A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE OF HARDWARE

Photo credit: cobalt123

My name is Katherine Hague

AYAH BDEIR OF

littleBits

DREW DOWNS

GelaskinsADAM SAGER

Canary

MARC BARROS

Moment

EMILY BROOKE

Blaze

MARK ARGO OF

Aesthetec Studio

KATE DRANE

Indiegogo

MAX TEMKIN

Cards Against Humanity

EDWARD TANG

AvegantCHRIS ANDERSON

3D Robotics

BEN KAUFMAN

Quirky

NICK EVANS

Tile

ZACH SUPALLA

Spark

JAMEY STEGMAIER

Stonemaier Games

LISA FETTERMAN

Nomiku

LAURIS LIBERTS

Startup VitaminsMAX BOGUE

3Doodler

CAMERON ROBERTSON

Lockitron

ARIEL GARTEN

InteraXon

STEPHEN LAKE

Thalmic

$287,472raised on Indiegogo

$6 millionin series A financing

6 monthsuntil product ships

M U S E

“I've been given a lot of advice but if I were to give advice to another entrepreneur I think it would be that the manufacturing process is always going to take longer than you thought.”

N O M I K U

$586,061raised on Kickstarter

1,880backers on Kickstarter

111 daysas part of HAXLR8R

“Nobody runs on money in a startup. They run on ideas, love for each other, and love for the product. That is what is going to pull you through.”

N Y M I

7000+Pre-Order Units

$1.3MSeed Funding

385,946views

"Focusing does not mean that you're going to lose out on other opportunities. Focusing means that you will flesh out the opportunity in front of you much faster and then if it doesn't work, you can move to the other one."

L I T T L E B I T S

150,000+circuit combos

20awards won

700,000views on TEDtalk

“My advice is to not try to rush too much and to acknowledge and accept that hardware cannot work as beta software, as much as we would like to. It really requires more attention and iteration.”

L U M O L I F T

$1.2MPre-Orders in the first month

16,000 Units

"The future we see for wearables is that they will become a lot more wearable."

INTERVIEWS

70+ARTICLES200

STARTUPS1598

MAKERSPACES200

TOOLS108

LAUNCH ACADEMY

S E E D R S

To guarantee success, you need to hit 35% of your goal on day one.

G O G E T F U N D I N G

Campaigns with day to day marketing plans raise 180% more.

I N D I E G O G O

Campaigns that post 1-5 updates each week double their contributions.

G O G E T F U N D I N G

Campaigns with teams raise 38% more. 

BEFORE WE START TALKING ABOUT THE FUTURE, LETS SEE WHERE HARDWARE IS TODAY.

THE PIECES FOR LOWER COST PRODUCTION EXIST

NO LONGER JUST THE BIG GUYS

SHORTER PRODUCTION CYCLES

ACCESS TO EARLY STAGE FUNDING

SO, WHAT’S THE TYPICAL JOURNEY OF A HARDWARE STARTUP STARTING OUT TODAY?

Entrepreneurs rush into setting up a business, attracted by the perceived glamour and fun that is associated with crowdfunding and connected devices.

There are wonderful fairy tale stories of young talented designers graduating from Stanford or MIT and then going off to achieve fame and fortune.

Most startups can’t answer the question: “Who are you designing for? And why?”

MOST PEOPLE START “PROJECTS” AND AREN’T REALLY PREPARED TO RUN A BUSINESS.

Packing boxes at 2 am+

Saudering and over again+

Pouring through receipts with an accountant will

become part of your routine.

They likely spend less than 10% of your time designing

• Managing production• Sending samples to

magazines• Dealing with suppliers who

want their money (now!)• Begging Techcrunch

reporters and Apple retail to grant you a meeting

• Managing your employees while hoping they don’t fall ill

• And trying to eat and bathe in between

They spend the rest of the

time

They discover that even once you have a prototype, production is very complex one as well, even at the smallest of scales.

They quickly find themselves with customers and suppliers scattered around the world, requiring so much coordination and organization.

They realize that it takes 6 months to two years to match crowdfunding success.

They eventually realize that retail distribution still matters, puts pressure on cost. How do you keep your COGS to 25%?

On top of all that, you have to worry about making enough money to one day make enough money to provide returns for yourself and your shareholders for all your hard work.

BUT WAIT.

THE BUSINESS OF FASHION

Photo credit: Earthworm

CROWDFUNDING AND CONNECTED DEVICES WITH FASHION

JUST REPLACE…

STANFORD AND MIT WITH ST MARTINS OR PARSONS

Photo credit: m01229

Photo credit: Fernando de Sousa

SAUDERING BOARDS WITH STEAMING CLOTHES

TECHCRUNCH AND APPLE RETAIL WITH ANNA WINTOUR AND NORDSTROM

Photo credit: Mike Kalasnik

KICKSTARTER WITH WELL, KICKSTARTER

Photo credit: Scott Beale

• No longer just the big guys

• The pieces for production exist

• Shorter production cycles• Access to early stage

funding

Why haven’t the two converged

until now?

Photo credit: Jenny

IF HARDWARE IS EVOLVING TO BE MORE AND MORE LIKE THE FASHION INDUSTRY, WHAT COULD BE NEXT?

Photo credit: Frits Klaarenbeek

EMERGENCE OF “SEASONS”

Photo credit: Simon A

HIRING OF BURBERRY CEO TO APPLE

EXAMPLE

DEVELOPMENT OF RETAILS CHANNELS FOR EMERGING DESIGNERS

EXAMPLE

+

INCREASED COMPETITION ON BRAND AND COMMODITIZATION OF MANUFACTURING

EXAMPLES

VOGUE FOR THE HARDWARE INDUSTRYBRINGING PRODUCTS TO CONSUMERS

EXAMPLE

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS

GO: CHINA & SAN FRANCISCO

DO: CUSTOMER DISCOVERY· Mom Test· Customer Discovery Blog· Lean Startup· 4 Steps to the Epiphany

WATCH: SCATTER MY ASHES AT BERGDORFS

Photo credit: misslylestyle.com

READ: THEBLUEPRINT.COM

katherine@theblueprint.com@KatherineHague@BlueprintShop