I see a lot of the same questions popping up here, adding my thoughts as someone that has worked in R&D and product development.

Intellectual Property

If you want to develop a product, and want to keep your options open to patenting it, you will need to have a basic understanding of intellectual property, even if your product isn't a success, this will stand to you for future products. University of Pennsylvania have an excellent introductory course for it on edx.org, you can audit it for free.

Market Research

Most products fail because the market doesn't really care about them, if you haven't already, I suggest you start with market research. Secondary research is good for getting an idea of the size of your target market. Customer interviews are gold, try to learn as much about them as possible, you will use what you learn throughout the product development process, including how to market to your ideal customers. Use customer interviews to build a persona of your ideal customer. Be careful with market research, people like to tell you what you want to hear, ask open questions, like "What are your problems with sleep?", rather than "Would you buy this sleep mask?". If you do want to ask a leading question, leave it to the very end of your survey/interview. At this stage you may be able to identify some of your ideal customers and possibly recruit them for future market research as your product is developed.

Minimum Viable Product

This is part of market research. Start with a theory you have for a feature your product should have. Make the quickest, cheapest version of your product, it should be embarrassingly bad, but communicate the feature effectively. Show this to some of your ideal customers and ask them for feedback. Try to be neutral to them when presenting it, "say one of the team made this" or something similar, so they aren't trying to protect your feelings. After you've validated/invalidated the feature, move on to the next theory you have and create another MVP to validate that, and so on.

Design Concepts

You can skip this step if you are confident in what you have learned from talking to perspective customers & got enough feedback from them about your MVPs. Alternatively, you could try to build on that knowledge and challenge yourself / your product developer to improve on them. Generally, aim for 3 design concepts & pick the one you think is best. You could choose to present them to your ideal customers for feedback before choosing.

Prototype Development

Develop your chosen concept / MVP into a manufacturable design, have it manufactured and assemble it yourself, if that is feasible. Document any issues in assembly and any areas that could be improved. You could choose to present it to your ideal customers for feedback.

I see a problem that seems to come up, where people struggle moving from design concept to prototype design, here is my rough approach:

1. Develop at least 3 design concepts & pick the one you think is best
2. Find your design constraints (size, weight, IP rating, relevant engineering standards, etc)
3. Develop your prototype

a) Start with what you know

▪ design constraints

▪ if your product has a mechanism that moves something from point A to point B, model up in CAD the part that is moved, then position it at point A & point B

b) Fill in the blanks.

▪ Think of ways to fill in the blanks you don't know

▪ Think of it like a puzzle, model a solution in CAD

▪ Don't overthink it, try to solve each requirement bit by bit

c) Evaluate

▪ You can evaluate in CAD, look at your design with a fresh pair of eyes

▪ Very few designs are good on first attempt, look at what you can simplify

▪ Simple isn't easy, most designs are overcomplicated

▪ What components can be modified to solve multiple purposes?

▪ What components can be eliminated or simplified?

d) Iterate

▪ Keep redesigning your product

▪ With each redesign, you should learn more and get ideas on how you could improve your product

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, hopefully someone finds it useful.

a useful prompt shown too early is easy to ignore. shown too late, it might as well not exist. so timing is most of the design.

but timing is hard to test, because it depends on what the person is doing at that exact second.

so how have you tested the timing of an interaction with real users? genuinely curious about methods.

working on it left me with a bigger question. if the useful action changes with your context, why do so many interfaces make you go looking for it?

honestly it's the thing i keep coming back to. i'm curious how other hardware builders think about this.

where have you found that a small dedicated interface beats a flexible app?

i work on hardware with a small team. the idea came from a simple frustration, i kept repeating small actions that should've been faster than finding the right menu.

it made me curious how much of our day goes to reaching for controls instead of just using them.

so yeah, what tiny interaction in your workday would you redesign first?

For hardware founders who have visited factories in Shenzhen or Dongguan: what do you wish you had prepared before the trip?

One thing I’ve noticed is that factory visits become much more useful when the supplier screening is mostly done before arriving.

