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Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding

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Re: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding

#61

Post by nappy »

mbruschi wrote: post #51
drabie wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best option is to get warm introductions and develop relationships early. Getting people to hear about your product, give you feedback and feel invested before you launch is critical. However, that's not always possible. If you're scrambling and haven't had time to do that, you can always reach out blind or use services/agencies to help. There's a YC company called PRX that helps with this and does it at a very a…

Thank you, will check that out! Did you sent the whole story in the first reach-out or how much information do you recommend to send the first time?

Building early relationships is better, but you also want to be reaching out with something interesting, real, or actionable. I think it depends on the situation - happy to chat about it some more, just email me at hello@getenflux.com

Re: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding

#62

Post by drabie »

ogreveins wrote: post #56

Serious question: How do you keep your stuff from getting replicated, tweaked and crushed by people with possibly better tooling and more machines than you? China comes to mind tbh.

Honestly, you don't. You just need to focus on building something that people want and making sure that the experience you deliver is better than any other.

Further, if you start to think about your hardware as a means of delivering something else (for us, that's food), then getting copycatted on the hardware won't be as hard to deal with from a business standpoint.

Re: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding

#63

Post by liseman »

cfort6 wrote: post #57

Lots of platforms exist for home automation, control of IoT devices, etc... HomeKit, Nest, Wink, etc. How worth it is it to integrate with these platforms? Should new IoT devices "cover all the bases", or is it not worth the extra cost & development? Currently I'm doing an IoT project and I think I may just skip all those platforms. The HomeKit app costs $14.99, a Wink base station or a Nest costs money... Personally…

I believe we're in the earliest days: there's no dominant platform, and no 'killer use' for home automation / iot. I'd focus on your product, maybe adding support for platforms later.

Re: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding

#64

Post by drabie »

mbruschi wrote: post #51
drabie wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best option is to get warm introductions and develop relationships early. Getting people to hear about your product, give you feedback and feel invested before you launch is critical. However, that's not always possible. If you're scrambling and haven't had time to do that, you can always reach out blind or use services/agencies to help. There's a YC company called PRX that helps with this and does it at a very a…

Thank you, will check that out! Did you sent the whole story in the first reach-out or how much information do you recommend to send the first time?

Generally your first outreach should be short, to-the-point and compelling.

Re: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding

#65

Post by [deleted] »

nappy wrote: post #48
dookahku wrote: post #34

I've lots of embedded linux experience. It's less consumerist products but more embedded systems experience. Where do I find people's problems to solve that can be addressed by HW?

I'd start with thinking about things you deal with as a consumer and have problems with. After that, start asking other people about their experience with the same problem/issue.

[deleted]

Re: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding

#66

Post by wilcoxbr »

dfox wrote: post #52

What is your approach to low-volume prototyping? Do you use same components for prototypes that you intend for volume manufacturing? How do you source them? (for example LCD panels, where there seems to be nothing in the intersection of "long-time available", "available in unit quantities", "available in bulk" and "reasonable quality") And another question for the business side of things: where is the line for consum…

We approach prototyping as a process. http://www.themacro.com/articles/2016/01/minimum-viable-prod...

Early prototypes use whatever we have laying around to get the most fundamental feature of the idea vetted.

Right before production, you will build a prototype that we call a First Article. This is a Golden Sample, and every production unit should be just like the First Article.

Prototypes in between those two are built to answer specific questions and we spend no extra resources on sourcing special components that do not directly impact accurate answering of the question.

For things like displays, wireless modules, etc. we work with the manufacturer's Field Application Engineers. They can get you insight on what will be available for production, documentation for the components, etc. They can also probably get you samples for your development work.

McMaster-Carr, DigiKey, Mouser, AdaFruit, SparkFun, etc. are your friends for making those early prototypes.

Crowdfunding is essentially pre-ordering on a social platform. If your market is there and interested, crowdfunding can be a viable market validation step for any business model.

Re: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding

#67

Post by cfederico »

Hi Guys, we are a hardware startup developing a smart LED lamp. We plan to launch a Kickstarter campaign late Q3 and now we are testing the product with our early adopters.

- What is the best way to get traction on the product before launching the campaign?

- How much money you need to set up a good marketing Kickstarter campaign ? Is it needed to use a good PR agency ? (Any suggestions about a good PR agency ? )

Thank you so much!

Federico

Re: Ask Us Anything: Y Combinator Hardware Companies Crowdfunding

#68

Post by pwinter28 »

ogreveins wrote: post #56

Serious question: How do you keep your stuff from getting replicated, tweaked and crushed by people with possibly better tooling and more machines than you? China comes to mind tbh.

This is a common concern amongst all founders I'm pretty sure. It certainly was for us at first. But it shouldn't be. Most people have their own problems to worry about. Obviously it depends on what stage you're at. If you are "pre-market", that is, if you haven't shipped yet. I wouldn't worry to much about it. Just focus on making it better than anyone else and understanding what your customers or potential customers actually want, from an end-to-end experience. It's unlikely that someone with better tools and more machines will ALSO be scrappier and learn to understand their user better and execute on all of those fronts better (I'm thinking customer service and e-commerce for example).

I would focus less on being replicated, and focus more on handling your own issues. Another way to think about it is if you get to the point where you product is good enough and with enough attention that it gets copied in a serious way, you've clearly achieved something.

Cover your bases with IP and be smart, but just focus on getting the best product to market fastest and delivering a great customer experience.

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