Customer discovery and prototyping info. And some other things about hardware startups.

1. Paris Hardware Workshop
@benjaminjoffe
ben@hax.co
June 2015
Customer Discovery & Prototyping

2. 1. The world of hardware startups
2. Customer development
3. Prototyping
4. Minimum Viable Credibility
TODAY’S PLAN

3. The World of Hardware Startups

4. PROBLEM SOLUTION

5. ART
BUSINESS

6. DIFFERENT
BETTER

7. HAX looks at 4 things
• What is the TEAM experience and skills
• How is the PROTOTYPE
• Is there a big enough MARKET for it
• Is it HARD to do / how much BETTER / Is it DEFENSIBLE

8. In addition
• Existing SALES?
• Any MEDIA?
• Is it the right TIME?
• Is it the right PRICE? (proof?)
• Why do you CARE?
• Can we improve FOUNDER/PROBLEM/SOLUTION FIT?

9. MUCH BETTER
Speed
Price
Quality
UX
10x != TOTALLY NEW
Do people need it?
You are building a new market.
It’s much harder.
or
BETTER OR DIFFERENT?

10. New MARKET or new SEGMENT?

11. SCIENCE
Biotech,
Nanotech,
Materials,
Medicine,
etc.
SOFTWARE
Algorithms
AI
ECOSYSTEM
Supply + Distribution
Developers
Users
DO SOMETHING HARD!

15. 2,000V-19,000V
(<500 microamps)
Liquid polymer Prints fabric!

17. 400 BACKERS + $70,000

18. 40,000 BACKERS + $2M

19. Customer Development

20. It’s people!

23. GET OUT OF
THE BUILDING

24. Problem Discovery
• Not your solution!
• Is the problem real? Vitamin or Painkiller?
• What solutions exist?
• Do people pay for them? How much?
• Can you do MUCH better on at least ONE parameter?

25. Toyota’s “Five Why”

26. Solution Discovery
• Explain the benefits
• Test the price
• Beware of false-positives

27. HATE YOU
DON’T CARE
LOVE YOU

28. The reality?
You don’t always have this luxury

29. Pivot: Slumbor

30. Darma

31. Prototyping

32. Stages
• Mockups
• Work-like
• Look-like
• Work-like-look-like
• DFM-ready
• ENGINEERING + DESIGN DEBT INCREASES

33. Depending on how you start…
• Problem? Solution? University? Bootstrapping?
• Cardboard / Mockups / 3D printing (form factor)
• Breadboard
• Pi / Arduino (/ CHIP)
• Your own PCB(s)

34. Once it works…
• Increase iterations speed
• We take startups to Shenzhen for that
• 1-day PCB
• Same day components from the market
• Stencils
• 3D printing, machining, etc.
• Soldering people
• Suppliers! (custom-made lenses?)

35. One week in Shenzhen
=
One month in Silicon Valley?

36. Shenzhen
Hong Kong

39. HAX
5
$500k

40. 1 year
3 months

41. Minimum Viable Credibility

42. Milestones
• It works
• It looks good
• It’s manufacturable
• You have money to make it
• You have some distribution
• You have growth

43. You need timely resources
• Skills
• Time
• Money

44. What do people buy?
• Vision (the world with your thing)
• Team / Experience
• Execution
• Design

46. STARTUPS PROGRAMS
(80) 7
YEARS
3
DAYS
FOUNDERS
& MENTORS
111 300

47. LOW-COST
ROBOTICS
HEALTH
+
WELLNESS
LIFESTYLE
+
HCI
+++ +++ ++ +
SMART
HOME
+
IOT TOOLS
+
EDUCATION

48. …and self-taught creators!

49. STARTUPS SELECTED RATE
1,000 30 3%
$25k-
$100k
EQUITY
$200k
MATCHING
FUNDS

50. “FULL STACK” ACCELERATOR
Prototype
Accelerator ($25k-$100k)
Shenzhen
Launch Make Sell
+$200k Boost
San Francisco

51. USA
+
CANADA
EUROPE
CHINA
+
ASIA
60% 20% 20% 2/3
B2C
35
KICKSTARTER

52. $1M+$500K$100K<
LIVE!LIVE!
KICKSTARTER.COM / HAX
“#1 VC in crowdfunding”

53. ARIA
LAUNCHING THIS MONTH

54. Already $20M-$50M within 2 years
Early HAX startups

55. OTHER NOTABLE STARTUPS

56. YEARS IN
ASIA
China, Japan,
South Korea…
INDUSTRIES
telecom, web,
mobile, gaming,
hardware
ANGEL
INVESTMENTS
15 5 13 > 40
KEYNOTES,
PANELS
(past 12 months)
12
COUNTRIES
China, Japan, Korea,
HK, Taiwan, USA,
Canada, UK, France,
Austria, Germany,
Finland

57. PAGES
192 130,000
VIEWS

58. Thanks!
@benjaminjoffe | ben@hax.co