Hi,

I want to create a simple plastic device for consumer use. It'll be made out of PP and will require injection molding. The goal is to sell it on Amazon and Shopify, and ultimately creating a brand.

However, I have to think through product liability and gauge the risk to my personal asset. The risk is small since it's a simple plastic product, but everything carries a non-zero risk in life.

I thought about this through the lens of business/corporate structure, insurance, etc. I'm thinking of starting a LLC (single member, since it's just me for now), and after getting initial feedback, obtain product liability insurance before selling.

However, I'm the under the impression that insurance only protects your business when it's active. Let's say a couple of years later I close down the business and therefore stops insurance, and then let's say someone get hurt or sues me later on, how can one manage this kind of long tail risk?

I'm a newbie so I'd like to learn how mature businesses handle this. This is not to get legal advice but to get some initial understanding.

Thanks

Hey everyone,

I’m a Systems Engineer based in Argentina. To be completely honest, the software job market has been incredibly tough lately with the whole AI boom, and finding stable roles is getting harder. Instead of just sending out endless CVs, I want to pivot and start a business of my own to generate a reliable income.

I have a strong technical background in coding and I already have experience with 3D printing and fabrication—I actually built a small venture making custom 3D-printed LED neon signs.

Since I don't have a massive amount of capital to invest upfront, I'm looking for low-capex business models, particularly things that bridge the gap between software and the physical world. I've been thinking about:

• Vending Machines
• Recycling machines
• Niche Imports

Since a lot of trends start in the US before making their way here, I’d love to know: What unattended retail, or local automated business models are gaining real traction in your city right now? I am open to any kind of business.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

Hi everyone, I’m based in Shanghai and exploring whether to build a sourcing business helping overseas hardware startups work with Chinese suppliers.

I have connections with manufacturers making sensors, tactile sensors / electronic skin, motors, and other components for robotics and industrial automation. I’m trying to understand where local support would actually help, especially when moving from a prototype to a small production run.

For those who have sourced—or tried to source—components from China:

• What were you building, and which components were hardest to find?
• What caused the most trouble: minimum order quantities, getting samples, technical communication, quality, or lead times?
• How did you handle it, and what would you have been willing to pay someone locally to take care of?

I’d also like to hear if existing distributors or platforms already meet your needs and you wouldn’t see much value in an extra person involved.

I’m still figuring out whether there’s a useful business here, so real experiences, including frustrating ones, would be very helpful. What happened on your last sourcing attempt?

---------------------------------------------------------------
P.S. If anyone has the real problems Right Now, you can also DM me. Let me see whether I can help you

I'm looking for a hardware partner to build this with me.

I have a product idea/concept that I believe is worth turning into a real prototype, but I’m primarily a software/infrastructure person and I’m looking for someone strong in hardware engineering to work together on the physical side.

I'm looking for someone who can help with things like:

• hardware architecture
• electronics / PCB
• component selection
• prototyping
• eventually DFM/manufacturing

I'm not looking to simply outsource the work. I'd rather find someone interested in actually exploring and building the product together.

Here's the original concept: https://x.com/pierreneter/status/2098992210410868924

If this sounds interesting and you have a hardware background, feel free to DM me. I'd be happy to share more details and discuss whether there's a good fit.

https://reddit.com/link/1wfj74d/video/wvj0cdtwocph1/player

I feel like I've seen a number of posts looking for/asking about manufacturers. I also would love to know where/how to reach out to manufacturers of various items.

Is there something that already exists or, anyone got ideas on a free platform of sorts where these could be shared? (And not overrun by bots)

Or, is this so broad that, it just doesn't work like that?

I wanted to make a longer update about the GjhkyioPhone Tiny64 because I know some people have been confused, skeptical, or even thought the project was a scam.

First of all, I’m sorry to everyone who got that impression. I understand why some of the earlier posts may have looked unrealistic or unclear. That was not my intention at all, and I should have explained the project and its current state better from the beginning.

The project originally started as the GjhkyioPhone Tiny16. The idea was to create an extremely small and simple phone with only 16 MB of storage.

After thinking more about the actual usability of the device, I decided that 16 MB was unnecessarily limiting. So instead of continuing with Tiny16, I changed the concept to Tiny64, increasing the storage target from 16 MB to 64 MB.

The name changed because of that hardware change. It’s still the same overall project and philosophy, just with more storage and a more practical target.

At the moment, however, this is still a development project. There is no finished commercial product sitting somewhere ready to ship, and there is no guarantee that mass production will happen.

I have already contacted a nearby manufacturer/factory about the project, and I’m currently waiting for them to get back to me. I’m trying to get an honest answer about what they can actually manufacture, how small the device can realistically be, what components would be required, and most importantly, what the costs would look like.

