We are moving from an on prem setup that has become hard to maintain across engineering and sourcing and manufacturing. All three need the same product data and revision history and right now they do not get it. Three platforms keep coming up and they approach this very differently. What I cannot tell from the websites is how those differences play out once a team uses the system every day. Keeping BOMs and revisions aligned and cutting the spreadsheet habit are the real goals. For teams who already moved, what mattered a year in?

Hi all,

I’m the developer of Migoo, a project focused on making it easier to turn existing materials into usable presentations.

The workflow I’m working toward is straightforward: start with notes, research, PDFs, or other documents, organize the important ideas, generate slides, and export an editable PPTX.

What interests me most is the part between the first draft and the finished presentation.

In many workflows, the initial generation is not the biggest bottleneck. People still need to check the facts, restore missing context, reorganize the narrative, fix repetitive slides, and adjust the formatting.

I want to understand which of these steps causes the most friction in real working environments.

For example, someone preparing a weekly business update might care most about speed and consistency. Someone preparing a research presentation might care more about accuracy and preserving detail. A startup founder preparing a pitch deck might prioritize the overall narrative.

Those are quite different needs, and I don't want to assume one workflow fits everyone.

Since I'm building Migoo, I'd appreciate hearing how you currently create presentations and where you think AI tools could genuinely save time.

What would an AI presentation tool need to get right before you'd trust it with work that actually matters?

Hi,

What if someone took ownership of your marketing, lead generation, and customer acquisition for the next 90–120 days? What would you expect them to fix first?

I currently have the bandwidth to partner with one more business and take ownership of its customer acquisition and brand growth.

Here's what i provide:

1. Customer acquisition: Finding practical ways to reach the right buyers and turn opportunities into customers.

2. Holistic brand growth: Connecting positioning, SEO, content, social media, and other relevant channels to build visibility and trust.

3. Long term lead generation: Building sustainable channels and processes that can continue attracting potential customers over time, with appropriate ongoing maintenance.

What I'm looking for: An established business/startup with a credible product, a clear market opportunity, and the budget and commitment to invest in commercial growth.

If you're building a business like this, I'd be interested in learning about your product, your current customer acquisition challenges, and where you want the business to be a year from now.

A bit about me: 15+ years of experience across business development, client acquisition, lead generation, and demand generation. 5 star reviews from all the previous/current clients.

Thanks!!

I ran hardware production programmes for years and the sourcing always drove me up the wall. Huge spreadsheets tracking parts & suppliers, RFI/RFQs for each one, then weeks chasing suppliers. And the shops that made the prototypes usually couldn't do the volumes, so half of it got re-sourced anyway.

I built this tool to automate about 70% of the procurement admin and roll sourcing up to the assembly level.

If you've taken hardware into production I'd really like to know which parts always gave you the most grief, and whether you'd trust something like this to shortlist suppliers for you.

I have a prototype for a battery powered device that I've been trying out for a few months. I'm looking for recommendations of companies that could:

• Develop the PCB
• Develop the firmware for PCB
• Develop the cloud solution (AWS)
• Experience with CE/UKCA marking (more around PCB certification)
• Can do or work with companies for box builds

If anyone has done something similar or any recommendations or would be great to hear. Preference would be Ireland or UK based but open to other European countries

Hi everyone! We’re building Nuvo Vision One, a stereo depth camera powered by a Raspberry Pi 5, and wanted to share where we’ve got so far.

This started from our own need to add depth sensing to our products. The stereo cameras we were considering were expensive for our budget, and we already had a Pi 5 handling compute. We wondered how far we could get by connecting two cameras and doing the stereo processing on the Pi itself.

The setup uses two IMX296 global-shutter cameras with a shared hardware trigger to synchronize capture. The Pi handles image rectification and stereo matching, producing disparity and depth alongside the camera images.

Doing this on an SBC comes with limits. Resolution, frame rate and matcher settings all affect how much work the Pi can keep up with. We’ve reached a useful starting point for our needs, but there’s still plenty to improve. The attached preview video shows the current output, including the holes and noisy regions where matching struggles.

