

Show HN: New Sub-Reddit for Hardware Startups - nickpinkston
http://www.reddit.com/r/hwstartups/

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djb_hackernews
I'm not sure what the needs of the Hardware startup community are but I'm not
a fan of the super specific subreddits. /r/startups isn't really that
subscribed or busy, why not just post articles there?

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nickpinkston
Yea, this is fair point, but if you saw what we're seeing in HardwareLand,
you'd see that we very underrepresented and feel VERY different from the
standard startup crowd.

There's some similarities that HN does very well on - general lean startup
stuff, etc., but HN will never be a community that up-votes "How to
manufacture in China" type articles more than "How to Deploy X web stack in Y
way" ones.

~~~
nabilt
I agree 100%. Here are some other hardware related subreddits I follow.

ECE

\-------

<http://www.reddit.com/r/electronics>

<http://www.reddit.com/r/ECE>

<http://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics>

<http://www.reddit.com/r/DSP>

<http://www.reddit.com/r/ECEComponentExchange>

RF

\----

<http://www.reddit.com/r/RTLSDR>

<http://www.reddit.com/r/GNURadio>

<http://www.reddit.com/r/rfelectronics>

Maker

\---------

<http://www.reddit.com/r/maker>

~~~
EwanG
My favorite: <http://www.reddit.com/BuildaPC>

Something that most folks can do, and get a better product for the same
dollars. Not to mention gaining many of the advantages about learning hardware
as programming gives you on software.

~~~
joshu
i subscribed for a while, but it's mostly about what's the fastest video card
per dollar. blah.

the rest are talking about actually making things, this one is about buying
stuff. not the same thing at all.

do you really think building a pc gives insight into programming!?

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halfnelson
This is a great idea. I grew up around fab-houses in China and I can say it
definitely takes much more effort to even get a prototype down in the States.
The cost of parts alone is ridiculous and probably off-putting to newcomers.

It's a real shame, since there's so much talent here that could be building
amazing new hardware, but we end up just waiting for big companies like Google
to tell us what the next platform will be.

I'll definitely be subscribing to this subr and coming to some meetups. Hell,
we can organize bulk orders and get cheaper parts from China!

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callil
Exciting! I'm glad you are trying to start something up. Maybe a more
dedicated site would foster a stronger community later down the line. Are
there any existing places that do this?

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nickpinkston
Yea, I'm with you. I'm actually an awful web developer, so I figured I'd gauge
interest with a sub-Reddit. There's a ton of room for resources (see below).

On July 30th in SF I'm organizing an "Map-a-thon" to put together a hardware
resources map (like where to buy electronics, metal, etc. locally) for the SF
area using a simple gMaps embed and some KMLs.

There also needs to be a "CrunchBase for hardware" because no one tags things
"hardware" - it's always "fitness", "maker" or whatever category they're
targeting.

We're also doing a survey soon to get some case studies on how people are
building these companies.

Finally, we're looking at putting together a knowledge base for how to make
things like "How to Design for Injection Molding" - etc. It's easy to find
"How to Build X in Rails" tutorials - we need the same for our community.

~~~
callil
This is super interesting to me as an Industrial design student masquerading
as a Web designer. Unfortunately I am on the East Coast, but if there is any
way I can help with this idea let me know.

~~~
nickpinkston
Very cool - where are you located? There's an NYC event this Thursday
actually:

<http://www.meetup.com/NY-Hardware-Start-up>

DM me your info: twitter.com/nickpinkston)

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follower
If you're in San Francisco tonight it looks like there's a hardware meetup at
6:30pm:

"Special Hardware Event: A Night with OpenROV"
<http://www.meetup.com/HardwareStartupSF/events/72306272/>

(via the link from @nickpinkston)

~~~
nickpinkston
Yea, I'll be there! It's at TechShop San Francisco - so you can check that out
as well. Great stuff!

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connorzwick
This is a terrific idea! Consider me a subscriber already and hopefully a
contributor soon too!

~~~
nickpinkston
Awesome dude - please do contribute! I seeded it and will continue to, but of
course it's all about the community we've got to build.

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orenmazor
this is a fantastic idea. I've lived in hardware startup land for a while, and
the needs are very specific there :)

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nickpinkston
I'd love to get any feedback you guys have on this!

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jiakeliu
Score! Posted mine.
[http://www.reddit.com/r/hwstartups/comments/x3axm/heres_my_s...](http://www.reddit.com/r/hwstartups/comments/x3axm/heres_my_senior_design_project_im_trying_to_turn/)

