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YC for Hardware

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: YC for Hardware

#71

Post by bravo22 »

mwoodworth wrote: post #70
bravo22 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What YC is doing is bundling discounts on PCB prototyping, and 3D printed parts. The rest of the offerings are further down the stack (testing, RF, etc.) so the only thing you would be missing as a non-YC company trying to build a prototype to get into YC is discounts. If you are hand assembling your prototypes then you only have PCB fabrication costs, which for a 2 to 4 layer board should be about $500 max for your…

They also are working on getting the tools that you need to design your prototype. Like Upverter (YCW2011) ( https://upverter.com/ ) for designing your PCB.

It would be better if they offered discount pricing on something more mature and broadly used as well, like Altium.

Re: YC for Hardware

#74

Post by trsohmers »

Is there any interest in (fabless) semiconductors? Traditionally thought as ridiculously capital intensive, there are a lot of new developments that have brought the time and costs involved down dramatically... My experience trying to fundraise for one shown there are a lot of misconceptions and (10-15 year) old ideas in the silicon valley investment space regarding fabless semi.

Re: YC for Hardware

#75

Post by shashanksamala »

anujdeshpande wrote: post #39
shashanksamala wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The resources listed here are geared for prototyping that allows rapid iteration of designs and ideas. From electronics prototyping (Tempo Automation) to mechanical (Fictiv). Having been to Shenzhen for manufacturing, it is absolutely great once you get to large volume - you can't beat the robust ecosystem anywhere. For initial runs of designs (quantity 1-10 of something), TIME is absolutely key: dealing with Shenzhe…

Assembling is being democratized, PCBs are being made available faster than ever, but that still doesn't level up with the ecosystem that is China. Especially, when you are prototyping. Link i posted in earlier comment points out exactly this : http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=4297 It's a great initiative by YC, but hopefully there is more to come.

We decided to do all of our prototyping and short runs in the valley. You're risking your company's failure if you wait around for months dealing with logistics in China for each design iteration.

Re: YC for Hardware

#76

Post by super_sloth »

trsohmers wrote: post #74

Is there any interest in (fabless) semiconductors? Traditionally thought as ridiculously capital intensive, there are a lot of new developments that have brought the time and costs involved down dramatically... My experience trying to fundraise for one shown there are a lot of misconceptions and (10-15 year) old ideas in the silicon valley investment space regarding fabless semi.

Very interesting.. Do tell. What kind of misconceptions are there and how have they changed?

I still labour under the assumption that NREs make doing anything like that _extremely_ expensive.

Re: YC for Hardware

#77

Post by ajaymehta »

minimaxir wrote: post #4

Wait, why is Tilt on the list of startups helping out with hardware expertise? Aren't they a crowdfunding company? https://www.tilt.com

Less with hardware-specific expertise, more with crowdfunding, pre-sales, and bringing a product to market. Many highly-successful new hardware project launches have been powered by Tilt over the past year, to name a few: Navdy, Lytro Illum, Whistle GPS, and Eero (yesterday).

(These were all on the Tilt/Open platform: https://open.tilt.com/)

Re: YC for Hardware

#78

Post by joshvm »

bravo22 wrote: post #37
ahhrrr wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. At Other Machine Co., ( https://othermachine.co/ ) our volumes just aren't big enough to go to Shenzhen yet. Not to mention the fact that the upfront costs require significant upfront capital investments. That's why we make a product that lets companies (including our own) prototype PCBs and other parts themselves.

You can't mill any serious PCBs. Not for prototype and certainly not for production. What about vias, or soldermasks?! That machine is great for CNCing plastics and metals however.

Why not? I've used milled PCBs for commercial prototypes as they're an order of magnitude cheaper than a fab given the turnaround time. You can get down to 0.5mm pitch easily.

You don't get soldermasks and vias are normally riveted (good enough). For most people, two layers is enough and if you can design the board well you shouldn't need much routing on the second layer.

Re: YC for Hardware

#79

Post by kenrikm »

bravo22 wrote: post #25
TheMakeA wrote: post #11

Are any of these resources available for anyone who isn't already a YC founder? Does that make sense? Wouldn't it be valuable to give interested folks who aren't yet in YC a place to do their prototyping, get discounts, and help, and then use it as lead gen for the next batch? Think of all the companies that could exist but don't because they don't have access to these resources.

What YC is doing is bundling discounts on PCB prototyping, and 3D printed parts. The rest of the offerings are further down the stack (testing, RF, etc.) so the only thing you would be missing as a non-YC company trying to build a prototype to get into YC is discounts. If you are hand assembling your prototypes then you only have PCB fabrication costs, which for a 2 to 4 layer board should be about $500 max for your…

there are certainly cheaper options if you're willing to wait just a bit longer for example OSH Park, $5 Sq/in for 3 copies 12 Day turn around.

Re: YC for Hardware

#80

Post by cpg »

This adds to the already exciting hardware situation.

I'm interested in the personal media/storage/app server space!

If you are hardware startup founder material and are interested, please get in touch.

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