Renee DiResta - The Hardware Startup: Building Your Product, Business, and Brand

The book is organized into the following chapters:

The first chapter introduces the state of the market for hardware startups, dividing it into four main product categories: connected devices, wearables and personal sensors, robotics, and designed products. It briefly examines the forces that have led to the recent growth of the ecosystem, including the history of the maker movement.

This chapter begins by emphasizing the importance of validating the idea for your company through conversations with distinct groups of people who will be critical to your success as a company. It then introduces the topics of community building and customer development, discussing the different relationships that founders will form to help them along the path to building a company. These include the relationship between cofounders, how to choose advisors, and how to reach potential early adopters.

This chapter covers techniques for market, consumer, and competitive-landscape research. It aims to help founders better understand where their products fit into a market ecosystem, which is important for idea validation, early brand positioning, and future fundraising. It also works through the basics of customer-development interviews with an eye toward lean product development .

This introduction to brand development for hardware startups covers the basics of brand marketingincluding brand identity, mission, and personalityand the development of brand assets. It will help founders craft their companys cohesive brand identity, which is a critical component of success for any physical product.

This chapter is a guide for getting from design to physical thing. Topics include types of prototypes (including works-like and looks-like prototyping), building your engineering and design team, outsourcing versus insourcing, chip selection, software, and some common terminology specific to the hardware space.

This chapter discusses the common processes and pitfalls startups face when moving to manufacturing. It covers when and how to choose a factory and supply chain, where to manufacture, testing and certification, and packaging.

This chapter presents a survey of the hardware-startup incubator and accelerator ecosystem. It covers the top programs supporting entrepreneurs today, with an eye toward differentiating their offerings and helping interested founders select the program thats right for them.

Crowdfunding platforms have made a dramatic impact on the ability of hardware-startup founders to take an idea to market. This chapter covers best practices for running a crowdfunding campaign from start to finish: choosing perks, developing a pricing strategy, driving traffic, building community, and more.

This chapter helps founders navigate the fundraising ecosystem. It examines the players who control capitalincluding angels, venture capitalists, and strategic investorsand the pros and cons of taking funding from each. It provides guidance on the strategies most likely to result in a successful fundraise, including when and how to reach out, how to create an ideal pitch deck, and how to structure a round.

This chapter begins with a survey of business models and pricing strategies. It introduces logistics and fulfillment best practices and evaluates distribution channels, with special attention paid to margin and marketing considerations. It also covers the metrics that matter when evaluating the growth of a business. The emphasis throughout is on helping founders make the transition from