

How I hacked my way into CES - bevenky
http://touchonomics.com/post/40531900564/how-i-hacked-my-way-into-ces

======
Irregardless
Another typical story of hard work and persistence with the word "hack" thrown
into the title for linkbait.

Congrats on making it to CES, but this is not news, nor is it relevant or
interesting.

~~~
aab1d
Thank you for pointing out the hard-work and persistence part. I had to do day
and nighters to pull this one.

IMHO, this is a hack. May not be in the truest sense of the word. Your comment
is well-taken.

~~~
iuguy
> IMHO, this is a hack. May not be in the truest sense of the word.

If not in the truest sense of the world, then in what sense does this come
under the term hack?

~~~
aab1d
Well, what I meant is - this is not like I was sitting and hacking a network
or something. This qualifies as a hack because I had to overcome a significant
hurdle.

If you continue to imagine that hacks can be performed only on computers and
networks. Then this may not make sense as a hack. Hacks can be social and/or
real-world hacks too.

~~~
iuguy
Well, hacks can be social too. I know quite a few social engineers, in fact
I've had them speak at my security conference[1]. However, it seems that
overcoming a significant hurdle (which isn't something to be sniffed at) isn't
really a hack in the grand scheme of things. To put things into perspective,
you've faced a pretty big challenge, but that's what it is - a challenge, not
a hack. In fact I'd say to call it a hack is to undersell what you've
overcome. I think some might underestimate how hard it is to get into CES. I
understand that. I also think you calling getting in a hack demeans the
concept of hacking not because it wasn't 'good enough' to qualify, but because
your situation was so displaced from what would normally qualify as a hack. It
doesn't mean you haven't made an effort - clearly a herculean effort was made,
but does that constitute a hack? I'm not convinced.

I do think, "How I shipped a product from the far far _FAR_ east of the
(indus, not silicon) valley to CES for a demo" would've been a better title,
but that's a job for marketing people IMHO. Hack, it is not, it underplays the
effort you put in. Effort, it certainly is, for that you've given in spades
and more.

[1] - <http://www.44con.com/>

------
Gorbzel
So, perhaps I'm spoiled: I was born and raised in Las Vegas. and CES is just
another expo. Heck, this year I made it down to the actual show floor once for
a few hours max. Yet I also feel the pain of spending a ton of effort in
trying to get a startup to pitch at a show; my first startup was in a niche
industry that held its largest major convention in a major US city nowhere
near where I was bootstrapping at the time. Just like OP, I also convinced
myself that it was absolutely necessary to attend said conference and be on
the show floor with a booth when in reality in most cases it's a waste of
resources better allocated elsewhere.

I won't claim to understand the difficulties of the immigration system, nor
the intricacies of running a hardware startup in India. But I do know what's
going on at CES, and it's not a massive hack to get in and have your wares
displayed on the floor. As the article points out, business is often built on
hustle, networking, relationships and the like. Heck, my friend socially
conditioned (hustled?) his way into a badge in about 30 seconds at
registration desk.

Yet this same hustle and networking focus means that the deals at CES are
often setup months before, usually between buyers and sellers who have worked
together or in the industry for years. Tough sales are worked over dinner at a
strip restaurant or at that industry heavyweight party at some great club.
Execs take a look at products in their hotel penthouse suite. None of this
world really fits the bill for a lean startup attempting to truly validate
that their product makes sense for their customers.

Best of luck to OP, as it seems he really wanted to focus on being at CES and
overcame some obstacles when that wasn't able to take place. But I'd warn away
other startups considering whether big industry expos are worth it: It kinda
becomes clear once you're there that it's not.

------
rabigupta
I think this is inspiring in the sense that being in India, and a startup,
it's actually a dream to hack your way into CES. With no direct connections or
a million dollar funding this is good to know the amount of hard work that has
been put in. Best of luck!

~~~
aab1d
Thank you. CES was a dream come true!

------
tsudot
The section on your website doesn't mention much about the OS. More details
would be great.

~~~
aab1d
Sorry, CES took up all the bandwidth. Got some time now. Will be making a new
video of the OS. Will post it on HN soon.

------
sawrb
Great stuff. That is some amazing social engineering at work, right there :)

~~~
aab1d
Social Engineering - wow. Should have used that in the title of the blog post.

------
smadam9
I think I've seen that 'O' logo somewhere...?

~~~
aab1d
Well not as far as I can tell. We thought it was quiet original.

------
nautical
Awesome Read .. The video looks great ..

~~~
aab1d
Thank you. Glad you liked the video.

------
devilankur18
Seems interesting

~~~
aab1d
Please checkout emo2.com - our product website if you like.

------
martinced
I've got several acquaintances who go to the CES but I never realized it was
hard to go there.

I don't live in the U.S. so could someone explain at a glance so we better
understand the article what exactly you need to do to be able to go there?

You need to have your own company and get a booth or you can just go check all
the booths?

~~~
aab1d
1\. The biggest hurdle is to get a visa to get to the US. Yes it is a big deal
these days. Especially for people going from India. In the article if you
noticed, I could not get a visa. SO I had to get everything done remotely,
which was a challenge. 2\. As a startup it is not possible to get a booth.
There are costs involved and money is better spent elsewhere. Instead of
getting a booth, I convinced another booth owner to let me use his booth the
showcase our product.