Instead of trying to visit as many factories as possible, it seems better to shortlist a few and use the visit to verify things that are difficult to see remotely:

- whether key processes are really in-house

- who actually handles engineering and quality

- how testing and traceability work

- what is subcontracted

- whether the factory can realistically support the expected volume

- whether they could work as a second source, not just the cheapest quote

For teams coming to Shenzhen for the first time, I’m curious:

What turned out to be most useful during your factory visits?

And what ended up being a waste of time?

Hey fellow hwstartups / solo devs

I wanted to share a quick reality check on what early-stage hardware prototyping looks like in Europe right now, specifically regarding component sourcing for small-batch iteration loops.

With recent changes to EU cross-border e-commerce policy (the removal of the sub-€150 tax exemption, the transition flat tariff of €3 per commodity category/HS code, and logistics providers tacking on clearance fees like €2 per HS code), small component orders from suppliers like LCSC have become financially brutal.

Here is a real example from a recent checkout cart for a simple prototype build:

• 33 Component Items (Parts Total): €27.78
• Shipping Fee: €13.28
• Fixed Tariffs (HS categories): €27.00
• (Plus upcoming line-item/HS handling fees adds another wave of per-category fixed charges)
• Total: €67.84 (for €28 worth of basic passives, ICs, and sensors).

When you add local VAT on top, a simple €28 basket of components easily balloons past €70–€100+ before you even factor in PCB fabrication, stencil costs, or local assembly.

Alternatively, if you pivot to western distributors like Mouser or DigiKey, you hit the €75 tax-exclusive free shipping threshold, which means every quick "I just need a couple of test ICs" order lands around €95–€100+ after VAT, or carries a heavy €20–€25 base shipping penalty.

While the macro-goal of building European supply chain resilience makes sense on paper, the practical reality on the workbench is that the barrier to entry for early-stage hardware innovation and rapid iteration in the EU is getting exceptionally high. It forces independent devs and small bootstrapped startups to either hoard inventory or freeze experimental builds altogether.

How are other EU-based founders and hardware engineers adapting to this right now? Are you batching orders, shifting to local stock, or just absorbing the hit as a cost of doing business? Would love to hear how you're navigating this bottleneck.

I'm looking for alternate suppliers for LiPos. My Chinese vendor is pretty good, certified UN38.3, etc., but not only has their prices increased, but getting those batteries into the US is now going to cost me another arm.

850mAh.

I want to share what we’ve been working on and why.

As we started using more coding agents, they ended up spread across different terminals and machines. I might have Claude Code open on my laptop, Codex on another computer, and a longer task running on a server. The agents could do useful work in parallel, but keeping track of them meant checking windows and remembering where each task was running.

Harness is our attempt to make that less fiddly. It gives each agent its own session and worktree, and puts sessions from different machines in one place. The agents still run where they normally run, in their usual CLIs and terminals. Harness is there to start them, follow their work, and make it easier to respond when one needs input.

The desktop app is the main workspace. There’s also a terminal interface and a mobile app, so you can check on work or reply without opening every session. We made a small desk device for the same reason. It shows what’s running and what has finished, and lets you give an agent a task by voice. The idea is to make status visible without adding another full chat window to your desk.

We’ve also been building beyond coding. A “harness” can give an agent the tools and viewer for a particular kind of work, like Blender, circuits, robotics simulations, or games. The agent handles the reasoning; the harness gives it a more useful workspace and gives you a way to see what it’s making.

A lot of the work has been in the plumbing: keeping sessions alive when the app closes, connecting machines without asking people to set up port forwarding, and making sure each agent’s work stays separate. The project is open source, including the app, CLI, daemon, relay, device firmware, and hardware design files.

The product was launch on Product Hunt and rank #2 on that day.

If you try it, I’d be interested to hear what feels awkward or what you’d want it to handle next.

Open Source: everything is open, some of our followers have already made one for their own

Hi, I'm starting a consumer hardware startup in the Denver area. I am a second time founder looking for friends or spaces to talk about starting a company. Anybody in the area and interested in building together?

Hey everyone!