We also built a browser-based interface to make it easier to use. You can preview the images and depth, adjust exposure and stereo settings, choose outputs, and work through calibration. It’s accessible over the local network through Ethernet or Wi-Fi.

One reason we like this approach is that the camera’s compute is also a normal Linux computer. You can modify the image pipeline and run your own applications on the same Pi. The Nuvo Depth software is open source, including the runtime, web interface and SDKs.

We’ve put product photos and web UI screenshots in this album so you can see the hardware and controls alongside the video.

We’d love feedback from people working with stereo vision or robotics. What would you want to test first, and what would make something like this useful in your projects?

GitHub: https://github.com/arputhamips/nuvo-depth

I run Odderon Lab, a small independent electronics and audio hardware project. I’m bringing up a bass-management board for stereo speakers and a subwoofer.

The audio filtering is analog, using OPA1679 op-amps and AD5206 digital pots. I’m integrating an RP2040-Zero controller to adjust the settings. The intended crossover range is roughly 40 to 160 Hz, with high-pass filtering for the mains and low-pass filtering for the sub. That range still needs to be measured and calibrated on the assembled board.

The prototype boards are here and I’ve checked the initial power rails. Controller communication and signal-path checks are next, followed by response sweeps, noise, distortion and startup testing. There’s nothing for sale yet.

I’d like the control side to stay replaceable so firmware and interface experiments don’t require rebuilding the analog board. Presets and calibration tools are possible follow-ons, not finished features. First I need to establish what Rev A actually does.

For people who have shipped small hardware with an extensible control side, what turned out to matter to buyers after installation? I’m interested in the difference between features people enjoyed discussing and features they actually used.

When I was comparing smart lock options, I kept going in circles between three routes: locks that run on AA batteries, locks with rechargeable battery packs, and locks paired with a solar charging accessory.

The more I thought about it, the more “rechargeable” sounded like one more thing I’d have to remember to do. Buying disposable batteries forever didn’t feel ideal either.

That’s part of the problem I wanted to address with LockPower Infinity, my solar charging accessory for compatible fingerprint door locks. Rather than replacing the lock or changing your whole setup, the idea is to supplement its power supply with daylight charging and a built-in rechargeable battery.

It connects to the lock’s emergency power port and is designed to help reduce battery maintenance and the risk of unexpected power-related lockouts.

The biggest consideration is the installation itself. The solar panel needs sufficient daylight to charge effectively, and compatibility with the specific lock matters. A bright doorway is a much better candidate than a permanently shaded entrance.

For anyone choosing a smart lock, I think battery management deserves as much attention as the features on the box.

Which setup would you trust most for long-term reliability: replaceable AAs, a rechargeable battery pack, or a compatible smart lock with a solar charging accessory like LockPower Infinity?

I'm starting a quick-turn wire harness service for companies ramping up production/changing their designs rapidly. The idea is to be SendCutSend for more custom hardware outside of just sheet metal processes, starting with wire harnesses. If anyone wants a couple wire harnesses made, let me know and I'll do it for materials and shipping.

When I was comparing smart lock options, I kept going in circles between three routes: locks that run on AA batteries, locks with rechargeable battery packs, and locks paired with a solar charging accessory.

The more I thought about it, the more “rechargeable” sounded like one more thing I’d have to remember to do. Buying disposable batteries forever didn’t feel ideal either.

That’s part of the problem I wanted to address with LockPower Infinity, my solar charging accessory for compatible fingerprint door locks. Rather than replacing the lock or changing your whole setup, the idea is to supplement its power supply with daylight charging and a built-in rechargeable battery.

It connects to the lock’s emergency power port and is designed to help reduce battery maintenance and the risk of unexpected power-related lockouts.

The biggest consideration is the installation itself. The solar panel needs sufficient daylight to charge effectively, and compatibility with the specific lock matters. A bright doorway is a much better candidate than a permanently shaded entrance.

For anyone choosing a smart lock, I think battery management deserves as much attention as the features on the box.

