Loading...
Answers
MenuWhat are the best practices for developing a hardware product without resources or skills?
I do not have the skills or expertise (or money) to make a real functional prototype of my product so would it help if I made a model of it demonstrating the features? Would it make is easier to raise VC money? The product is a compact recreational hovering vehicle that uses two small turbojets to achieve lift. In addition to selling this product to the public, we plan to make a spectator sport out of it, think of it like NASCAR but with hover vehicles.
Answers
You need some sort of functional prototype (i.e. something that actually, in some way, does what you want it to do). Nobody will invest without one. You said you're too low on funds to have one built, so my best advice would be to spend some time learning the skills needed to build it yourself. You could for instance take free online electronics courses that MIT provides: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-002-circuits-and-electronics-spring-2007/ or buy books, watch youtube videos, etc.
I've built my own hardware prototypes for two of my own startups, and also helped build prototypes for others through Clarity. Let me know if you'd like advice more tailored to your specific idea (e.g. the kinds of microcontrollers and motor controllers that might work, etc.)
best,
Lee
Yes, in order to explain your idea a model will be helpful, which you can also take photos of to support your description online.
Consider using drone parts to build a cheap small scale functioning prototype.
Drawings can help, whether engineering or illustrations (what ever is cheaper to start) and support your description online.
Understand the trade off involved for VC money - how much equity and control you are willing to lose in exchange for this.
Figure out how much money would be required, even if only estimating the parts list at first, and what you need to be selling to determine if it's a potentially profitable venture before spending time on it.
How much are cargo drones costing? What can you learn from these?
How can you validate whether you've identified a buying market for this?
Related Questions
-
What are the product certifications, regulations for hardware, and safety requirements for an evaporative air-cooler?
There are two main standards, the UL (USA's "Underwriter's Laboratory"), and CE (European Union's "Conformité Européenne"). The CE will let you sell in the US, Canada, Australia, and the EU (I'm not sure about the Middle East though). The CE is harder to get than the UL, since it includes standards of safety and functionality, while the UL only includes standards of safety. You can find the UL standards here: http://ulstandards.ul.com/access-standards/ and here are instructions for the CE standards: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ce-marking if you'd like further assistance with what specific standards would work with your product, and/or assistance with US patenting let me know, all the best, LeeLV
-
Should hardware startups try to look for and acquire customers who will pre-order the product or should they just grow the hype before the launch?
Hello, I'm sure everyone has their own approach but in my opinion, not taking orders when there is an obvious demand is ludicrous - BUT there is a way to do it properly to maximize the "hype". Gaining followers on social media is not as powerful as gaining actual potential buyers. What I would recommend is for you to create a "launch" campaign for the product. You can run all sorts of ads on social media (Fb, Twitter, etc) to bring people into your own landing page where you tell them about the product (and launch date) and capture their contact information. Once you add all these people to your mailing list, you can set up an autoresponder sequence specific to the launch which will send them a few e-mails from now until then "preparing them" for the actual date. If done properly, by the time the launch comes, your customers will be salivating, ready to pull out their credit cards and order the moment the product goes live. This is a great approach because you keep your potential customers interested without overflowing your business with orders you can't fulfill yet. Cheers! P.S. Search for "product launch sequences" so you have a better idea of what I mean.AJ
-
What are the best hardware accelerators out there, that also accept international teams? (e.g. PCH Int.)
Hard to determine best, but how about: * YCombinator - Pebble, Upverter, BufferBox * Bolt http://bolt.io/ * Highway1 http://highway1.io/ * Lemnos Labs http://lemnoslabs.com/ There are probably others.DC
-
What do I need to put in my product's box? (in Europe)
Can you give more information on what your product is? Then we can figure out what you need in it. Sounds like electronics...but what?SK
-
Hardware Start-up, Shipping 1st product run to US and Canada, FCC regulations ?
I would talk to the team at http://efabless.com Really helpful guys and they can get you an IC prototype for $100 - $10,000 They've built a lot of the smartphone IC's you see in mobile products today. If you're dealing with FCC part 15, give me a shout and I can help you navigate a bit.KT
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.