Ask HN: Any hardware startups?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1797124

by Keyframe • 16 years ago

9 17 16 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'd like to hear about hardware startups and your troubles and problem solving. Particularly if there are any IC manufacturers or fabless startups.

This is an area (EE and ICs especially) I was always fascinated by, but I have no practical knowledge about. Yet, I have several ideas which I would like to develop into a HW product (one of million ideas we all write down), but I have no one to talk about since I don't know any people that are experts in. My exposure to the area comes mostly through occasional scouring through IC manufacturers news/prs/blogs, eetimes and wiki (so it's nothing basically).

Is it possible at all for a small yc-like startup to break into an IC field at all (fabless like Nvidia or manufacturer area). Costs associated seem to be astronomical.

AlexBlom• 16 years ago

You should check out Kogan. I don't know the guys personally but they have successfully built a hardware brand in Australia.

Keyframe5• 16 years ago

Thanks. From a glance ( http://www.kogan.com.au/profile/ ) it seems more like a trading company that slapped brand on hardware deals they got through alibaba.

aberkowitz2• 16 years ago

I'm working on a very early stage hobby startup based around preexisting open source hardware / software.

It's going very slowly due to my lack of knowledge with regards to hardware development and manufacturing.

The only YC company I know of that does hardware is WakeMate and they have been plagues by numerous manufacturing and licensing problems.

Keyframe5• 16 years ago

Can you provide more info about what are you trying to do? Looks like post got no traction, which is a shame - I really wanted to hear about HW manufacturing issues from a startup perspective, especially IC.

aberkowitz2• 16 years ago

Sorry, I'm intentionally being vague at this point.

If it ever amounts to anything, I will let you know.

acgourley• 16 years ago

Just want to make an important distinction. OP is talking about hardware startups. Someone below mentioned WakeMate, and I want to clarify that's not what we should call a hardware startup - it's a very very different beast from a company that designs ICs.

I've heard Brad Feld use the term "software enabled hardware" and I think that's as good as anything else to talk about companies like WakeMate.

deutronium• 16 years ago

I'm not sure what you're trying to do, but was wondering if you could use FPGAs or microcontrollers.

follower2• 16 years ago

I'm interested in hardware startups but at a higher level than chip design.

Some semi-random pointers which might be of interest:

* OGP is an open source hardware project to create open source video graphics hardware which currently uses a FPGA: http://wiki.opengraphics.org/tiki-index.php

* Bunnie is one of the people behind the Chumby and has documented his manufacturing experiences on his blog but that seems to be at a higher level than what you're looking for: http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/

* ARM is an example of something that started out with a small development team: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture

For prototyping purposes my limited understanding is that software simulation and FPGAs can be used initially. If you're interested in FPGAs this site of open source FPGA code might be of interest: http://opencores.org/

Keyframe5• 16 years ago

Excellent sources. For what I would like to do, FPGA with a custom PCB seems to be a right choice anyways. I would like to do something what AJA ( http://www.aja.com ) and BlackMagic Design do ( http://www.blackmagic-design.com/ ) - basically broadcast equipment. AJA uses FPGA for their IO (I know because when I boot it it says initializing FPGA :) ). I also have an interest in SSDs. Thanks!

harnhua3• 16 years ago

I'm currently working on an FPGA-related startup, not manufacturing hardware but developing an online FPGA development platform (http://www.plunify.com).

Octopart is a YC-funded search engine for electronic parts.

One reason why I'm listing these indirectly-related examples is that hardware for me seems to involve an ecosystem of different companies, each painting part of the overall picture. To me it's a very inter-connected industry: from the hardware manufacturers to the design houses to the software tool providers to the customers, etc.

As you said, manufacturing and selling a hardware product requires a sizable capital investment, not to mention challenges of maintaining a logistical operation. If the product design is not too complex, one can get it manufactured for cheap in Taiwan or in China... startups based somewhere else will just have to find the nearest board house to do the first prototypes.

Fabless is of course a good way to go as it eliminates a lot of the costs. That also brings with it business-model-related questions: do you sell the IP or do you actually want to make something in the end? Are you thinking about opensourcing your IP? Etc...

There are hardware-as-a-service startups, opensource hardware startups like Arduino(http://www.arduino.cc/), and many such companies coming into the market in recent years. It's definitely a rich playground with decent barriers to entry(hardware expertise, market knowledge, connections) and I feel that there isn't a "killer" business model out there yet for smaller players to capitalize on.

Would be interested to know what other hardware-related startups are doing!

doosra• 16 years ago

I love the idea of Plunify. I tried to find pricing information (for future use) on the website, to no avail. But if this cuts down the cost for CAD tools as an independent developer, it will be huge for me!

harnhua3• 16 years ago

Thank you!

We're in beta and are still figuring out the pricing as we go along. Absolutely agree that cost, among other things, stands in the way of many independent developers.

Keyframe5• 16 years ago

Your project really looks sweet!

harnhua3• 16 years ago

Thank you!

I hope my reply was somewhat helpful in terms of answering your questions. Always glad to meet other hardware folks here on HN.

GregBuchholz• 16 years ago

You'll want to check out Mosis for getting ICs fabbed on the cheap. http://www.mosis.com/

Ask HN: Any hardware startups?

Related Stories