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Ask HN: How to go from physical prototype to hardware product?

2 pointsby laserduckabout 1 year ago
I have made an Arduino prototype that addresses a somewhat niche household use case. I originally made it for fun, but after showing it to some friends who offered to pay money for it without any prompting - I realized I might have a potential business that I would like to explore further. However, I am too embarrassed of how ragtag the device currently is to make more prototypes and sell them (literally held together by tape, string, and a prayer). And I am just a Arduino hobbyist who does not know how to make a more refined product.<p>Has anyone gone through this process before and have useful advice&#x2F;guide&#x2F;readings? Thanks in advance!

1 comment

georgeashworthabout 1 year ago
&gt; However, I am too embarrassed of how ragtag the device currently is to make more prototypes and sell them (literally held together by tape, string, and a prayer).<p>I work in software, so take this with the requisite grain of salt, but my first reaction to your post is:<p>Go ahead and start selling your ragtag device. Slap together a basic website + contact form + checkout page (figuratively held together by tape, string, and a prayer). Start posting about your device wherever interested parties gather on the internet. Be honest and transparent about how early you are in development and ask for feedback.<p>Even if nothing is sellable, you can at least gather contact info from interested parties.<p>Even if your device is total unsellable garbage and you sell 0 copies, you will learn so much from this process and the conversations with potential customers, and you can use that to steer your future development direction.