Ask HN: How good is YC doing for hardware companies? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How good is YC doing for hardware companies?

5 pointsdurkie2 comments

YC hardware alums -- how has YC fared in helping you with the specific problems you faced in bringing your physical product to market?

As compared to a hardware-specific accelerator, did you feel like you needed on-premises prototyping facilities, or a staff engineer to review your models/schematics/...?

Did you have access to people that have brought physical products to market before, and were they able to help you get there?

(Backstory: we're considering various accelerators in the near future. YC is awesome, but it definitely has a software reputation. Since a few hardware companies have come through YC now, I'm curious how much a hardware-specific accelerator really adds to the process, or vice versa, how generally applicable the lessons of starting a software startup are to other types of business)

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So I can't speak to the hardware accelerators or even YC (timing issues have kept us from applying) but we have just spent the last 18 months+ bootstrapping a hardware product to market. I think the two main considerations would be 1) What does your existing team look like and 2) how much cold hard cash is the program you are considering going to give you.

With regard to team make up you need to understand if you have the in house talent to design and build the hardware. Is one of the founders an EE? Do you have an in house mechanical engineer? Low level software skills? How well do you know the product space you are going after? If you are missing any critical skill on the team you are going to have to rely on your network substantially and find and pay for outside help. This pushes up costs and it's already probably going to cost 3x what you think it will cost to get the product to market.

Which brings me to my next point - cold hard cash. How much is each program offering? Is the expertise and contacts they bring enough to offset the possible lack of cash? For instance one popular hardware accelerator in the Bay Area offers 50k while YC is going to get you $120k. If your team is strong and you have existing contacts or manufacturing experience the extra money and VC contacts and name recognition could be more valuable. Feel free to contact me off list (see profile) if you have more questions.

Don't have any direct experience with YC in a hardware context (only second hand), but in my experience the key to most hardware companies is the software (iPhones are great because of the App Store; Dropcam great because of their motion algorithms, etc). If I were to do the hardware startup I was involved in over again, I would have pushed for a greater focus on the software earlier on.

I could definitely see value in having equipment on site if there are still specialized tools you need for prototyping, otherwise if you're at a decently advanced prototype stage there are plenty of contract manufacturers within reach. Any top accelerator will be one or two degrees of separation away from them.

If you come from a primarily software background and are largely outsourcing the hardware side, I can see a hardware-focused accelerator being of particular value.

Just my $0.02.

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