Hardware Companies
topic on 10 shows · 13 statements across 13 episodes
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13 statements about Hardware Companies, every show
Vishria: Hardware companies cannot control their destiny like software companies do
“With software companies,
You know, aside from, like, building on AWS or whatever, you pretty much own your whole stack, and so you're really fully in control of your destiny in that way.
With hardware companies, you don't.
Like, there's an entire supply chain,…”
Nolan: Co-locating Engineering and Initial Manufacturing Is Mandatory
“I think you need to, at a minimum, put your first of a kind manufacturing co-located with engineering and then better yet small scale manufacturing, mid scale manufacturing, maybe a large scale. You can push it somewhere else and go to a lower cost center as o…”
Spiegel: Hardware winners start premium with enthusiasts rather than discounting
“And then over time, they work with that really passionate group of enthusiasts to, you know, grow into the mass market while preserving their premium positioning, which means high gross margins. Then they take those high gross margins and they reinvest in R&D,…”
Venkatachalam: Axiom avoids hardware due to capital intensity and dilution
“We absolutely, you know, don't even really think about investing in hardware companies themselves unless it really is at the very beginning. Those companies obviously require lots of capital going forward, so even if the initial investment is small it's hard t…”
Handmer: Most people should avoid founding hardware startups
“Well, I mean, people in general, maybe you shouldn't start hardware companies. It's kind of cursed in a way, but if you have the right skill set and the right mindset and you're determined to just do the most ambitious thing you could possibly achieve, you sho…”
Lessin: Novel hardware requires in-person training to prevent negative reviews
“If you like aren't dialed on your new user experience yet completely, and there's something to learn, you don't want to like give people a bunch of shit and then they don't know how to use it and they get mad at it.”
Cliffton: Hard tech trough of disillusionment lasts 5 to 8 years
“And I think for, especially for hard tech for hardware companies, that trough of disillusionment might be like five to eight years.”
Finn: Physical Intelligence gives robot designs directly to hardware companies
“We've not only have we open-sourced some of the weights and released details in, in technical papers, we've actually also been working with hardware companies and giving designs of robots to hardware companies.”
Mikesell: Future startups will feature a higher proportion of hardware companies
“So I think we're at the point now where everything from now on is going to have to be more of a combination of software and hardware. We're, I'm not saying that there will be no innovative pure software companies. Of course there will. What I'm saying is there…”
Franceschetti: Top hardware companies keep CAC below 20% of retail price
“Yeah, I think for great companies, I know our CAC is really, really good. It needs to be below 20% of the price.”
Dave Morin: Most hardware startups die with unsold inventory on pallets
“Like most hardware companies actually die with a bunch of stuff on pallets still in China or Vietnam or wherever they're being assembled.”
Balaji: Many hardware companies will die from Chinese supply chain disruptions
“Hardware companies are just going to die, many of them, because they just can't get the parts from Chinese warehouses.”
Einstein: Growing hardware startups must focus on supply chain over manufacturing
“Really what actually happens with most hardware companies now, their core focus as they grow is actually less about hardcore manufacturing and molding and quality control. And it's more about gaining expertise in your own supply chain.”