With Brinktop under way, I have been thinking about the debate, “Is hardware hard?”
Two opposing views exist as articulated by two famous investors:
- Chris Dixon says, “Hardware is the new software.”
- Marc Andreessen says, “Hardware is named that for a reason; it is haaaaarrrrd.”
There are certainly costs for tooling and manufacturing that I have never experienced before in previous software startups. Also, there are niche expertise areas that are hard to staff. For instance we are looking to build an interface to a laptop battery. Very few people know how to do that. I will write more about that tomorrow.
What are your thoughts on a hardware startup? Is it hard or not in your opinion?
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