815 industry professionals answered our poll on what is the no1 mistake hardware startups make, here are the results.
815 Votes
Source: What is the No. 1 Mistake that Hardware start-ups make?
Useful resources
- What is DFM?
- 9 Design For Manufacturing Rules Crucial to Remain Competitive
- NRE Cost Calculator
- Reduce Electronic Component Leadtime: 6 Proven Strategies
Here are some comments from our network that further discuss why many hardware startups fail.
Partner and CEO at Sofeast Ltd
All of them are very common, really. I picked “too many features” because it comes (in part) from “no user research” and it compounds the problem “no DFM”.
Custom Manufacturing in Shanghai
Probably the most critical mistake we see is bypassing of the critical small production runs off of actual tooling prior to letting parts run loose in the marketplace. Yes, the setup costs are expensive – a halfway ground from prototype and production- but is stops the capital bleed of rework or scrapping inventory which could/ must be improved.
Baby projects need a safe playground to run around in before they are sent into traffic. Lining up product testers (staff, friendly clients, family) who will put the goods to use and provide feedback before they go wide allow iterations to happen with minimal expense and keep reviews strong.
Investment | BizDev | Pre-seed & Seed Hardware Startups – East Coast & Midwest
Adding too much value to the “hardware” part of the solution instead of building a great customer experience.
Research And Development Manager at Gizmospring
I’d add “not committing with the specs and making too many changes in the process”. It affects the cost, the time, and waste resources.
Electronic Manufacturing (CEMs), NPI & Supply Chain specialist
The most important thing is that you have a piece of hardware that people actually want to buy and there is a long term market for. I could list many things in the NPI development journey that need to be carefully considered but without customers it is all fruitless.
Lead Product Manager at Nova
You asked for No. 1 so it’s got to be Forgetting User Research – if you get that wrong you’ll drastically reduce your chances of even getting to the point where you can make the other mistakes!
As you can see in the poll’s result, running out of money is a big problem hardware start-ups face, but the all-time product failure reason is not having a good product-market fit.
We can engineer a product to perfection when the budget is there, but none of this will matter if there’s no market demand.
You just read the most common mistakes hardware startups make. How about now you read something on how hardware startups managed to overcome challenges and succeed.
