10 tips for de-risking hardware products

How to check and consider demand for hardware products earlier than you crank up the manufacturing unit

Manufacturing real-life, tangible objects which you can contact is commonly quite a bit riskier than creating software program. Once you’ve created 10,000 thingamajigs, it’s far tougher to make adjustments to them than within the software program world, the place you may push an replace if you wish to tweak one thing.

In the world of producing, then, the query is: How can I guarantee that I’m constructing the precise factor for the precise viewers?

Last week, after I wrote about Prelaunch.com’s $1.5 million fundraise, I requested firm founder Narek Vardanyan what he thinks are the most important pitfalls in hardware improvement.

Measuring the precise customers

To really perceive what your prospects need, Vardanyan recommends learning what your potential prospects really do, not what they are saying they will do.

In a great world, meaning getting them to purchase or at the least put down a deposit, for your product. Real shopping for intent is extra worthwhile than somebody merely saying, “Yes, I would buy this thing.”

“You need to make decisions based on people’s actual behavior. You need to make sure that the data you’re tracking is coming from the right types of people,” Vardanyan mentioned. “Working with people who are putting down money acts like a filter: You keep only the people who really want to risk their money. In other words, your potential customers.”