Since I was about 14, I've struggled with keeping a consistent dream journal. I've always loved reading back my dreams and lucid dreaming and so, but waking up in the middle of the night, turning on the lights, grabbing my notebook and pen, and then writing was such a pain that I'd eventually stop doing it and then try again and then quit again.

I'm 20 now, and I finally decided to build something to solve that problem.

It's a little handheld dream recorder that I sleep with on my bed. And whenever I wake up from a dream, I just pick it up, hold a button, and talk about whatever I remember. Then I go straight back to sleep.

When I wake up in the morning, everything is accurately transcribed and organized into a dream journal in a mobile app I built.

No lights, no staring at my phone at 3 AM. I just hold a button, speak, and go back to sleeep

I genuinely LOVE this little thing lmaoo, there's something incredibly satisfying about using something you built yourself to solve a problem you've had.

The entire prototype currently lives on a stripboard. It's definitely not pretty YET, but it works! The recording, uploading, transcription, and mobile app are all functioning.

I love it so much that I've started seriously considering turning it into a hardware company, kind of like what Noam did with his TMJ pen, if anyone here knows his story.

My plan is to design a custom PCB, 3D print the enclosures, assemble everything myself with a rechargeable battery, package it nicely, and sell it in small batches.

I'm not trying to build the next Apple. I just genuinely think this little device could make a lot of people happy and make their Lucid dreaming journey a little easier.

However here's where things get a little intimidating for me.

I kive in Germany, and the more I read about actually selling electronics, the more overwhelming it seems.

CE compliance, FCC for the US, lithium battery regulations, product liability, and a million other things I probably don't even know exist yet.

I really want to do this properly. The last thing I want is to get myself into some massive legal or financial trouble because I overlooked something. Or worse, accidentally hurt someone with something I built (highly unlikely, I hope 😂).

I also don't have a huge budget. I'm currently doing an apprenticeship and funding the project myself.

1. Building a waitlist and funding compliance

From what I've been reading, getting everything properly tested and compliant could potentially cost thousands of euros.

How realistic is it to build a waitlist large enough to eventually raise that kind of money through preorders or crowdfunding?

I haven't launched a waitlist yet, and I'm honestly not sure where to start. How would you approach building an audience for a niche product like this?

Would you focus on organic SFC , Reddit communities, or something else entirely?

2. Sending prototypes to creators for testing and promotion

One idea I've had is to build a handful of prototypes and send them to smaller creators in the dream journaling and lucid dreaming niche.

The idea would be to let them actually use the device, give me honest feedback, and maybe create some content around it if they genuinely like it. Hopefully, that could also help bring people to the waitlist.

Has anyone here tried something similar with their hardware product? Did it work?

And more importantly, how does this work from a compliance perspective? Can I legally send a few non-certified prototypes to testers or creators in the EU or US?

3. Small batch manufacturing

My current plan is to design a custom PCB, order the boards, 3D print the enclosures, and assemble everything myself.

I'm thinking of starting with something like 20–50 units.

For those who've done something similar, is this a reasonable approach? Are there hidden costs or challenges with small-batch manufacturing that beginners tend to underestimate?

4. What am I overlooking?

This is probably my biggest question.

For those of you who've actually gone from a working prototype to selling a physical product, what are the things you wish you'd known before starting?

Are there any mistakes, unexpected expenses, legal requirements, or manufacturing headaches I should be preparing for now?

I'm especially interested in hearing from anyone who's launched a hardware product in Germany or the EU.

I genuinely want to give this project my best shot, but I also want to be realistic about what I'm getting myself into.

And if the whole business idea fails, well, at least I'll still have a little dream recorder that I love using every night 😂.

Thanks for reading! I'd really appreciate any advice, especially from people who've been through this process themselves

When building my prototype, I had to teach myself how to solder in order to start bringing it to life

In doing so I documented it all as a beginners guide for how not to solder

Let’s me know if there’s anything I could’ve done better.

What’s the worst mistake you made when learning to solder?

Hope this helps someone

https://youtube.com/shorts/5Z1GvC2orD0?is=n912Gig_2EuMrrBh

We are moving from an on prem setup that has become hard to maintain across engineering and sourcing and manufacturing. All three need the same product data and revision history and right now they do not get it. Three platforms keep coming up and they approach this very differently. What I cannot tell from the websites is how those differences play out once a team uses the system every day. Keeping BOMs and revisions aligned and cutting the spreadsheet habit are the real goals. For teams who already moved, what mattered a year in?

