Need Advice on building a product for US market | Hacker News Reader

Need Advice on building a product for US market

3 pointsudayaprakash192 comments

I am a co-founder at an India based hardware startup. We build routers that can bond multiple 3G and 4G connections together and give you a higher combined bandwidth output. Simply put you can insert AT&T, T-mobile, and a Verizon SIM into our device and get an aggregated output of about 20-40Mbps(depending on signal strength).

Our product currently is aimed at the B2B segment in India and other developing countries. We are exploring the possibility of building a consumer grade version specifically for the US market. Something on the lines of Karma wifi, but with multiple redundancies built in and giving a higher bandwidth output. We provide high-speed internet in last mile delivery, where there is no feasibility for wireline internet and you require high-speed internet on the go.

The device would cost less than 300 USD and will have built in battery and can accommodate 3 cellular connections. The form factor will be similar to a power bank. I am looking for advice from people who currently live in the US and who understand markets there. What is the possibility of this device selling in the US? Do you see a market there? kindly advice. Personally, never traveled outside India. So kindly share your thoughts and opinions

Interesting product. The only use case I see (from an European perspective) is:

You move into a new office building with your small startup team and depending on the country and Internet provider it can take up to six weeks or even longer until you get an Internet connection (even if you just take over an existing account, it's a mess sometimes). Then your device paired with good data plans would be an awesome substitute.

However, nowadays small teams go rather into turn-key team spaces from coworking spaces where all is set. So the real need might be quite small (because there are just so many good offers). Big teams/companies usually move once the target location is fully setup, so they shouldn't need such a device.

Edit: Another thing: Since LTE you can get constant 150Mbit down and up with one SIM and device. There are already plans which offer this 150Mbit up and down and unmetered for 200 EUR/month which is a very good deal considering the specs. And you just need a normal smartphone as the hot spot. So, I wouldn't build such a device.

One area where people are rolling their own solutions is live broadcasting by independent journalists.

My advice on the US market is to continue to focus on B2B because:

1. It is a natural extension of what you are currently doing and that provides the potential for "viral" sales when users change companies or companies expand to new markets or justs because people love your product.

2. The consumer use cases are probably few and reaching those few will be really hard because the communication channels are very noisy.

3. A $300 price point is high for consumer networking hardware in the US.

4. The costs are even higher because of the way consumers consume wireless service in the US. Typically, they have locked phones and a multi-year contract with a single provider. Unlike other parts of the world, consumers tend to not purchase unlocked phones and consume data by purchasing SIMS.

5. In the US, wireless data only service plans tend to be a premium product.

6. The existing wireless infrastructure tends to support normal high bandwidth consumer use cases such as watching Netflix.

Good luck.

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