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When hardware Kickstarters ship

engineering.koalasafe.com

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Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#61

Post by divisionfurtive »

bsbechtel wrote: post #59

For those commenting here about working with your factory ahead of time, would any of you be willing to talk a little about the process of choosing a factory to partner with? Thanks.

I have a 2-step process.

1 - Are communications easy, fast and meaningful? That's the first step. Contact more than one supplier (on a initial round, think 10 to 20). Make small challenges like posting design files on a secure site that requires the supplier to create an account...you'll get rid of a lot of unworthy suppliers that won't bother and therefore are not going to be proactive in the future.

2 - Invest in requesting prototypes (or samples if making more than one prototype does not make sense) from more than one factory ahead of time (top 3 of the step above). The good factories will perform well at this task...bad ones will deliver half-baked stuff.

With time, the very good suppliers that really want to build a business relationship with you will become obvious and you can reuse them in the future...making your life easier. Don't be lazy when looking for suppliers...that's the biggest pitfall. Invest time and money...it's important.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#62

Post by bsbechtel »

divisionfurtive wrote: post #61
bsbechtel wrote: post #59

For those commenting here about working with your factory ahead of time, would any of you be willing to talk a little about the process of choosing a factory to partner with? Thanks.

I have a 2-step process. 1 - Are communications easy, fast and meaningful? That's the first step. Contact more than one supplier (on a initial round, think 10 to 20). Make small challenges like posting design files on a secure site that requires the supplier to create an account...you'll get rid of a lot of unworthy suppliers that won't bother and therefore are not going to be proactive in the future. 2 - Invest in r…

This sounds more or less like the process I've gone through. I have yet to explore the option of manufacturing in China....have you done this? Is the process more or less the same?

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#63

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

amelius wrote: post #56

Is it just me, or are most hardware projects on kickstarter easily replaceable by cheap standard hardware like a mobile phone or a raspberry pi, and the right software? It seems strange then, that shipping is such a big problem.

Most of the ones I've seen are. However, all the Kickstarters I've seen are targetting consumers. If your product is based on something like an RPi, then your parts costs are already much higher that they should be and your profit will be close to zero because B2C prices are typically very low.

If you are targetting commercial/industrial customers, then the added cost of standard hardware is generally not a deterrent IME.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#64

Post by stephen_g »

listic wrote: post #14
zrgiu_ wrote: post #3

As a hardware maker on Kickstarter who is about to ship [1], I can sort-of agree with what the article is saying. Yes, one of the most important things is to find THE right partner in China, as that can easily make or break your product. However, if you're afraid to build your own hardware (or at least drastically modify something pre-existent), you're severely limiting your flexibility and the areas where you can in…

I remember reading a postmortem about a failed hardware Kickstarter campaign (some photographic accessory: a flash remote?) and they said they contacted a professional manager from the industry who told them he wouldn't even try developing new hardware without a few million in funding, tens of millions being more common. So there, turns out making new hardware is really expensive.

Wow, pretty bad advice they got... The little company I work for does high end microwave equipment (satellite terminals, RF conversion equipment, 5Gbps ultra-low-latency terrestrial links used for high frequency trading, etc.) and only turns over a few million dollars per year...

I would be surprised if a flash remote cost more than two or three hundred thousand to develop and productise, tool up and do a small production run, but that's assuming you have a team with the right skills. If you're paying contract design houses then I guess it would be a lot more expensive.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#66

Post by Vendan »

boundlessdreamz wrote: post #6
zrgiu_ wrote: post #3

As a hardware maker on Kickstarter who is about to ship [1], I can sort-of agree with what the article is saying. Yes, one of the most important things is to find THE right partner in China, as that can easily make or break your product. However, if you're afraid to build your own hardware (or at least drastically modify something pre-existent), you're severely limiting your flexibility and the areas where you can in…

I have used your app on HTC One. Liked it but unlocking the phone to use a remote app was more cumbersome than just grabbing the remote. I like the approach Peel is taking. Show what's currently on TV and click on what you want to watch and it automatically switches the channel to that show. That's a real good use of the smartphone app, since flicking through channels on TV is really inefficient

Personally, the approach Peel is taking irritates me. Forces me to select a tv antenna/cable profile thing, when that's useless to me. I have no antenna, I have no cable, I just use a roku with netflix. Why does it have to be so complicated when all I need is a power button and volume control?

