Show HN: New Sub-Reddit for Hardware Startups

Post by nickpinkston » Tue, Jul 24, 2012, 7:44 PM UTC

nickpinkston wrote: post #10

callil wrote: post #9

Exciting! I'm glad you are trying to start something up. Maybe a more dedicated site would foster a stronger community later down the line. Are there any existing places that do this?

Yea, I'm with you. I'm actually an awful web developer, so I figured I'd gauge interest with a sub-Reddit. There's a ton of room for resources (see below). On July 30th in SF I'm organizing an "Map-a-thon" to put together a hardware resources map (like where to buy electronics, metal, etc. locally) for the SF area using a simple gMaps embed and some KMLs. There also needs to be a "CrunchBase for hardware" because no…

Post by nickpinkston » Tue, Jul 24, 2012, 8:11 PM UTC

callil wrote: post #12

nickpinkston wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, I'm with you. I'm actually an awful web developer, so I figured I'd gauge interest with a sub-Reddit. There's a ton of room for resources (see below). On July 30th in SF I'm organizing an "Map-a-thon" to put together a hardware resources map (like where to buy electronics, metal, etc. locally) for the SF area using a simple gMaps embed and some KMLs. There also needs to be a "CrunchBase for hardware" because no…

This is super interesting to me as an Industrial design student masquerading as a Web designer. Unfortunately I am on the East Coast, but if there is any way I can help with this idea let me know.

Post by nabilt » Tue, Jul 24, 2012, 11:29 PM UTC

nickpinkston wrote: post #6

djb_hackernews wrote: post #5

I'm not sure what the needs of the Hardware startup community are but I'm not a fan of the super specific subreddits. /r/startups isn't really that subscribed or busy, why not just post articles there?

Yea, this is fair point, but if you saw what we're seeing in HardwareLand, you'd see that we very underrepresented and feel VERY different from the standard startup crowd. There's some similarities that HN does very well on - general lean startup stuff, etc., but HN will never be a community that up-votes "How to manufacture in China" type articles more than "How to Deploy X web stack in Y way" ones.

Post by nickpinkston » Tue, Jul 24, 2012, 11:46 PM UTC

nabilt wrote: post #15

nickpinkston wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, this is fair point, but if you saw what we're seeing in HardwareLand, you'd see that we very underrepresented and feel VERY different from the standard startup crowd. There's some similarities that HN does very well on - general lean startup stuff, etc., but HN will never be a community that up-votes "How to manufacture in China" type articles more than "How to Deploy X web stack in Y way" ones.

I agree 100%. Here are some other hardware related subreddits I follow. ECE ------- http://www.reddit.com/r/electronics http://www.reddit.com/r/ECE http://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics http://www.reddit.com/r/DSP http://www.reddit.com/r/ECEComponentExchange RF ---- http://www.reddit.com/r/RTLSDR http://www.reddit.com/r/GNURadio http://www.reddit.com/r/rfelectronics Maker --------- http://www.reddit.com/r/maker

Post by nickpinkston » Wed, Jul 25, 2012, 12:51 AM UTC

follower wrote: post #18

If you're in San Francisco tonight it looks like there's a hardware meetup at 6:30pm: "Special Hardware Event: A Night with OpenROV" http://www.meetup.com/HardwareStartupSF/events/72306272/ (via the link from @nickpinkston)