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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.
I'm a bit out of the loop on hardware startups, but has YC funded many successful hardware startups? The only one I've heard of is Pebble. Lowering the barrier to hardware startups is an awesome thing, of course. Hardware has a greater potential to directly impact lives at this point than software. There's tremendous software power locked up in the small, awkward-to-use computing devices we call phones, tablets, lapt…
Wait, why is Tilt on the list of startups helping out with hardware expertise? Aren't they a crowdfunding company? https://www.tilt.com
A lot of the very recent, surprising successes in hardware (Oculus, Pebble) were crowdfunded (specifically for those, Kickstarted). I would go as far to say that using a premier crowdfunding platform to test the market may be the best, lowest risk way to validate a hardware idea. Or at least crowdfunding lowers the barrier for hardware success from "damn near impossible" to "really really hard."
Side note for companies like Indiegogo, success at attracting device makers to use their platform is key to their growth. At CES alone they have something like 14 booths.
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.
I read it twice to see if there was any mention of the word 'Shenzhen'. It's difficult to not keep that in the loop, for a hardware startup anywhere in the world. Even SF.
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.
That makes complete sense, especially since you are not going to get in to YC as a hardware startup without a functioning prototype.
I'm a bit out of the loop on hardware startups, but has YC funded many successful hardware startups? The only one I've heard of is Pebble. Lowering the barrier to hardware startups is an awesome thing, of course. Hardware has a greater potential to directly impact lives at this point than software. There's tremendous software power locked up in the small, awkward-to-use computing devices we call phones, tablets, lapt…
Pebble, Boosted, Cruise, Double Robotics, Pantelligent, Thalmic, UPower, Helion, Terravion, SoundFocus, SwapBox, Amulyte, Coin, IxiPlay, TrueLink, Estimote, Senic, ...
I read it twice to see if there was any mention of the word 'Shenzhen'. It's difficult to not keep that in the loop, for a hardware startup anywhere in the world. Even SF.
I make robots in Chicago and sell them on Tindie. My top two competitors are in Finland and Japan. Yes, I hear Shenzhen is crazy awesome, but try not to let location dominate your world view of what is easy or difficult. Making a good hardware product is difficult, no matter where you make it.
Didn't YC move?