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Ask HN: Are you building a hardware startup?
I'm working on some ideas for hardware products and I'm curious what people have learned in their attempts to build hardware products.
To this end, I have two questions:
* What are the biggest challenges you're facing outside of finding a manufacturer?
* What did you need to learn on the technology end that helped you the most?
- tlb 12y agoIteration is slow and expensive. With web software you can iterate (change - release - get user feedback) daily. Hardware takes weeks or months to iterate. You always need more iterations than you think to get to a great product.
- mmanulis 12y agoGood point about iteration. Outside of using a 3D printer have you found any tools that increase iteration speed, even if that increases cost? I understand you can have a PCB fab house build a 4-layer board and have it to you in a couple of days for a large price, but I'm wondering if there are other alternatives.
- tlb 12y agoGetScale and Upverter are both working to make the PCB iteration process faster and cheaper. Sourcing components turned out to be a big source of delay for us at Anybots. It was hard to communicate with vendors, and some parts had 8-week lead times. It's important to have a process for iteration. For example, trying a new component requires: - calling vendors - getting samples - doing mechanical integration - doing software integration - testing Each of these steps required our engineers to focus on the issue for a while. Without someone managing the timeline, projects could easily stall.
- mmanulis 12y agoThose are really great resources, thank you for sharing them. One more question, did you build a multi-disciplinary team or did you teach yourself mechanical, electrical and software engineer?
- tlb 12y agoMy background is mostly software, but I taught myself enough electronics and mechanical engineering to be dangerous.