Don't Build It Unless You're Sure Lots of People Will Come

*And other cogent advise from veterans of the hardware startup business scene.

*The more familiar I become with this form of business, the more I appreciate tech-art. The constraints are so tight in contemporary global capitalism that a lot of our artifacts feel as soul-less as Soviet socialist realism.

School of hard knocks

9. Make customers an integral part from concept onward.
“You don’t build it and they will come. You have your target customer be an integral part of your entire launch, from concept and beyond. Pay attention to what they say because it’s critical to your product’s success.” – Daymond John, investor on Shark Tank and author of The Power of Broke

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13. Capitalize social media at every step.
”Utilize social media both before and after the launch in the most efficient manner. Before the launch, social media audiences can help by providing quality feedback, new ideas and interesting angles regarding upcoming products and in some cases help shape certain elements or even provide the inspiration for a new product concept in whole.” – Dennis Koutoudis, marketing expert, LinkedSuperPowers

14. Innovate for an existing market, not for a new market.
“A lot of people try to innovate and change the world. While I think that is noble and great, I know there is value in finding an existing market's needs and creating that product for that market. That's the definition of an entrepreneur. Using this technique is also more of a sure bet than innovating and making something never done before that you have no idea if anyone is interested in.” – Brian D. Evans, Inc. 500 Serial Entrepreneur

15. Validate the problem, focus on benefits and leverage experts.
“Our advice to early stage hardware companies is focus on five things – validating and articulating the pain they eliminate or problem they solve, benefits versus features and being laser focused on tech product development, cultivating a community of believers and early customers, efficiently using their cash by leveraging experts and community hubs like makerspaces and reflecting great leadership and a community mindset.” – Noramay Cadena, co-founder of Make in LA

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