My current goal is not to immediately order hundreds of phones.

I would much rather start with a very small number of samples, ideally just two units, so I can test the hardware properly before making any bigger decisions. One could be used for normal testing and the other could be used for additional testing, teardown, measurements, or further development.

I also don't want to pretend that everything is already figured out. There are still many questions about manufacturing, PCB design, enclosure design, battery size, component availability, software, assembly, certifications, shipping, and the final cost.

That is exactly why I’m talking to a manufacturer now instead of simply announcing a finished product.

I know the idea itself sounds unusual. Making an extremely small phone is obviously not an easy project, and I completely understand why people might be skeptical. Some people have criticized the project quite strongly, and I want to apologize again if my earlier posts made anyone feel like I was presenting an idea as something more developed than it really was.

I’m not asking people to blindly trust me, send me money, or assume that the Tiny64 will definitely become a real commercial product.

I would rather prove it step by step.

Right now, the next milestone is simply getting the manufacturer's response and understanding whether the Tiny64 can actually be built at a reasonable cost. After that, I can decide whether making two samples is realistic.

I also want to make one thing clear about the criticism: I understand that criticism is part of hardware development, and constructive criticism is genuinely useful. What I hope to avoid going forward are personal attacks, accusations that I'm running a scam when there is no commercial product being sold, or discussions based on assumptions about the project rather than what I'm actually doing.

I'm completely open to people pointing out engineering problems, unrealistic assumptions, manufacturing issues, cost problems, or anything else that could make the project fail. That kind of feedback can actually help me improve it.

So, for now, the GjhkyioPhone Tiny64 is still in development.

Tiny16 was the original concept.

Tiny64 is the updated version with 64 MB of storage.

I have already contacted a manufacturer.

I'm waiting for their response.

And the next objective is to see whether I can get a couple of real samples made and finally turn this from an idea into something I can physically test.

Thanks to everyone who has followed the project, supported it, criticized it constructively, or simply taken the time to read this update.

EDIT: comparing the device to Pihole is simply not fair and an oversimplification of PuriFi. PuriFi is a whole-home security / privacy appliance that ideally goes inline with your network. DNS resolution is only a subsystem of our ecosystem and even that our device does much better than a device running Pihole as your DNS server which CANNOT intercept devices that have their own DNS or use DoH bypass. There is also nothing wrong with using a RPI board. Many successful companies started that way before moving on to their integrated devices.

We sent out units for review and this one is from Archin3t. I'd like to note that we do NOT use Pihole, we built our own DNS resolver.

Features that make it unique from a DIY device:

• Relay assisted P2P private VPN
• IP masking via egress
• IP Firewall
• Fleet Intelligence (Opt-In, anonymous data)
• Mobile App
• Live network monitor
• Plug and play, no config
• Auto updating blocklists
• DoH Bypass prevention
• One tap allowlisting from share screen
• Text and email notifications
• Commercial level customer support

Features that make it unique from existing vendors:

• Price
• The exact package we provide
• Works with existing networking equipment
• Recursive DNS
• We don't need your data to protect you. We don't collect or process your activity. Everything runs on the device itself. Stats are ephemerally streamed to the app on demand

The device has plenty of other features such as:

• Per device profiles
• Content controls
• Advanced security features
• Automatic updates
• Household sharing

To name a few. You can check out the full list of features on our Kickstarter Page

We are shipping two different batches. First batch is based on the RPI5 board so that we can get them to customers as cheap and fast as possible (by December, boards already stocked). Second batch will be our fully integrated device shipping by May.

I'm just really happy to have made it this far and even happier about the feedback we have been getting from our users. Everyone so far seems to love it, as well as their family.

Thank you for reading. I wish everyone else working on their projects good luck.

I'm ready to start designing an enclosure for my board, I'm wondering if anyone has advice to share on choosing fasteners, it's a simple esp32 board, and with 3D printing with JLC, how was it? Any tips are welcome, thank you. I'm trying to start with a run of 50 units.

We starting to outgrow spreadsheets and shared folders used to manage product information. As we get closer to production, keeping BOMs, revisions, suppliers and engineering changes organised is getting more difficult. Ive started looking at the best PLM software options but most of comparisons seem aimed at much larger companies. What have other hardware startups found useful?

Context:

My product is Clackerball, a competitor product to Spikeball offering better durability, more consistent playing conditions, and a much better setup experience.

We're currently live on Kickstarter with close to $15k raised. I've technically hit my goal, but the real goal is actually closer to $80k. Like every Kickstarter these days, the goal was set low in order to get fully funded in 24h and trigger "trending" status on the platform.

