This is all solid advice. To me, this reads like page one of a hypothetical book "So You Want to Start a Hardware Company." There's a lot to learn about buildin

This is all solid advice. To me, this reads like page one of a hypothetical book "So You Want to Start a Hardware Company." There's a lot to learn about building a real hardware product. I'd love to read the rest of the chapters in that book, written by the people who have been through it. Though I would say that you probably shouldn't spend the time creating a new hackerspace. As someone who has been there, starting up and running a hackerspace can be a real time vampire. Joining up with your local space is great - you'll meet a lot of smart people, have access to some useful tools, and maybe even find some potential future employees. But I really don't think it's a good idea to start a hackerspace at the same time you're trying to start a company.