Which setup would you trust most for long-term reliability: replaceable AAs, a rechargeable battery pack, or a compatible smart lock with a solar charging accessory like LockPower Infinity?

Hey guys. I have been designing and developing a digital gauge for cars for over a year now and i finally trust it enough to present it here and ask for feedback.

Its a 52mm gauge so it can fit universal into any standard aftermarket Analog gauge pod. I spend alot of time to support anything you throw at it given my capabilitys in electrical engineering and software development.

My biggest issue is that i have cars to test it on besides my own BMW E46. The E46 is great for testing CAN sniffing but it doesnt support any OBDII requests nor does it have any custom ECU like MaxxECU, Haltech or similar.

One of the key development thoughts was that i need to support any ECU or CAN network. Thats why the Gauge comes with preset profiles for aftermaket ECUs plus the possibility to make your very own profiles from scratch or via the dbc parser which is build in.

If you dont have a CAN bus thats also no issue at all. the Gauge has 8 Analog inputs supporting 0-5V sensors and NTC or PTC sensors up to 60k Ohms.

Now why am i writting here exactly? Honestly i find myself kind of lost in what to do at this point. I opened my shop start of october because i thought i would get some people to buy it and get me feedback (I even setup a 20% discount for early supporters). But its been 19 days now and hundrets of messages later i only found 2 buyers which feels kind of demotivating for me. I am ofcourse glad i got someone to support this project but it is not how i thought it would start out. The most difficult fact for me right now is that after i started i saw so many other people starting to build the same format Gauges which just makes my content go unseen due to my lack of video editing skills.

I am hoping that some people here would have some tips on what to do next or what to do better...

I'm an independent embedded software/hardware developer based in Italy, and I've been working on a small USB device that I'd like to bring to market.
I still need to take care of CE/EMC compliance (and maybe FCC), but I'm getting closer to the launch.

Foolishly only now I'm looking at all the regulations to sell in Europe.
My assumption was that having a company in Europe would be easier to sell here, but the more I research the regulatory side, the more complicated it gets.

From what I understand, I potentially have to deal with:

• WEEE registrations, reporting, and recycling schemes in each country where I sell.
• Packaging EPR registrations, with different national requirements and fees.
• Local authorised representatives in some if not all cases.
• Various country-specific labelling and documentation requirements.

My thought was that these requirements were "centralized" like the CE/EMC compliance or the VAT system.

Ironically, selling to US customers is starting to look simpler, despite the tariffs, customs fees, and international shipping costs (I might be underestimating some additional complications here).

So I'd really appreciate hearing from people who have gone through this with their own small electronic products.

A few questions:

1. Am I misunderstanding something critical about WEEE and packaging EPR for small-volume manufacturers?
2. Have any of you decided to sell only in selected EU countries, or even focus on the US market instead?
3. For those of you selling small electronic products from the EU: which countries do you actually ship to, and roughly how much do you spend annually on WEEE and packaging compliance?
4. Are there other significant costs or regulatory requirements I should be considering before launching?

It feels "wrong" that selling in the US could be simpler than selling in EU for an EU company...

Thanks for any advice or experiences you can share.

Hey everyone,
I’m a mechatronics engineer based in Shenzhen, China. I previously worked at DJI, so I’ve spent quite a bit of time working on hardware.
One thing I’ve been curious about is how overseas founders handle communication with Chinese suppliers.
Being a local engineer definitely has its advantages. Speaking the same language is one thing, but understanding the technical details and being able to discuss problems directly with the factory can make a big difference too.
But I’m curious how it looks from the other side.
Do you usually communicate directly with the factory, or work through a sourcing agent?
Have you ever run into problems where the factory misunderstood your drawings, tolerances, or what you actually wanted?
And when something goes wrong during prototyping or production, how do you usually sort it out?
Would love to hear some real experiences, good or bad.

I’m a first-time founder developing an early consumer hardware concept. I’m looking for someone who can handle mechanical CAD, electronics, firmware, and a functional prototype—or help me understand where separate specialists are needed.

