Ask Headline: How to go from idea to product (for hardware)?

5 points by richardofyork 14y ago ↗ HN

We all know how to go from idea to product when we want to build a software product. But how do you go from idea to product when your idea is a hardware?

I am inspired by the Nest thermostat: http://www.nest.com/

2 comments

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lylejohnson 14y ago ↗

I suppose the answer is something along the lines of, "find a partner who knows something about designing and manufacturing hardware (or learn it yourself)". But yeah, I've wondered this myself on those occasions when I came up with an idea that involved some kind of hardware device.

willpower101 14y ago ↗

A good resource might be the the wakemate blog or contacting on of their employees. I think they went from prototype to design with a similar product to the fitbit. They wrote about sourcing Chinese manufacturers and a whole lot more. I'm curious what others in this field have to say though.