5 ms·

Show HN: New Sub-Reddit for Hardware Startups

65 points by nickpinkston 14y ago

nickpinkston 14y ago
I'd love to get any feedback you guys have on this!
connorzwick 14y ago
This is a terrific idea! Consider me a subscriber already and hopefully a contributor soon too!
- nickpinkston 14y ago
  Awesome dude - please do contribute! I seeded it and will continue to, but of course it's all about the community we've got to build.
djb_hackernews 14y ago
I'm not sure what the needs of the Hardware startup community are but I'm not a fan of the super specific subreddits. /r/startups isn't really that subscribed or busy, why not just post articles there?
- nickpinkston 14y ago
  Yea, this is fair point, but if you saw what we're seeing in HardwareLand, you'd see that we very underrepresented and feel VERY different from the standard startup crowd. There's some similarities that HN does very well on - general lean startup stuff, etc., but HN will never be a community that up-votes "How to manufacture in China" type articles more than "How to Deploy X web stack in Y way" ones.
  - nabilt 14y ago
    I agree 100%. Here are some other hardware related subreddits I follow. ECE ------- http://www.reddit.com/r/electronics http://www.reddit.com/r/electronics http://www.reddit.com/r/ECE http://www.reddit.com/r/ECE http://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics http://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics http://www.reddit.com/r/DSP http://www.reddit.com/r/DSP http://www.reddit.com/r/ECEComponentExchange http://www.reddit.com/r/ECEComponentExchange RF ---- http://www.reddit.com/r/RTLSDR http://www.reddit.com/r/RTLSDR http://www.reddit.com/r/GNURadio http://www.reddit.com/r/GNURadio http://www.reddit.com/r/rfelectronics http://www.reddit.com/r/rfelectronics Maker --------- http://www.reddit.com/r/maker http://www.reddit.com/r/maker
    - EwanG 14y ago
      My favorite: http://www.reddit.com/BuildaPC http://www.reddit.com/BuildaPC Something that most folks can do, and get a better product for the same dollars. Not to mention gaining many of the advantages about learning hardware as programming gives you on software.
      - joshu 14y ago
        i subscribed for a while, but it's mostly about what's the fastest video card per dollar. blah. the rest are talking about actually making things, this one is about buying stuff. not the same thing at all. do you really think building a pc gives insight into programming!?
    - nickpinkston 14y ago
      Great idea to add relevant sub-Reddits - just put some of those on there!
- makmanalp 14y ago
  It's a control issue. If you start a new subreddit, you "own" that subreddit, and can control posts etc. Also, since you're a mod, your posts garner more attention.
yelloweye 14y ago
Yes. we need a Sub-Reddit for HW startups. Good job!
callil 14y ago
Exciting! I'm glad you are trying to start something up. Maybe a more dedicated site would foster a stronger community later down the line. Are there any existing places that do this?
- nickpinkston 14y ago
  Yea, I'm with you. I'm actually an awful web developer, so I figured I'd gauge interest with a sub-Reddit. There's a ton of room for resources (see below). On July 30th in SF I'm organizing an "Map-a-thon" to put together a hardware resources map (like where to buy electronics, metal, etc. locally) for the SF area using a simple gMaps embed and some KMLs. There also needs to be a "CrunchBase for hardware" because no one tags things "hardware" - it's always "fitness", "maker" or whatever category they're targeting. We're also doing a survey soon to get some case studies on how people are building these companies. Finally, we're looking at putting together a knowledge base for how to make things like "How to Design for Injection Molding" - etc. It's easy to find "How to Build X in Rails" tutorials - we need the same for our community.
  - nickpinkston 14y ago
    Some stuff we've been doing: - http://www.meetup.com/HardwareStartupSF http://www.meetup.com/HardwareStartupSF - http://hardwareuncon.eventbrite.com http://hardwareuncon.eventbrite.com - http://www.meetup.com/Solid-State-Startups http://www.meetup.com/Solid-State-Startups To name very few - look at the side bar on the sub-Reddit to see more.
  - callil 14y ago
    This is super interesting to me as an Industrial design student masquerading as a Web designer. Unfortunately I am on the East Coast, but if there is any way I can help with this idea let me know.
    - nickpinkston 14y ago
      Very cool - where are you located? There's an NYC event this Thursday actually: http://www.meetup.com/NY-Hardware-Start-up http://www.meetup.com/NY-Hardware-Start-up DM me your info: twitter.com/nickpinkston)
jiakeliu 14y ago
Score! Posted mine. http://www.reddit.com/r/hwstartups/comments/x3axm/heres_my_senior_design_project_im_trying_to_turn/ http://www.reddit.com/r/hwstartups/comments/x3axm/heres_my_s...
follower 14y ago
If you're in San Francisco tonight it looks like there's a hardware meetup at 6:30pm: "Special Hardware Event: A Night with OpenROV" http://www.meetup.com/HardwareStartupSF/events/72306272/ http://www.meetup.com/HardwareStartupSF/events/72306272/ (via the link from @nickpinkston)
- nickpinkston 14y ago
  Yea, I'll be there! It's at TechShop San Francisco - so you can check that out as well. Great stuff!
orenmazor 14y ago
this is a fantastic idea. I've lived in hardware startup land for a while, and the needs are very specific there :)
halfnelson 14y ago
This is a great idea. I grew up around fab-houses in China and I can say it definitely takes much more effort to even get a prototype down in the States. The cost of parts alone is ridiculous and probably off-putting to newcomers. It's a real shame, since there's so much talent here that could be building amazing new hardware, but we end up just waiting for big companies like Google to tell us what the next platform will be. I'll definitely be subscribing to this subr and coming to some meetups. Hell, we can organize bulk orders and get cheaper parts from China!

