3 ms·

My (naive) idea - 1) build any kind of prototype 2) Go to Shenzhen, China and find a manufacturer / partner.

by barrenko 5y ago

fxtentacle 5y ago
3) compete with your own product on alibaba Never trust someone that you don't have a good working relationship with to keep your IP safe. There was a selfie stick phone case Kickstarter where you could purchase Chinese clones on Amazon before the original project finished funding.
- InitialLastName 5y ago
  There's a classic process here: 1) successfully crowdfund a hardware concept 2) Wait for the productionized version of that concept to show up on AliExpress for 10% of the unit cost if you manufactured yourself 3) Buy a few pallets off AliExpress, ship them to your backers.
  - a9h74j 5y ago
    Like a new version of Cunningham's Law: 1) Design it wrong 2) Wait for knock-offs with improvements 3) Buy those
- obrajesse 5y ago
  That's a pretty common pattern. To a first approximation, you will never outcompete clones on cost or distribution. Chinese patents and trademarks are actually helpful if you need to enforce, as are good contracts written by a Chinese lawyer in Chinese.[1] You can outcompete them on customer service, community, brand, and quality. For most consumerish products, I would not be worried about a clone stealing your design files. It is incredibly cheap to clone the mechanical parts of a product from photos or a single copy bought retail. For most consumer electronics, the clones would be unlikely to use the expensive western parts and designs you would. Instead, you're likely to see really fascinating cost engineering around parts you didn't know existed. [1] I have sued a supplier in China, who did some sketchy stuff. It was a fascinating process. Contrary to the conventional wisdom and to our expectations, the court actually helped us get back our tooling and inventory.

3 ms·

My (naive) idea - 1) build any kind of prototype 2) Go to Shenzhen, China and find a manufacturer / partner.

by barrenko 5y ago

My (naive) idea - 1) build any kind of prototype 2) Go to Shenzhen, China and find a manufacturer / partner.

fxtentacle 5y ago
3) compete with your own product on alibaba Never trust someone that you don't have a good working relationship with to keep your IP safe. There was a selfie stick phone case Kickstarter where you could purchase Chinese clones on Amazon before the original project finished funding.
- InitialLastName 5y ago
  There's a classic process here: 1) successfully crowdfund a hardware concept 2) Wait for the productionized version of that concept to show up on AliExpress for 10% of the unit cost if you manufactured yourself 3) Buy a few pallets off AliExpress, ship them to your backers.
  - a9h74j 5y ago
    Like a new version of Cunningham's Law: 1) Design it wrong 2) Wait for knock-offs with improvements 3) Buy those
- obrajesse 5y ago
  That's a pretty common pattern. To a first approximation, you will never outcompete clones on cost or distribution. Chinese patents and trademarks are actually helpful if you need to enforce, as are good contracts written by a Chinese lawyer in Chinese.[1] You can outcompete them on customer service, community, brand, and quality. For most consumerish products, I would not be worried about a clone stealing your design files. It is incredibly cheap to clone the mechanical parts of a product from photos or a single copy bought retail. For most consumer electronics, the clones would be unlikely to use the expensive western parts and designs you would. Instead, you're likely to see really fascinating cost engineering around parts you didn't know existed. [1] I have sued a supplier in China, who did some sketchy stuff. It was a fascinating process. Contrary to the conventional wisdom and to our expectations, the court actually helped us get back our tooling and inventory.