hansc

Would love to have your feedback. Created this product in just 2 months. Ask me anything.

Their previous CEO was a content guy from Hollywood; Maybe he focused mostly on the content and insurance stuff and forgot to lead the electronics division or just didn't have a compelling vision? I always wondered why they would take a Hollywood guy instead of more of a product guy.

Thanks for sharing, great hack!

You are absolutely right: Once you get the uC power consumption down with sleeping, others components use the majority of the power and determine battery life for the most part.

Totally agree with the formfactor thing: Just love that you can LEGO stuff together. But even as a MsC in EE, I love that I can do this and then create a real thing from it with breadboarding, proto pcb or a custom designed PCB.

The other thing I like a lot (even more I think) is that there is such a great community with many, many examples, so you don't have to dive into the bit level to get a sensor or module working.

Thanks for the comment about grammer: Fixed that now (I think). This post is meant for non EE people, to explain how to use the ATMEGA for a lower price.

Actually it might be good to focus on what you do best (up to a point): If your a good coder, make an awesome product. If you are an awesome marketeer, use marketing to your advantage.

I think that the problem lies in busywork instead of creating value, not in doing what you do best (and if you do that, good chance that you can find people who are good in waht you need that will join you).

I guess a good idea might be to ask at a local succsefull bookstore (NYC in your case): Just walk in and tell you have a bookstore in Boston and ask how it's gooing and what worked best for them?

Other idea is to ask at a book(store) forum.

Good luck!

Agree with hiring well is hard, but not with why it is hard. I think there is way too much focus on hiring rockstars: Some of the beste people I worked with, were people I initially wasn't working well with and vice versa.

You do need good people, but I think that focussing on rockstars will give poorer results in the long run. Are they going to stay when stuff gets more mundane? Are they going to do the boring stuff? Are they going to work well together iwth other people in the team. My experience tells me to get good people that get stuff done, so that the founder(s) can focus on the entrepreneurial part.

Actually, I did bootstrap a hardware product: www.growguard.net. Agree, it's not the best looking product, but engineering, designing and puting it in manufacturing cost less than 5k!

A couple of years ago, I was the CTO and cofounder of another hw startup (FTTH space), we did get this thing off teh ground for less than 300k and it is now doing very well and one of the top-3 in it's niche

If you have some savings and are passionate about it: Why not? I have done the same thing. Is it a success? Well, from an experience side it very much is, financial or carreer: Don't know yet.

Two things I would advice: - Give yourself somekind of milestone and target date to help keep focus (for instance, working prototype and share with 10 bloggers in 2 months) - Get out there: Go to meetups, etc. Not to sell your thing, but to meet people and when they ask share your idea, progress, experiences and see what questions and advice/ideas they have.

Good luck: It can be awesome!

What about analysing the other way around: Objectively look at the companies that made it (not just YC companies) and the ones that didn't make it and try to see if there are clues that distinguish them. Were the founders really big dreamers for instance, or was the traction immediatelly high from the start, or was tracction high + no interest from investors?

Harwoodr, It uses a 9V battery that lasts for about 6 months. It uses 868MHz ISM band and does not interfere with anything in your house. Outside range is about 50 yard/meters, inside a couple of rooms.

I started with my cost price and added a markup that would reduce my risk. In addition, I noticed that botanicalls was 99$, so 119$ would be ok.

Sebg,

Thanks a lot for the detailed feedback: I'm going to incorporate all asap!

All the best,

Hans

As a developer and sole founder, I would love to have your feedback on the GrowGuard. Some background: Last Januari, I decided to quite my job and do what I love most (HW hacking and startup), now after a few months of developing and getting production ready, I open up to the public here on HN.

Love to hear your feedback, Hans.

Great article! I guess this all start with good hiring. If the people you are good, then this works great. If you skimp on this: you are in trouble.