65 points by nickpinkston 14y ago

nickpinkston 14y ago

I'd love to get any feedback you guys have on this!

connorzwick 14y ago

This is a terrific idea! Consider me a subscriber already and hopefully a contributor soon too!

nickpinkston 14y ago
Awesome dude - please do contribute! I seeded it and will continue to, but of course it's all about the community we've got to build.

djb_hackernews 14y ago

I'm not sure what the needs of the Hardware startup community are but I'm not a fan of the super specific subreddits. /r/startups isn't really that subscribed or busy, why not just post articles there?

nickpinkston 14y ago
Yea, this is fair point, but if you saw what we're seeing in HardwareLand, you'd see that we very underrepresented and feel VERY different from the standard startup crowd. There's some similarities that HN does very well on - general lean startup stuff, etc., but HN will never be a community that up-votes "How to manufacture in China" type articles more than "How to Deploy X web stack in Y way" ones.
- nabilt 14y ago
  I agree 100%. Here are some other hardware related subreddits I follow. ECE ------- http://www.reddit.com/r/electronics http://www.reddit.com/r/electronics http://www.reddit.com/r/ECE http://www.reddit.com/r/ECE http://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics http://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics http://www.reddit.com/r/DSP http://www.reddit.com/r/DSP http://www.reddit.com/r/ECEComponentExchange http://www.reddit.com/r/ECEComponentExchange RF ---- http://www.reddit.com/r/RTLSDR http://www.reddit.com/r/RTLSDR http://www.reddit.com/r/GNURadio http://www.reddit.com/r/GNURadio http://www.reddit.com/r/rfelectronics http://www.reddit.com/r/rfelectronics Maker --------- http://www.reddit.com/r/maker http://www.reddit.com/r/maker
  - EwanG 14y ago
    My favorite: http://www.reddit.com/BuildaPC http://www.reddit.com/BuildaPC Something that most folks can do, and get a better product for the same dollars. Not to mention gaining many of the advantages about learning hardware as programming gives you on software.
    - joshu 14y ago
      i subscribed for a while, but it's mostly about what's the fastest video card per dollar. blah. the rest are talking about actually making things, this one is about buying stuff. not the same thing at all. do you really think building a pc gives insight into programming!?
  - nickpinkston 14y ago
    Great idea to add relevant sub-Reddits - just put some of those on there!
makmanalp 14y ago
It's a control issue. If you start a new subreddit, you "own" that subreddit, and can control posts etc. Also, since you're a mod, your posts garner more attention.

yelloweye 14y ago

Yes. we need a Sub-Reddit for HW startups. Good job!

callil 14y ago

Exciting! I'm glad you are trying to start something up. Maybe a more dedicated site would foster a stronger community later down the line. Are there any existing places that do this?

nickpinkston 14y ago
Yea, I'm with you. I'm actually an awful web developer, so I figured I'd gauge interest with a sub-Reddit. There's a ton of room for resources (see below). On July 30th in SF I'm organizing an "Map-a-thon" to put together a hardware resources map (like where to buy electronics, metal, etc. locally) for the SF area using a simple gMaps embed and some KMLs. There also needs to be a "CrunchBase for hardware" because no one tags things "hardware" - it's always "fitness", "maker" or whatever category they're targeting. We're also doing a survey soon to get some case studies on how people are building these companies. Finally, we're looking at putting together a knowledge base for how to make things like "How to Design for Injection Molding" - etc. It's easy to find "How to Build X in Rails" tutorials - we need the same for our community.
- nickpinkston 14y ago
  Some stuff we've been doing: - http://www.meetup.com/HardwareStartupSF http://www.meetup.com/HardwareStartupSF - http://hardwareuncon.eventbrite.com http://hardwareuncon.eventbrite.com - http://www.meetup.com/Solid-State-Startups http://www.meetup.com/Solid-State-Startups To name very few - look at the side bar on the sub-Reddit to see more.
- callil 14y ago
  This is super interesting to me as an Industrial design student masquerading as a Web designer. Unfortunately I am on the East Coast, but if there is any way I can help with this idea let me know.
  - nickpinkston 14y ago
    Very cool - where are you located? There's an NYC event this Thursday actually: http://www.meetup.com/NY-Hardware-Start-up http://www.meetup.com/NY-Hardware-Start-up DM me your info: twitter.com/nickpinkston)

jiakeliu 14y ago

Score! Posted mine. http://www.reddit.com/r/hwstartups/comments/x3axm/heres_my_senior_design_project_im_trying_to_turn/ http://www.reddit.com/r/hwstartups/comments/x3axm/heres_my_s...

follower 14y ago

If you're in San Francisco tonight it looks like there's a hardware meetup at 6:30pm: "Special Hardware Event: A Night with OpenROV" http://www.meetup.com/HardwareStartupSF/events/72306272/ http://www.meetup.com/HardwareStartupSF/events/72306272/ (via the link from @nickpinkston)

nickpinkston 14y ago
Yea, I'll be there! It's at TechShop San Francisco - so you can check that out as well. Great stuff!

orenmazor 14y ago

this is a fantastic idea. I've lived in hardware startup land for a while, and the needs are very specific there :)

halfnelson 14y ago

This is a great idea. I grew up around fab-houses in China and I can say it definitely takes much more effort to even get a prototype down in the States. The cost of parts alone is ridiculous and probably off-putting to newcomers. It's a real shame, since there's so much talent here that could be building amazing new hardware, but we end up just waiting for big companies like Google to tell us what the next platform will be. I'll definitely be subscribing to this subr and coming to some meetups. Hell, we can organize bulk orders and get cheaper parts from China!