Depending on your product, it may make a lot of sense to manufacture in China (for example, for complex products that need to be developed fast). But the risks of China IP theft haven't gone away. I wanted to share a few examples here. As many manufacturers there start to feel the pinch due to orders slowing down, as their customers tighten their belts during the global coronavirus pandemic, it's only likely to get worse as some unscrupulous characters try to make a quick buck out of unwary … [Read more...]
New Product Concept Brief: 5 Things Your Industrial Designer Needs To Know
If you have a new product concept in mind, don't go straight to talk to a manufacturer (your concept is still too immature). Instead, you need to start working on 2 axes at the same time: Market demand confirmation - will a sufficient number of people want to buy your product? Industrial design - what will it look like? (I am assuming you are designing an electro-mechanical product.) To illustrate your product concept effectively, you'll be providing your industrial designer with a … [Read more...]
7 Typical Pitfalls for Hardware Startups Producing in China
A few years ago, I remember reading about the Coolest Cooler, a nice product that raised an amazing amount of money on Kickstarter: over 6,000 people bought it for a total of 13 million USD!! Yet, they went bust leaving a lot of frustrated backers and interested onlookers scratching their heads as to where it all went wrong for one of the most famous hardware startups of recent times and indeed the most funded Kickstarter campaign of 2014. In this post, I'll explore what went wrong for them … [Read more...]
How to Increase Speed of Developing New Products in China
Developing and manufacturing new products in China, especially if they're customized, is not an easy task. Many new products being launched using crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter have delays – in some cases, they are more than 6 months late. (See the typical delays we have observed here.) Actually, delays have to be expected if the business founders have no prior experience of manufacturing in China. Unless they get really lucky and pick a supplier that happens to be a very good … [Read more...]