

The Company Quietly Powering a Boom in Hardware Startups - x43b
http://www.wired.com/2014/06/pch-the-company-quietly-powering-a-boom-in-hardware-startups

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hga
_“There is no ‘minimum viable product’ in hardware,” he says, referencing the
trendy notion in software that you should launch the first “good-enough”
version of your idea. “One screw can put you out of business.”_

Indeed; scary stuff I learned while working for Lisp Machines Inc. I heard one
believable legend at the time of a company with one or more boards that used a
particularly pretty blue type of bypass capacitor
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decoupling_capacitor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decoupling_capacitor)).
I think the original Multiwire Lisp Machine memory boards also used them, they
were quite sharp looking, evidently a naturally popular choice.

Anyway, the guy in charge in procuring parts suddenly found them unavailable,
or with too long a lead time, and was tearing his hair out before he asked the
engineers what could be done. After noting it was chosen for esthetics and
there were many less pretty ones that would work just as well, the problem was
solved.

But if you've got something more complicated than ubiquitous capacitors and
the like, not having it available at all halts you in your tracks, and that's
true for every one of the zillions of parts in your products. There has been a
lot of what appear to be subpar hardware designs (e.g. the DEC RK-07 disk
system) that were made because of parts availability, which gets more acute
the bigger the scale of your production.

~~~
sitkack
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexibility_(engineering)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexibility_\(engineering\))

When I am designing a PCB that uses a part that a) is either hard to source b)
will be EOL or c) has a capability spectrum I design a pad that is the union
of two pad outlines. It isn't always doable, but it makes putting in
alternative packages into the same PCB a whole lot easier. One cannot do that
for that the entire design, but simple stuff like supporting a 1206 and a 2512
at the same time, or a 14 and 18 pin version of a part.

------
noonespecial
What I'm hoping for is a new group of services that help with permission
seeking and politics.

I don't really need help fining an expensive laser cutter to use or even a
Chinese guy to make products for me. I need help getting an FCC cert for an
intentional radiator. A UL listing for a power supply design. CE for Europe,
whatever for Australia and Canada.

Then patent protection. Mostly protection _from_ patents, not filing for.

Import/Export. There's countries that its a federal crime to ship electronic
gizmos to. Which ones, what kinds? What forms do I have to fill out so that my
products don't spend 6 expensive months in a bonded warehouse in New Jersey
while I get permission to receive them?

Do I need product liability insurance? What kind? Where do I get it?

These are the thing I think makers that want to convert into businesses need
help with the most. Making the actual product seems like the easy part.

~~~
danshapiro
First, two disclaimers. I'm an advisor to Highway1, and my only firsthand
manufacturing experience is with a relatively straightforward boardgame,
produced stateside (because after investigating overseas manufacturing I
decided it was more complex than I could manage without help).

I don't think this is a very accurate assessment of the problems facing
startups. Most of the problems you pose can be solved in a few conversations
with a good lawyer or experienced operator. If you want protection from
patents, you're likely going to be talking to the kind of folks who sell
protection, like Intellectual Ventures; they'll be happy to take your money.
There are companies that specialize in managing certifications, listings, etc.
These are problems you can solve with a few phone calls and a check.

There is, however, a do-or-die problem for most startups: it is
extraordinarily hard to create a strong working relationship with a great
factory.

First, you have to find a great factory. That requires a lot of experience and
a great deal of touring, QA, reference checking, and so on. And while the good
ones are great partners, the bad ones are working very hard to deceive you in
to thinking they're good. But the worst part is that most of the best
factories will have nothing to do with you because you're too small. You don't
have the volume to be interesting yet, they are concerned you'll go out of
business, your team may not be experienced and so you'll make mistakes that
they'll need to correct, etc.

Second, you need to create a great relationship with them. That means at least
one person living there full-time. And that person needs to have expertise in
manufacturing, QA, and so on. That person needs to feel great about their role
over a very long period of time, and not everyone who moves to a new country
finds it to their liking.

Third, you need to figure out a logistics supply chain. A good friend, having
solved both the previous problems, nearly bankrupted his company when the
shipping service used the wrong kind of pen and the address rubbed off all the
labels. The return fees alone were more than the total profit on the product.

Companies like Apple rely on experts like PCH to do this for them. I believe
most startups benefit from it too.

Also: PCH/Highway1 is willing and well equipped to help with most of the rest
of the problems you list as well.

You may or may not find Highway1 to be a good fit for your needs but unless
you're very experienced in overseas manufacturing and/or doing something truly
trivial, I believe you'll have more challenges with manufacturing than you
suspect.

~~~
noonespecial
I imagine it is quite easy by way of a few calls here and there when you know
just who to call. For both regulations and for factories. Its always easy when
you know who to call.

Just sayin, do both, and perhaps emphasize both. I knew just who to call to
get my parts built and imported, I had no idea who to call to get permission
to actually sell them. The part you don't know is always the hard part. Me, I
didn't even know what I didn't know. I still mostly feel like I don't.

I guess since I already knew a guy and he just hooked me up with a small run
manufacturer, I thought that it was that easy for everyone.

------
rickdale
This is awesome. I am really looking forward to the sensor technology moving
forward and how the world will change when everything begins to be measured.

I just purchased a Babolat Play racket which tracks every shot you hit when
playing tennis. For the first iteration, its very impressive. To walk over
during a water break and see the longest rally and stuff is pretty cool. Plus,
different players definitely bring up completely different stats, which is
also good to see. The future for tennis I suspect is something like
playsight[0], which is cameras and a base station that can record you play,
give you live serve mph, and even call the lines. But for now, the Play is the
most amazing thing to happen tennis. 1662 balls hit this week.

[0] [http://www.playsight.com](http://www.playsight.com)

~~~
Retric
In tennis, consistency is far more important than peak performance. If you
want actual improvement, simply recording where the ball was in contact with
them racket is far more useful than MPH.

~~~
rickdale
Babolat play gives you a breakdown of where you are striking the ball on the
strings. Plus, it gives you a breakdown of the consistency in your technique.
And actually doesn't tell you MPH. And although it doesn't say "40 shots in,
40 shots out" so far I think the software does give you a good understanding
of your consistency. Average shots/min and longest rally, comparing that to
other sessions, gives you a really good idea.

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pgl
I've read this post title four times and I still can't parse it.

Edit: Got it finally! Fifth time lucky, I guess.

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choxi
What's a good starting point for getting into building hardware like these
startups do?

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eliben
"Making Silicon Valley Go Crazy" is a bit of hyperbole, no? I would guess a
quick poll amongst SV-dwelling HNers will reveal >90% haven't heard of this.

~~~
sbarre
How many of that 90% are in the hardware business?

~~~
eliben
The title says "makes Silicon Valley", not "makes Silicon Valley hardware
engineers"...