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#67

Post by stephen_g »

rubbingalcohol wrote: post #2

Congrats on shipping! I would be very interested to know more details about what you learned from your experience with selecting a manufacturing partner. A former client of mine had his business destroyed when his manufacturing partner in China basically stole his prototype and cut him out of the picture. What steps did you take to vet the company you partnered with?

It may not be practical for everyone, but we make sure not to use turnkey manufacturers. For example, one factory might populate and reflow boards and then assemble it into a case, but they don't have the board or case designs - we have them manufactured by other suppliers and supply them and all the components. That way no one factory can just start manufacturing our products because they don't have enough information.

Yes, they can reverse-engineer but it's harder with four or more layer circuit boards and they don't have the full BOM information.

This is also a good strategy for not getting counterfeit parts (that may not work) on your boards - you can use the suppliers and brokers you trust instead of whoever your factory decides to buy from.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#68

Post by nootropicdesign »

Taniwha wrote: post #42
polar8 wrote: post #12

I've shipped one hardware product on Kickstarter [1] and I'm in the process of fulfilling the second [2]. Lessons I've learned are: 1. Design with your factory. Finding a good supplier is important but the real work starts once you've shaken hands. Your factory is your greatest resource as a presumably inexperienced hardware designer. It's like having an expert-level consultant work on your project for free, so take…

Yes, I've shipped a hardware project on kickstarter, and (just) on time - the original article is a tad unfair, as if they were the only ones to ever ship. And I designed my own hardware ..... the trick is to design your hardware BEFORE you announce your kickstarter, not after ....

Yeah, I thought the title was a little exaggerated, too. They aren't the only Kickstarter to ship hardware on time. I shipped my hardware Kickstarter on time, and I did all the hardware and software design, and made the product in the US. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/synthino/synthino-xm-po...

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#69

Post by jkestner »

polar8 wrote: post #12

I've shipped one hardware product on Kickstarter [1] and I'm in the process of fulfilling the second [2]. Lessons I've learned are: 1. Design with your factory. Finding a good supplier is important but the real work starts once you've shaken hands. Your factory is your greatest resource as a presumably inexperienced hardware designer. It's like having an expert-level consultant work on your project for free, so take…

Even before you commit to a factory, you can get useful information out of their production engineers, who will often tell you a thing to change to make your part manufacturable, or cheaper. But you will burn them out if you don't commit.

Harder to burn out is ProtoLabs' automated quoting/DFM site. Upload your 3D file and it'll tell you what you're doing wrong in a few hours.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#70

Post by jkestner »

Taniwha wrote: post #42
polar8 wrote: post #12

I've shipped one hardware product on Kickstarter [1] and I'm in the process of fulfilling the second [2]. Lessons I've learned are: 1. Design with your factory. Finding a good supplier is important but the real work starts once you've shaken hands. Your factory is your greatest resource as a presumably inexperienced hardware designer. It's like having an expert-level consultant work on your project for free, so take…

Yes, I've shipped a hardware project on kickstarter, and (just) on time - the original article is a tad unfair, as if they were the only ones to ever ship. And I designed my own hardware ..... the trick is to design your hardware BEFORE you announce your kickstarter, not after ....

I think it's a good idea for inexperienced creators to design before the Kickstarter launch, but I wouldn't want to exclude the genuinely riskier ideas that require funding for R&D. Kickstarter's a perfect venue for that, assuming everyone knows the risks.
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