YC for Hardware • Hacker News Board

Re: YC for Hardware

#111

Post by cma » Fri, Feb 06, 2015, 6:01 AM UTC

trishume wrote: post #93

trsohmers wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What technology are you referring to, specifically? Most large semiconductor companies these days are fabless (Qualcomm, AMD, NVIDIA), or just license their designs/IP (ARM, Imagination, Rambus). Fabless is not really a new thing, it's just a lot cheaper than most people imagine.

Derp, just got around to googling fabless semiconductor. I had assumed fabless meant a way of creating integrated circuits without expensive silicon processing facilities, clean rooms, etc... I imagined something like 3D printing/laser cutting for silicon chips.

> I imagined something like 3D printing/laser cutting for silicon chips.

That's sort of what a fab already is =)

Re: YC for Hardware

#112

Post by trsohmers » Fri, Feb 06, 2015, 6:12 AM UTC

sounds wrote: post #110

trsohmers wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NOTE: I am the founder of REX Computing (check my submission & comment history for more info), and thus a bit biased for this. The standard thing I have heard from VC's that don't know anything about semiconductors (Or have not been involved in it in this century): "It will cost $100 million and take 3 years to have your first silicon. You have a 50% chance of even making it that far, and even then you only have a 10…

Put this in a blog post and it should rise to the top of HN tomorrow. Thanks for posting it!

I've been wanting to do this for a while... I think I may now. Thanks.

Re: YC for Hardware

#113

Post by dmritard96 » Fri, Feb 06, 2015, 6:24 AM UTC

anujdeshpande wrote: post #13

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.

Skipped on YC for this reason ;)

Re: YC for Hardware

#114

Post by anujdeshpande » Fri, Feb 06, 2015, 6:35 AM UTC

shashanksamala wrote: post #75

anujdeshpande wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

PCB manufacturing and assembly is one part of the equation. The other important thing that we are missing out on (by not being wired into the whole Shenzhen scene) is the hardware that they have. The kind of chips they are using are not even available to us but are cheaper and better by an order of magnitude. We are talking about 35$ computers, whereas they are using 12$ phones. All of this comes under the Gongkai method of 'innovation'.

Re: YC for Hardware

#115

Post by HackerGarth » Fri, Feb 06, 2015, 6:48 AM UTC

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

Yeah seems like a bit of a misfit. Check out Celery (https://www.trycelery.com/) for taking HW pre-orders. They also came out of YC. I believe they power pre-orders for guys like Pebble, August, Lockitron, Meta and Coolest Cooler etc.

Re: YC for Hardware

#116

Post by frozenport » Fri, Feb 06, 2015, 7:17 AM UTC

lbearl wrote: post #51

apendleton wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to nitpick, but at least some of these arguably haven't gotten far enough along yet that they can reasonably claim to be "successful." Thalmic is just getting early products to market, Helion hasn't yet built a commercial fusion reactor, etc.

>> Helion hasn't yet built a commercial fusion reactor I agree with your point, but at the same time it is somewhat amazing that we live in a world where a company can get VC funding to even make an attempt on something as ambitious as fusion.

Or perhaps it will be remembered as wasteful during the next bust.

Re: YC for Hardware

#117

Post by podingx » Fri, Feb 06, 2015, 7:44 AM UTC

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

Crowdfunding / pre-orders is definitely part of the expected business process for HW startups to launch these days.

As the first pre-order platform, Celery has powered successes like Pebble and Boosted Boards and helped them get to the next stage of their business.

The transformation over the past few years has been unreal and today is such an exciting time to be a HW startup. We personally can't wait to see what kinds of HW companies emerge next.

Re: YC for Hardware

#118

Post by mng2 » Fri, Feb 06, 2015, 7:47 AM UTC

trsohmers wrote: post #89

super_sloth wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

NOTE: I am the founder of REX Computing (check my submission & comment history for more info), and thus a bit biased for this. The standard thing I have heard from VC's that don't know anything about semiconductors (Or have not been involved in it in this century): "It will cost $100 million and take 3 years to have your first silicon. You have a 50% chance of even making it that far, and even then you only have a 10…

What are you guys doing for physical verification, static timing analysis, stuff like that? As far as I know those tools still cost big bucks.

Re: YC for Hardware

#119

Post by kbart » Fri, Feb 06, 2015, 8:35 AM UTC

trsohmers wrote: post #112

sounds wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Put this in a blog post and it should rise to the top of HN tomorrow. Thanks for posting it!

I've been wanting to do this for a while... I think I may now. Thanks.

Please do and post it on HN, I'd really like to hear more stories from a hardware startup world.

Re: YC for Hardware

#120

Post by rattray » Fri, Feb 06, 2015, 8:55 AM UTC

fown9 wrote: post #46

anujdeshpande wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also worth watching is India. The newly elected PM has taken "Make in India" quite seriously. The world's largest democracy is gearing up for a huge manufacturing boom. Cheaper than the States, humane conditions, English as a medium of communication and excellent economic relations with most countries.

No disrespect, but India has horrible infrastructure, horrible treatment of women (rape, disregards from police on harassment cases), and other horrible things.

That's a lot of horrible. It's not all rainbows in India but downsides like the ones you mentioned are not all there is.

That said, I was vastly more impressed with the infra in SZ than Bangalore. SZ is a modern metropolis where Bangalore, well... It has pockets of shiny corporate havens I the suburbs. (FWIW, I personally prefer the grit of downtown BGL to SZ anyway)