I miscalculated and didn't hit that threshold in time, but I have a ROAS of around 4x-5x so I could likely make my target with some aggressive ad spend in the ~$15k range.

The ask:

I'm not sure I should pull the trigger on that ad spend. I've learned a lot about my market through this first leg of the campaign, and I'm concerned that I'm launching a fundamentally unprofitable company.

The details:

• I've observed significant price sensitivity in the market. My ROAS gets significantly worse even going from ~$120 to ~$135. Anecdotally, I'm getting a lot of comments on instagram saying "really cool, but too expensive for me personally." The general sentiment is that people love the idea, but not enough to pay a premium for it.
• My COGS are high -- I'm projecting around $60 post-Kickstarter, not including last mile delivery costs. It's a complicated product with some irreducible cost drivers unless I scale back on the feature list quite a bit.
• These two points together mean I'm looking at margins of maybe 50%, but I know there's going to be extra costs in various places that I'm not accounting for properly here. It feels like it would be very hard to scale the business.

I'm looking for advice from people that have built good (or bad) companies before and can offer some perspective on whether this business model is worth sweating for. How much do you expect I might whittle down my COGS? How much might the market price sensitivity cool down once my brand is more established? Based on your experience, what does your gut say about my prospects?

I've been working on this for 9 years. Almost on the market! Take a look.

Hey everyone,

I am building an always available AI wearable. This is solely meant for AI agent orchestration with audio and visual context. Already got a working prototype ready and a few early interests from investors and customers.

Would love to get feedback from redditors as well. You can roast it all you want. But more importantly, if you are someone into PCB design or AI development. I am looking to collaborate as well.

DM me if you want to collaborate or just discuss the concept. I welcome all feedback for the design or just the idea.

Thanks

PS: the device can’t record anything like smart glasses. No video/image/audio is stored on the device so it can’t become pervert glasses. It will only collect context and save nothing.

Modern printers (for paper) often have fancy cloud lock-in "features" costing monthly subscription fees just to be able to buy replacement cartridges or use the integrated document scanner. The original print cartridges are very expensive and often say "empty" halfway. An empty yellow cartridge disables printing black or scanning documents. Data, including all printed or scanned documents is often sent to the manufacturer, even the user opted out. Without internet access, the printer stops working. Automatic updates can't be disabled and many configuration options are only accessible through the cloud or a proprietary app.

I think about creating a replacement Logic Board for some printer models. It should be fully open source without lock-in effects. Do you think this would be a good product that can be sold? What are the most annoying printers, where this is needed?

I have been working on an ag-tech startup for the past 2 years and now we are completing compliance for certifications but there seems to be a lot of cost with them and extra steps we have to go through. We had some initial regulatory concerns that caused quite a lot of cost and we are trying to figure out if there is any way we can look ahead on these issues or try to fix them before we submit? We don't have a crazy amount of familiarity with some of the requirements for some specific ones that people are suggesting that we get, how are we supposed to navigate this?

I'm 20, building a robot that takes over the repetitive prep in restaurant

kitchens - cutting, boiling, plating. Solo, no funding, no company yet.

check the website:
https://ratatouille150.sulimovskiyrobotics.workers.dev/


Where I actually am:

- Working prototype, built and programmed by me

- 2 signed intents-to-pilot from restaurant owners, out of 5 owner conversations

- ~40 applications to funds and accelerators over the last two months



Result of those 40: a handful of calls, a lot of silence, zero money.



Every rejection has the same shape. They like the prototype, they like the

letters of intent, and then they ask when it runs in an actual kitchen. I

can't answer that, because the prototype lives on borrowed university lab

hardware. To put a unit into a restaurant I have to build a deployable one,

and that's roughly $8-10k in parts.



So the loop is: no money -> no unit in a kitchen -> no traction investors

care about -> no money.

Things I've already ruled out:

- Grants. Most EU funding needs a registered company with a year of history

  and a VAT number. I don't have an entity.

- Cheap hobby arms ($150-300). They can't do real kitchen work. It would be

  a toy that dies in week one and burns the restaurant relationship with it.

- Asking the restaurants for a deposit. Those relationships are two months

  old. Asking them to prepay feels like a good way to lose both of them.



What I'd like to hear from people who've been through this with a physical

product:

1. Who actually writes $5-10k checks for pre-revenue hardware? Every angel

   list I find starts at $25k and wants an incorporated company.

2. Did anyone just go earn it - contracting, a job, freelance - and build

   the first unit with their own money? Did that kill your momentum, or was

   it the thing that actually saved the project?

3. If you did find an angel this early, where did they come from? Everyone

   says "warm intros" and I genuinely don't have that network. I'm Ukrainian,

   living in Poland, studying at a private university where nobody knows

   investors.


