

Ask HN: YCombinator for Electronics based Start-ups? - demirhan

As an EE, I was wondering why there is not a wide world for electronics start-ups like there is for software/internet start-ups.<p>Suppose I want to develop a product called "ipod" and want to start a company named "apple". Where should one start ?<p>The path is easy for an internet startup (you develop product, find investors, try to make traction..).<p>There is not a ycombinator for electronics startups. (I am not talking about a health tracker gadget which you can track your heart beats via your iphone, I am talking about startups that really do hardcore electronics like chip designs...)<p>I also couldn't find many resources for electronicsware startups. Just follow eetimes and spectrum (ieee) websites.<p>I really want to discuss the reasons here.
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steventruong
The following is a guess, I can't speak for sure the true reasoning if there
is one.

 _I think_ it's not that incubators and investors aren't willing to invest in
hardware development companies but its much easier to:

A] Understand the software business as most investors/incubators probably have
strong knowledge on software development than they do hardware development.

B] Prototyping, iterating, and testing software/web/mobile base ideas these
days are much more low risk, quick development time, and relatively easy to
measure results (rather quicker to test).

C] It's a very expensive risk to back a first time entrepreneur who is unable
to prototype out some initial version of their hardware device themselves.
Even most kickstarter projects (at least the successful ones I've seen) have
managed to go out of their way to model a working prototype on their own.

D] This is probably the most likely answer... majority of the companies
applying are very software/web/mobile centric. It's not that YC or other
incubators are biased just like how they wish more women would start
companies, but the market are mostly people focusing on ideas in the
software/web/mobile space.

With that said, I realize it takes a lot more than 1-2 guys to prototype out
an iPod, generally speaking. Afterall, Apple probably had a decent size team
of experts working on the iPod for 1-2 years before the first product was
introduced.

To be fair, there are some hardware base companies that did raise funding
without a product but the ones I know of are usually backed by proven
entrepreneurs (not saying that yet-to-be-proven entrepreneurs can't). Ooma is
an example that comes to mind.

There are hackerspaces that do hardware development but I guess there just
isn't as many hardware guys as there are software guys. Not to mention the
barrier of entry is probably a lot harder (not just in time and cost but also
in picking up hardware knowledge vs learning to program). From talking to my
friend who graduated as an EE major, most hardware projects are very
specialize and require multiple people to work on to produce where as software
can be done with 1 guy building the prototype in most cases.

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curt
Take a look a my manufacturing guide, if you have more questions about a
specific idea I'd be happy to vet it for you. If it's viable I'll tell you how
to progress.

If you're smart you can develop a prototype for far less than you would
think.When I was actively taking products from concept through production I
could do it for under $10,000.

But if you're talking chip set design that's in a whole new category. It
really makes no sense to get that in detail now a days since it's really hard
to achieve scale and bring the costs down. Off the shelf components are much
cheaper, you would be amazing at how cheaply you can buy parts with a little
creativity and negotiation skills. If you want to do chip set design, you need
to first find a company that needs the chip, design it, and then establish a
relationship with a fab and have a minimum order in hand. It's not that hard
once you learn how to handle and manage the channel.

It's a very broad area, can't really help you without more details on the
specific area you are thinking about.

As an aside, I've moved from hardware to web/mobile software (taught myself
iOS, php, and rails) because I got tired of dealing with all the new
regulations and hurdles. So be warned before starting a project.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1840896>

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dkersten
Thanks!! I missed your post the last time. This will be extremely useful as I
have just started prototyping an electronics product I hope to get released
soon and your I think links will nicely fit my needs.

Can you comment on the regulations you're talking about as I'd like to prepare
for future hurdles as best as I can. I'm guessing you mean compliance with FCC
regulations and such?

For the OP: I have spent about €400 on parts for building two prototype units.
Most of the parts were ordered on Mouser and with a few random bits and pieces
on ebay. Of course, I'm not building processors or anything like that, but
rather consumer (EDIT: well, not really consumer, more like specialized
electronics.. I don't expect to ever sell these in an average electronics
store) electronic devices (can't release details just yet, as I am in talks
with potential investors). Curts links may prove extremely useful here.

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curt
Make sure while you are prototyping to keep production in mind. If you design
for production from the start things get a lot easier as you progress through
development to production. That was one of the reasons I can go from concept
to production in a week, I would always design for mass production from day
one.

Tip: also keep your design as flexible (unconstrained) as possible.

I was doing products targeted towards kids, when Mattel had the lead paint
problem the government issued new regulations written by the lobbyists for
Mattel. Instead of increasing safety in any meaningful way they just limited
any competition by small companies by increased compliance and testing costs
drastically. Congress is contemplating a number of other laws that will make
it even more of a pain in the ass.

~~~
dkersten
Thank you, your advice is very much appreciated.

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schraeds
Kickstarter.com

