irrationally underprice my products. After 2 years, I got over it, and it transformed my life. You've done an amazing amount of work. You should get paid for it (or, if people won't pay for it, get out). My dad used to say, "I don't do work for practice." Thanks! This is something I have trouble with because it's hard for me to measure the optimal price. My volumes are too small to really A/B test different prices effectively. Over the course of the business, I keep raising the $50 thinking the new price is crazy, and then people continue buying anyway.