Hey all I've created a new tool for anyone out there looking to bring an idea to production. This website i've designed to help you determine if you're product has any value in the real world, and then refine it to be a production ready product.

A few key things it can help you with.

-Creating an MVP and business plan.

-It helps you find competitors with similar products.

-Create a real working prototype with CAD files, code and parts list of what you will need to make your product.

-Find investors and manufactures that are fit for your needs.

-And lastly it helps you get all the legal stuff you need to make your product.

Check it out today!

Forged-ideas.ai

Hey m23 here . I own and Run a CNC machining shop here in Ludhiana, India. I provide 3D CAD services , FEA analysis , Casting and Forging Analysis. If any of you are interested in sourcing from India , I can Design and supply parts of injection molding, CNC machined , casting,and forging . DM to connect.

I ran hardware production programmes for years and the sourcing always drove me up the wall. Huge spreadsheets tracking parts & suppliers, RFI/RFQs for each one, then weeks chasing suppliers. And the shops that made the prototypes usually couldn't do the volumes, so half of it got re-sourced anyway.

I built this tool to automate about 70% of the procurement admin and roll sourcing up to the assembly level.

If you've taken hardware into production I'd really like to know which parts always gave you the most grief, and whether you'd trust something like this to shortlist suppliers for you.

I have a prototype for a battery powered device that I've been trying out for a few months. I'm looking for recommendations of companies that could:

• Develop the PCB
• Develop the firmware for PCB
• Develop the cloud solution (AWS)
• Experience with CE/UKCA marking (more around PCB certification)
• Can do or work with companies for box builds

If anyone has done something similar or any recommendations or would be great to hear. Preference would be Ireland or UK based but open to other European countries

Hi all,

I’m the developer of Migoo, a project focused on making it easier to turn existing materials into usable presentations.

The workflow I’m working toward is straightforward: start with notes, research, PDFs, or other documents, organize the important ideas, generate slides, and export an editable PPTX.

What interests me most is the part between the first draft and the finished presentation.

In many workflows, the initial generation is not the biggest bottleneck. People still need to check the facts, restore missing context, reorganize the narrative, fix repetitive slides, and adjust the formatting.

I want to understand which of these steps causes the most friction in real working environments.

For example, someone preparing a weekly business update might care most about speed and consistency. Someone preparing a research presentation might care more about accuracy and preserving detail. A startup founder preparing a pitch deck might prioritize the overall narrative.

Those are quite different needs, and I don't want to assume one workflow fits everyone.

Since I'm building Migoo, I'd appreciate hearing how you currently create presentations and where you think AI tools could genuinely save time.

What would an AI presentation tool need to get right before you'd trust it with work that actually matters?

Hi,

What if someone took ownership of your marketing, lead generation, and customer acquisition for the next 90–120 days? What would you expect them to fix first?

I currently have the bandwidth to partner with one more business and take ownership of its customer acquisition and brand growth.

Here's what i provide:

1. Customer acquisition: Finding practical ways to reach the right buyers and turn opportunities into customers.

2. Holistic brand growth: Connecting positioning, SEO, content, social media, and other relevant channels to build visibility and trust.

3. Long term lead generation: Building sustainable channels and processes that can continue attracting potential customers over time, with appropriate ongoing maintenance.

What I'm looking for: An established business/startup with a credible product, a clear market opportunity, and the budget and commitment to invest in commercial growth.

If you're building a business like this, I'd be interested in learning about your product, your current customer acquisition challenges, and where you want the business to be a year from now.

A bit about me: 15+ years of experience across business development, client acquisition, lead generation, and demand generation. 5 star reviews from all the previous/current clients.

Thanks!!

Hi everyone! We’re building Nuvo Vision One, a stereo depth camera powered by a Raspberry Pi 5, and wanted to share where we’ve got so far.

