

A Year In The Life Of An Entrepreneur - mfn
http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/27/the-long-hard-road-to-the-edge/

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prbuckley
Saying hardware is a difficult/low margin business is a gross generalization.
I am a YC alum who quit the web and software and now happily run a
manufacturing business. I boot strapped the business and it turned a profit in
2 months. Less than 1.5 years after launch we employ 30 people and I love
going to work every day.

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roel_v
Yes, and also, the solar industry is not necessarily low margin since there is
a fixed point to compete against (if your tech is protected with patents
enough) - which is the cost of energy from oil/nuclear or other sources; and
those are fairly static. If a watt costs 2$, you can charge 10% less and sell
as much as you can produce; regardless of production costs. So if you could
produce for 1.5$ you could have double digit margins, and the cheaper you make
your process, the more margin.

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egiva
This is a fascinating (but long) read - kudos to David Argentar for getting
his startup off the ground - talk about dilligence, he just didn't give up
despite some serious problems building his prototype and that inspires me.

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rdl
Pretty much every day I wake up and am happy to not be doing a hardware
startup.

