Hardware is hard!
Its been 3 years that we have been trying to launch our Startup. I know right, 3 years, are we building a spaceship, nope, we are building a medical full stack Startup. yep, it has a hardware device, mobile application and cloud analytics application. Last month, one of our competitors launched just an application, raised $1 million and in one months time raised Series A of $8 million. So what’s really going wrong? Read along if you are planning to build a hardware startup.
1. Hardware is hard
2. Planning lean hardware is hard
3. Prototyping in India is hard
4. Finding the right people to work with is hard (Especially, this shitty e-commerce boom in India has made it more difficult for hardware Startups to attract talent because of salary boom)
5. Medical regulations are hard
6. You have to learn not just the hardware, firmware and software but also dive head first in reading, understanding, certifying, testing and filing the regulations yourself if you don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on regulatory experts/companies
7. Filing for regulations is hard and time consuming and expensive
8. Hardware is hard
9. Hardware is not a fancy term and won’t get you laid.
10. IoT is not about switching on/off lights
11. Production level hardware is hard
12. Procurement/Sourcing of raw materials is hard/expensive
13. You need insane cashflows…
14. Venture Capitalists/Angels won’t fund you very easily if you have a hardware product and above that if your hardware is a medical device then only Rajnikant can save you from dying a slow, sweaty death.
15. No accelerator is going to save you
16. Hardware is hard
17. If you are going to crowdfund, please incorporate your team members salary in the goal.
18. Production is a different ballgame altogether (DFM..Hint Hint)
19. Indian manufacturing companies will fuck you in the ass if you are a complete noob.
20. If you are giving importance to your hardware design then making sure that your mobile/web app and cloud has the same kind of experience is hard
21. Hardware is hard
22. Stop going to 3d printing sessions and IoT groups on facebook, they are a waste of a time, instead watch some porn and feel temporarily happy.
23. Make sure your GF/Wife is completely committed to you and understands that you are going to be broke for atleast 3-5 more years.
24. User interviews are hard.
25. Hardware is hard
Now go build that hardware and pray that you don’t have to face a recall.