Show HN: from software to "hardware" project

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2 points·donny··3 comments

Just want to share my experience doing an online business (iPad cases). It's not a typical HN project. Somehow, I got distracted from doing software development and I started doing this iPad case project. Let me know if you have questions and I'll try to answer them. Clickable link: http://www.millswyn.com/

Not only am I interested in the product, but I'm eager to read more about the process, such as estimated timelines, margins, fulfillment times.

Can you imagine creating a startup that connects hardware craftsmanship to designers and rewards contributors in a beneficial way? Why stop at your own teams design instincts, there could be a broader opportunity you've uncovered. Cafepress like, but much more design/quality focused.

We got inquiries about creating cases for the Air (that we're prototyping at the moment). Also, inquiries about wholesale (and asking us to brand the cases for them). We declined this for the No1 product. But we're willing to do the branding and manufacturing for other products designed by them. Unfortunately, towards the end, they didn't reply to any of our emails. So, I guess, lost opportunity there.

At the moment, the process is not very scalable: manual Skype calls, but no automation whatsoever. I thought about scaling it, but so far we're okay without the automation. So, maybe when there is a huge demand, we will try to scale it.

Thanks for the Cafepress idea, but I'm not sure whether it can work. I think people can go to Etsy and do the design/manufacture??

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