Latest articles

One of the most popular questions I get from hardware companies concerns the pros and cons of 3D printer ownership. The question generally goes something like, if i’m iterating all the time, doesn’t it make sense for me to buy my own machine that I can access whenever I need it? That’s precisely the question I […]

If you’ve worked with consumer electronics, you’ll have come across living hinges. They are found in a wide variety of components – clamshell packaging, attached bottle caps, and electronic cases, just to name a few. They are low cost, easy to manufacture, and have little wear or friction involved in operation — understandably a popular […]

After the R&D stage in the hardware development lifecycle, you have a clear vision of what you’re building, the problem it solves, who the target user is, what other products are out there trying to solve the same problem (and how those products were made) and you’ve started iterating on the product design. A next […]

Moddler is widely known as one of the top boutique 3D print shops in the Bay Area. Founded by vfx veteran and Emmy Award winner John Vegher, the company enjoys a glittering line-up of clients and a solid reputation for quality, care, and customer service. Moddler’s focus on producing the highest quality parts for their customers, regardless […]

Chefs create recipes. Hardware Engineers create BOMs (Bill of Materials) and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures). The BOM is an ingredients list for building your product, and the SOP is the set of instructions on how to build it. In this post, we’ll dive into exactly how to construct an excellent ingredients list that will help you […]

Every startup knows about accelerators, but not every startup knows how to read between the lines of an accelerator experience to transform those golden nuggets of expertise, resources, and connections that these organizations offer into a viable new brand. In this week’s Spotlight we share the story of Peeple, the smart caller ID for your front […]

We’ve all heard of the digital divide. But in Silicon Valley, there’s another kind of gap—the chasm between software and hardware. Hardware developers have watched for years as their software dev friends pulled down free pieces of code from GitHub, spun off app after app from their dorm rooms and garages, and wooed millions of […]

We recently hosted experts from 3 of the top product design firms in the country, Whipsaw, Mindtribe, and Synapse as well as over a hundred Baoan designers and engineers to explore the give and take between design and engineering in the development of hardware products. We captured the discussion on video and look forward to continuing the conversation!

Every day, we work with young hardware startups to help them bring new products to market. While there is no deficit of passion and motivation in these zealous hardware entrepreneurs, we do see them make mistakes from time to time. Here are the 3 most common mistakes we see and strategies to avoid them so […]

You know those hypnotic GoPro videos of skateboarders flying down flights of stairs as if they had wings, surfers gliding along massive waves, and James Stewart killing it out on the dirt? You can’t just get a GoPro camera and expect to get that kind of quality right out of the box. You need a […]