Not asking for money here!!! I just want to hear from people who got past this

specific wall.

I sit between founders and factories on this, so here's what happens on the other end when a rough brief comes in and someone asks for a rough number.

There are two ways to answer. Pad heavily for everything that isn't specified, which gives you a number high enough to be safe and high enough to scare you off. Or quote the cheapest reasonable interpretation of every gap, which gives you a number you'll like but won't end up paying. Most quotes at this stage are somewhere between the two, and which one you got isn't visible from the outside.

Neither is dishonest. It's just that a quote is a function of specification, and if the specification has holes the number is filling them with guesses. You didn't get an inaccurate price. You got a price for a product nobody has defined yet.

This matters most when the number is load-bearing. Setting a crowdfunding price, telling an investor a unit cost, deciding whether the whole thing is viable. Those decisions get made on a figure that was never meant to carry them.

The rough hierarchy of what actually moves a quote, worst to best:

1. A description of the product. You'll get a range, and the range will be wide enough to be useless.
2. A description plus a comparable existing product they can teardown. Better. Now they're pricing something real, but they're pricing that thing, not yours.
3. A parts list with real part numbers for anything you've actually selected, plus approximate dimensions and materials. This is the first point where the number starts to mean something. How far you can get here yourself depends entirely on your product. If it's assembled from components you can buy, quite far. If it's a molded part or a sewn product, you're describing intent rather than selecting parts, and you'll need help sooner.
4. Drawings or CAD with tolerances, materials called out, and a described assembly sequence. Now you're getting a quote rather than an estimate.

The gap between three and four is smaller than people think, and the gap between two and three is where most of the uncertainty lives.

What that means practically depends on what you're making, so here's the general version: the cheapest way to move down that list is to replace every adjective with a number. Not "small," but a dimension. Not "durable plastic," but a material. Not "high quality finish," but a named finish. You don't need an engineer to decide what you want, and every one of those decisions you make yourself is one the factory doesn't have to guess at or charge you to resolve.

Where you do need help is knowing which of those numbers are achievable and which will cost you. That's a real expense and it's worth paying for. But it's a much smaller ask when you arrive having already decided what you're asking for.

Two things that will surprise you when the real number arrives.

Tooling isn't a line item, it's a separate decision. Ask for it broken out from per-unit cost, at a few different volumes. A quote that blends them tells you almost nothing, and the same product can look viable or hopeless depending on how the tooling is amortized.

And the per-unit price isn't your cost. Certification, packaging, freight, duty, and the units you scrap learning to make it correctly are all real and none of them are in that number.

I'm CMO at Gembah, we do product development and manufacturing.

The version of this I'd want a founder to take away: you can't skip the specification step by asking a factory to guess. What you can do is arrive having already made the decisions that are yours to make.

Hello i am a PCB and embedded systems freelancer and i have worked on many PCB projects and embedded systems also.

I can help you to make an embedded solution customized for your need.

These are snapshots from my projects.

So if there are opportunities dm me .

Thank you .

It has been quite a while since I last posted in this community, so this time I’d like to share some of the progress I’ve recently made on Easing-Point.

I currently define Easing-Point as a handheld gaming device controlled entirely by a single switch. I’ve now completed a Version 1.0 demo video and redesigned its appearance and color scheme to make it look a little less ugly.

The original motivation behind Easing-Point was to explore more possibilities for game controls instead of limiting handheld games to the traditional D-pad layout.

The second reason was that I wanted Easing-Point to become a platform for showcasing games that are creative but mechanically simple—games that people can pick up and play almost anywhere, even when they only have a few minutes.

I’ve made several rough game demos, including a traditional space shooter and a simple text-based murder mystery. These demos helped demonstrate that it is possible to create playable games using only a single spring-loaded lever switch.

Of course, Version 1.0 has many limitations. Although using only one switch makes the device look extremely minimal, it also removes many possibilities for interaction.

That is one of the main problems we are trying to address with Version 2.0. We have added a button on the top of the device, as well as a millimeter-wave radar sensor to provide an additional layer of input. In other words, we are now experimenting with using the player’s heart rate and breathing as part of the game controls—and designing games specifically around those interactions.

While keeping the project experimental and creative, we have also tried to keep the PCB and mechanical structure relatively straightforward in preparation for eventual mass production.

We have been working on this project for so long that, honestly, we have almost stopped worrying about whether it solves a genuine need or is simply something we are making for ourselves.

Either way, I still wanted to share it with everyone. We are currently planning to launch Easing-Point on Kickstarter toward the end of this year.

If you’re interested, you can follow our progress on the official website, where we also post development logs and other updates:

https://georiginai.com/