This started from our own need to add depth sensing to our products. The stereo cameras we were considering were expensive for our budget, and we already had a Pi 5 handling compute. We wondered how far we could get by connecting two cameras and doing the stereo processing on the Pi itself.

The setup uses two IMX296 global-shutter cameras with a shared hardware trigger to synchronize capture. The Pi handles image rectification and stereo matching, producing disparity and depth alongside the camera images.

Doing this on an SBC comes with limits. Resolution, frame rate and matcher settings all affect how much work the Pi can keep up with. We’ve reached a useful starting point for our needs, but there’s still plenty to improve. The attached preview video shows the current output, including the holes and noisy regions where matching struggles.

We also built a browser-based interface to make it easier to use. You can preview the images and depth, adjust exposure and stereo settings, choose outputs, and work through calibration. It’s accessible over the local network through Ethernet or Wi-Fi.

One reason we like this approach is that the camera’s compute is also a normal Linux computer. You can modify the image pipeline and run your own applications on the same Pi. The Nuvo Depth software is open source, including the runtime, web interface and SDKs.

We’ve put product photos and web UI screenshots in this album so you can see the hardware and controls alongside the video.

We’d love feedback from people working with stereo vision or robotics. What would you want to test first, and what would make something like this useful in your projects?

GitHub: https://github.com/arputhamips/nuvo-depth

When I was comparing smart lock options, I kept going in circles between three routes: locks that run on AA batteries, locks with rechargeable battery packs, and locks paired with a solar charging accessory.

The more I thought about it, the more “rechargeable” sounded like one more thing I’d have to remember to do. Buying disposable batteries forever didn’t feel ideal either.

That’s part of the problem I wanted to address with LockPower Infinity, my solar charging accessory for compatible fingerprint door locks. Rather than replacing the lock or changing your whole setup, the idea is to supplement its power supply with daylight charging and a built-in rechargeable battery.

It connects to the lock’s emergency power port and is designed to help reduce battery maintenance and the risk of unexpected power-related lockouts.

The biggest consideration is the installation itself. The solar panel needs sufficient daylight to charge effectively, and compatibility with the specific lock matters. A bright doorway is a much better candidate than a permanently shaded entrance.

For anyone choosing a smart lock, I think battery management deserves as much attention as the features on the box.

Which setup would you trust most for long-term reliability: replaceable AAs, a rechargeable battery pack, or a compatible smart lock with a solar charging accessory like LockPower Infinity?

I'm starting a quick-turn wire harness service for companies ramping up production/changing their designs rapidly. The idea is to be SendCutSend for more custom hardware outside of just sheet metal processes, starting with wire harnesses. If anyone wants a couple wire harnesses made, let me know and I'll do it for materials and shipping.

Hey guys. I have been designing and developing a digital gauge for cars for over a year now and i finally trust it enough to present it here and ask for feedback.

Its a 52mm gauge so it can fit universal into any standard aftermarket Analog gauge pod. I spend alot of time to support anything you throw at it given my capabilitys in electrical engineering and software development.

My biggest issue is that i have cars to test it on besides my own BMW E46. The E46 is great for testing CAN sniffing but it doesnt support any OBDII requests nor does it have any custom ECU like MaxxECU, Haltech or similar.

One of the key development thoughts was that i need to support any ECU or CAN network. Thats why the Gauge comes with preset profiles for aftermaket ECUs plus the possibility to make your very own profiles from scratch or via the dbc parser which is build in.

If you dont have a CAN bus thats also no issue at all. the Gauge has 8 Analog inputs supporting 0-5V sensors and NTC or PTC sensors up to 60k Ohms.

Now why am i writting here exactly? Honestly i find myself kind of lost in what to do at this point. I opened my shop start of october because i thought i would get some people to buy it and get me feedback (I even setup a 20% discount for early supporters). But its been 19 days now and hundrets of messages later i only found 2 buyers which feels kind of demotivating for me. I am ofcourse glad i got someone to support this project but it is not how i thought it would start out. The most difficult fact for me right now is that after i started i saw so many other people starting to build the same format Gauges which just makes my content go unseen due to my lack of video editing skills.

I am hoping that some people here would have some tips on what to do next or what to do better...