
Ask HN: Want to start a small hardware company.  What are some good resources? - Xcelerate
Whenever I develop a new software idea, it&#x27;s fairly easy for me to manage the implementation of the idea myself (hosting, servers, etc.)  There&#x27;s not a lot required to get the idea (or at least a functional prototype) off the ground.<p>However, I now have an idea for a hardware product — something that is small, cheap, and electronic.  The intended audience of the product would be brick &amp; mortar stores.  But I have <i>no idea</i> how to begin this task; as in, I don&#x27;t even know which search terms to use.<p>Essentially, I need to know <i>how</i> to find:<p>* Who can manufacture my product?  Each item should cost no more than $30 or so to produce.  There&#x27;s no new technology here — just a combination of existing technology.  I know China manufactures a lot of electronic goods, but how do I reach one of their manufacturing companies?  How do I handle the language barrier?  And as someone completely new to this kind of endeavor, how can I make sure I won&#x27;t get scammed?
* What legal knowledge do I need to obtain?  What information should I keep track of for taxes (in the U.S.)?  For such a small &quot;company&quot; (if you can even call it that), should I try to handle the finances myself or hire someone who knows what they&#x27;re doing?
* Marketing.  How should I go about marketing my product?  It&#x27;s not something the average person would be, so I think online advertising would be a wasted effort.  Cold emails to the B&amp;M stores?  Visits in person?  Phone calls?<p>Books, websites, online courses — anything related to hardware entrepreneurship would be very useful to me.  Thanks!
======
acomjean
I wrote software but the company I worked for manufactured a small computer to
monitor power for buildings. It had wifi and such. We used a "contract
manufacturer". The company was called Agility in NH (USA). They worked out ok,
they would get the components, build, test and ship out to customers (Direct
Fulfillment).

We had to order components, though they stored them. I think its more
expensive than overseas manufacturing but the fact they were close was
helpful.

------
kjs3
Andrew “bunnie” Huang has a series of articles about getting a product built
in China at
[http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?cat=7](http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?cat=7).

The Dangerous Prototype guys have a Surviving Shenzhen boot camp if you ever
get really serious at [http://dangerousprototypes.com/2014/08/07/hacker-camp-
shenzh...](http://dangerousprototypes.com/2014/08/07/hacker-camp-shenzhen-
vol-2-reflux-open-for-registration/).

