Ask HN: Any hardware startups?

#1

Post by Keyframe » Sat, Oct 16, 2010, 2:13 AM UTC

I'd like to hear about hardware startups and your troubles and problem solving. Particularly if there are any IC manufacturers or fabless startups.

This is an area (EE and ICs especially) I was always fascinated by, but I have no practical knowledge about. Yet, I have several ideas which I would like to develop into a HW product (one of million ideas we all write down), but I have no one to talk about since I don't know any people that are experts in. My exposure to the area comes mostly through occasional scouring through IC manufacturers news/prs/blogs, eetimes and wiki (so it's nothing basically).

Is it possible at all for a small yc-like startup to break into an IC field at all (fabless like Nvidia or manufacturer area). Costs associated seem to be astronomical.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups?

#2

Post by AlexBlom » Sat, Oct 16, 2010, 2:19 AM UTC

You should check out Kogan. I don't know the guys personally but they have successfully built a hardware brand in Australia.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups?

#3

Post by Keyframe » Sat, Oct 16, 2010, 2:23 AM UTC

AlexBlom wrote: post #2

You should check out Kogan. I don't know the guys personally but they have successfully built a hardware brand in Australia.

Thanks. From a glance ( http://www.kogan.com.au/profile/ ) it seems more like a trading company that slapped brand on hardware deals they got through alibaba.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups?

#4

Post by aberkowitz » Sat, Oct 16, 2010, 6:37 AM UTC

I'm working on a very early stage hobby startup based around preexisting open source hardware / software.

It's going very slowly due to my lack of knowledge with regards to hardware development and manufacturing.

The only YC company I know of that does hardware is WakeMate and they have been plagues by numerous manufacturing and licensing problems.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups?

#5

Post by Keyframe » Sat, Oct 16, 2010, 3:08 PM UTC

aberkowitz wrote: post #4

I'm working on a very early stage hobby startup based around preexisting open source hardware / software. It's going very slowly due to my lack of knowledge with regards to hardware development and manufacturing. The only YC company I know of that does hardware is WakeMate and they have been plagues by numerous manufacturing and licensing problems.

Can you provide more info about what are you trying to do? Looks like post got no traction, which is a shame - I really wanted to hear about HW manufacturing issues from a startup perspective, especially IC.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups?

#6

Post by acgourley » Sat, Oct 16, 2010, 4:09 PM UTC

Just want to make an important distinction. OP is talking about hardware startups. Someone below mentioned WakeMate, and I want to clarify that's not what we should call a hardware startup - it's a very very different beast from a company that designs ICs.

I've heard Brad Feld use the term "software enabled hardware" and I think that's as good as anything else to talk about companies like WakeMate.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups?

#7

Post by deutronium » Sat, Oct 16, 2010, 10:57 PM UTC

I'm not sure what you're trying to do, but was wondering if you could use FPGAs or microcontrollers.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups?

#8

Post by aberkowitz » Sun, Oct 17, 2010, 2:52 AM UTC

Keyframe wrote: post #5

aberkowitz wrote: post #4

I'm working on a very early stage hobby startup based around preexisting open source hardware / software. It's going very slowly due to my lack of knowledge with regards to hardware development and manufacturing. The only YC company I know of that does hardware is WakeMate and they have been plagues by numerous manufacturing and licensing problems.

Can you provide more info about what are you trying to do? Looks like post got no traction, which is a shame - I really wanted to hear about HW manufacturing issues from a startup perspective, especially IC.

Sorry, I'm intentionally being vague at this point.

If it ever amounts to anything, I will let you know.

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups?

#9

Post by follower » Sun, Oct 17, 2010, 8:36 AM UTC

I'm interested in hardware startups but at a higher level than chip design.

Some semi-random pointers which might be of interest:

* OGP is an open source hardware project to create open source video graphics hardware which currently uses a FPGA: http://wiki.opengraphics.org/tiki-index.php

* Bunnie is one of the people behind the Chumby and has documented his manufacturing experiences on his blog but that seems to be at a higher level than what you're looking for: http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/

* ARM is an example of something that started out with a small development team: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture

For prototyping purposes my limited understanding is that software simulation and FPGAs can be used initially. If you're interested in FPGAs this site of open source FPGA code might be of interest: http://opencores.org/

Re: Ask HN: Any hardware startups?

#10

Post by follower » Sun, Oct 17, 2010, 8:42 AM UTC

aberkowitz wrote: post #8

Keyframe wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you provide more info about what are you trying to do? Looks like post got no traction, which is a shame - I really wanted to hear about HW manufacturing issues from a startup perspective, especially IC.

Sorry, I'm intentionally being vague at this point. If it ever amounts to anything, I will let you know.

As I'm interested in open source hardware and hardware startups I'd be interested in learning more too when you're ready to do so. :)