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Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

simonberens.com

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Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#351

Post by JoshTriplett »

mattmaroon wrote: post #344
JoshTriplett wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It makes a lot of sense if you agreed on a price per unit before everything was locked in. If their profit is a flat price minus expenses, lower expenses is more profit. That's the thing that makes no sense to me. Wouldn't it work better for everyone involved, including the manufacturer, if they come back with a "here's exactly how we interpreted your spec and what materials we're using, including cases where we pi…

Yes but as OP pointed out, that requires you (or them) to spec it all out. And if you do, that’s how it works, and that’s probably exactly what happened when you buy any well-made product that was designed in America and built in China. But a whole lot of manufacturing relies on the OEM not just for the production but also some of the engineering. They probably don’t communicate to you all of the little parts you did…

> They probably don’t communicate to you all of the little parts you didn’t spec because they don’t think you want them to.

And yet, every single time I've seen reports of people having trouble with manufacturing, this was one of the problems. Someone presumably had to figure out all the little parts, so send the result of the figuring out before manufacturing begins!

I'm not trying to oversimplify, here. There are constraints this doesn't account for; for instance, getting a spec written in English might be an added expense. But getting whatever was written doesn't seem unreasonable...

> why waste money on American salaries speccing all the tedium

But someone had to spec it out, and it seems like it'd help everyone involved to communicate that spec, even if it's just filed in a drawer somewhere.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#352

Post by SPICLK2 »

ortusdux wrote: post #347
SPICLK2 wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

~100 lumens per watt is rather poor, especially given the cost. It's the same as a standard LED lightbulb, and that includes the miniature AC voltage converter. 150lm/w would make it at least a cut above domestic lightbulbs. 200lm/w would make it a premium product.

The 'wasted' electricity is turned into heat, which should be welcome by their target customer base.

I can't imagine the customer base for people who want a ~600W metal disc suspended at eye level is very big.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#353

Post by bombolo »

bojan wrote: post #280
myst wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Googled that ‘yes’ thing. Not different from my experience in other parts of the world. ‘Yes’ means ‘yes, sir’ only in the army. What is your environment?

> ‘Yes’ means ‘yes, sir’ only in the army. Not really, if you get a "yes" in the Netherlands, Nordics, Germany or Poland it does mean, simply, yes. The consequence of which is that actually getting a "yes" takes a lot of work. I don't dare speak for other countries, no experience there.

[dead]

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#354

Post by [deleted] »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #300
theodric wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have observed the same across a bunch of linguistically Germanic countries (DE, AT, CH, NL, DK, NO, haven't been to SE, didn't observe it in IS), and I thought of it as "cultural autism." Apparently "higher context" is the politically correct way to say it. Now I know!

Danish and Norwegian are not linguistically Germanic. If anything, German has more old Norse influences. And dutch.. Well, dutch is the illegitimate child of england and germany.

[deleted]

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#355

Post by [deleted] »

theodric wrote: post #259
4gotunameagain wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am entirely convinced that the entire country of Germany suffers from Asperger's. Denmark is a bit better, maybe because they drink more ? Dunno.

I have observed the same across a bunch of linguistically Germanic countries (DE, AT, CH, NL, DK, NO, haven't been to SE, didn't observe it in IS), and I thought of it as "cultural autism." Apparently "higher context" is the politically correct way to say it. Now I know!

[deleted]

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#356

Post by theodric »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #300
theodric wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have observed the same across a bunch of linguistically Germanic countries (DE, AT, CH, NL, DK, NO, haven't been to SE, didn't observe it in IS), and I thought of it as "cultural autism." Apparently "higher context" is the politically correct way to say it. Now I know!

Danish and Norwegian are not linguistically Germanic. If anything, German has more old Norse influences. And dutch.. Well, dutch is the illegitimate child of england and germany.

Speaking as someone with an academic background in Germanic historical linguistics: this is thoroughly incorrect.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#357

Post by mmh0000 »

fanatic2pope wrote: post #308
mmh0000 wrote: post #58

This is super interesting, and I'd actually be quite interested in buying a 60K-Lumen lamp... but not at $1200. Years ago, there was an HN article "You Need More Lumens"[1], which in turn led me down a rabbit hole. I ended up purchasing: 4 standard table lamps from Target, 28 2000-lumen Cree LEDs bulbs[2] and, 4 7-way splitters[3]. The end result is somewhere around 56,000 lumens. And I LOVE it. Makes me much happier…

Costco sells a ceiling light that does 24k lumens for just over $100. https://www.costco.com/p/-/enbrighten-ultrabrite-hex-lights/...

The problem with lights like that is the CRI[1].

Getting just lumens is cheap. Getting a full spectrum of light is where costs increase.

This is the reason I chose to go with the specific Cree bulbs (linked in original post) that get a 90+ CRI rating

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_rendering_index

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#358

Post by fleroviumna »

graybeardhacker wrote: post #333

"As someone who generally stays out of politics, I didn’t know much about the incoming administration’s stance towards tariffs, though I don’t think anyone could have predicted such drastic hikes." Except those with ears and/or eyes.

[dead]

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#359

Post by GoodluckH »

I’m also a software engineer running a hardware e-commerce business on the side. The hardest lesson for me was unlearning 'logic' in favor of psychology.

I recently ran an experiment where I increased prices by 50%, and sales volume actually went up. It’s wild how much copy and creative assets can alter perceived value, allowing you to justify a higher price point for the exact same physical product

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#360

Post by pizzafeelsright »

mlrtime wrote: post #296
nomel wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working with a Chinese vendors is an adversarial first relationship, where 差不多 is deeeeep in the culture (and, from my experience, tends to survive trips across the ocean). There are professional communication/training courses for working with Chinese vendors/colleagues that spell all of this out, because it's not some secret. It's just a very different culture, with high context communication (I'll let you read what…

>Look up what it means when they say "yes", when you're explaining something. Is there a term for this? Because I see it in my personal life as well dealing with some low price manual labor that doesn't speak english. Instructions often get lost in translation, the reply will be "yes" and it doesn't get done. I know they want to sound professional and confident, so saying no or asking questions is a "bad thing".

Lying. It is called lying, deceit, or bearing false witness.

In my house I do not permit "yeah", or "okay". It is "yes" and anything else is interpreted as a 'no'.

Once you press someone to speak a "yes" as a solid commitment, for example to an understanding of an instruction. If this puts the person on the defensive then you are dealing with someone who is not interested in being held accountable.

Let your yes be yes.

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