Ask: How do you turn a hardware prototype into a real product? | Hacker News Reader

Ask: How do you turn a hardware prototype into a real product?

1 pointevo_94 comments

I'm trying to figure out the best approach at creating a new hardware product that I've come up with.

The idea is pretty simple and my sense is something like Arduino or even LittleBits type of thing would work fine.

What I'm not sure about is whether Arduino or something like LittleBits is the right way to start because I want to eventually turn it into a commercial product. How do you take an Arduino prototype (or little bits, etc) and turn it into a real product? Has anyone had experience with this? Googling it didn't produce anything useful though I'm still digging.

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Certainly start with an Arduino if you want to turn it into a commercial product. If you can't get it to work with an Arduino, then a Beaglebone is probably the next step up. Stay away from Raspberry Pi, as getting the Broadcom SOC is not for the new player. Once things are working at the breadboard level, look at implementing it in a single board, eliminating all the redundancy in the schematic. While you're getting it working on a single board, work with an industrial designer to come up with a housing if you want something nice looking. Then, it's time to work on building up a batch. There are quite a few Contract Manufacturers in the US who would be happy to build your boards for you, and I'd recommend staying in the US to start with.

Think about testing in there, how are you going to test the 100 or 200 units you've build, and how are you going to handle the broken ones what people have.

I'm sure I'll think of more things later.

* Breadboard it.

* Investigate the IP space and file a provisional patent. $500.

* Find an OEM that can handle fulfillment. There are a ton and you don't need to find one in China; I'm working with one in Iowa right now. I came to them with a pretty solid circuit (no microcontroller) and they made it better and cut my bill of materials by 30%.

* Unless you like the idea of holding inventory, try to find a volume buyer (or maybe look at kickstarter). The point is to find a market willing to go for pre-sales, or else you're going to need deep pockets.

Thanks, very helpful.

I'm not sure I would have any inventory, the idea is pretty specialized and I would be selling it to a limited number of large institutions.

The best play, IMO, is to sell the company within the provisional period.

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