You reach over to plug in your phone, and you feel that spark – and not in a good “I love this product!” kind of way. The wire is broken, and yet another charging cable is about to make its way to a landfill, while you have to make a midnight run to the store […]

After ten years of working with hardware startups, the most common question we get is, “What do I need to provide in order to get a quote from a manufacturer?” Here’s a checklist of things we recommend you complete before speaking to a manufacturer. Completing everything on this list will help you paint a very […]

You may have heard somewhere that Silicon Valley is a breeding ground of innovation, technology, and sophistication. Most startups here take one thing and iterate through near-infinity on that one thing until it’s the most perfect, elegant, and uber-functional “one thing” you can find. And often the most expensive. Trouble is, not everyone is necessarily […]

Designing parts for efficient product assembly is a primary hardware development consideration. Even if labor costs are a relatively small percentage of the final selling price, problems in assembly can generate tremendous costs, incur production delays, and result in suboptimal part quality. Since the largest financial impact in hardware development comes during the production phase […]

Depending on the intended use case for your 3D part, structural integrity can be a crucial ingredient. It could be a matter of ensuring that your product doesn’t collapse when used or even a matter of ensuring user safety. We’re going to look at an adorable Wacom pen holder as an example and point out the different […]

Scaling up a new product from the prototype or low-volume production stage into a high-volume manufacturing environment can be one of the most exciting and stressful stages of the hardware development life cycle. The decisions made during this transition will have significant implications for all aspects of a product, from tooling and manufacturing process control […]