I’ve started talking with a freelance engineer, but haven’t committed to the full build. My goal is to validate technical feasibility and get an initial understanding of component costs before spending several thousand dollars on an integrated prototype.

I’m considering a phased approach: mechanical feasibility, component selection and preliminary costs, a simple proof of concept, then an integrated prototype. Each phase would have specific deliverables and a decision about whether to continue.

For anyone who has worked with freelance engineers on an early hardware product:

• How did you assess their skills beyond their portfolio and reviews?
• What did you wish you’d clarified about scope, milestones, and payment?
• Which files, documentation, and ownership terms were important to secure?
• How did you handle revisions or discoveries that changed the scope?
• What red flags—or positive signs—should a first-time founder watch for?

I’d especially appreciate experiences with freelancers or platforms like Fiverr and Upwork. What worked, what went wrong, and what would you do differently?

I’m looking for lessons and advice from people who’ve been through this. Thanks!

Comment what you're making and I'll reply with a list of manufacturers in Mexico that could make it instead.

I’m curious how buyers approach target pricing during supplier negotiations.
Let’s say you’re sourcing a custom-manufactured component.
Your internal target is $8 per unit.
Would you tell potential suppliers that number upfront?
I can see an argument for sharing it.
If the target is realistic, the supplier can quickly assess whether the project is commercially feasible.
It might suggest alternative materials, manufacturing processes or order quantities that bring the cost closer to the target.
That could save time for both sides.
But there’s an obvious downside.
If you disclose $8, a supplier that could have quoted $6.50 might simply offer something close to your target.
You could lose useful information about actual market pricing.
There’s also the question of what the target includes.
Does $8 include packaging?
Testing?
Tooling amortization?
Freight?
A supplier might meet the target by excluding something the buyer expected.
On the other hand, refusing to share any budget information can lead to suppliers spending time preparing quotations for projects that were never commercially realistic.
Maybe the answer depends on the sourcing stage.
For initial market research, keeping the target confidential could provide better pricing information.
For collaborative product development, sharing a realistic cost objective might help the supplier propose more useful design alternatives.
For buyers: Do you normally disclose target pricing in the first RFQ or only during later negotiations?
For suppliers: Does knowing the buyer’s target price help you prepare a better proposal, or does it mainly influence where you position your quotation?

Hello! I have been brewing on this ideas of creating a phone case to help vloggers and influencers record their videos on their phones easier.

Can anyone point me to the right direction on how I can realistically design a prototype phone case to send to a manufacturer to create? This would be a 3D item that needs to fit most types of current cellphones on the market.

Thank

Hi everyone,

We’re currently building a demo for a hardware product, and I’m curious how other teams usually handle this process.

We don’t have a highly experienced hardware engineer on our core team. Our usual approach is to discuss the product direction, concept, and main features internally, then pay external hardware and software engineers to build it.

The process has involved much more back-and-forth than we expected. There are always details to clarify, decisions to revisit, and requirements to explain again. We spend a lot of time in meetings and following up, and it sometimes feels like the communication itself is slowing the project down.

What’s more frustrating is that, even after all that discussion, the result still doesn’t always match what we had in mind.

We’ve thought about hiring an experienced hardware engineer full-time, but that’s probably too expensive for us at this stage.

So I’d love to hear how other teams deal with this:

• How often do you talk to your hardware engineers while building a demo or prototype?
• Do your hardware, firmware, and software engineers need to sync frequently?
• Do you define everything before development starts, or do you figure things out as you go?
• If you outsource the work, who turns the product idea into clear engineering requirements?
• What has helped you reduce misunderstandings, unnecessary meetings, and rework?
• For an early-stage team that can’t afford a senior full-time hardware engineer, would a part-time advisor or fractional hardware lead work better than outsourcing everything?

We’re trying to understand whether this much communication is just a normal part of early hardware development, or whether it means we need to improve the way we define requirements and work with outside engineers.

I’d really appreciate hearing how others approach this, especially if you’ve dealt with something similar. Thanks!

Hey founders, doing a little research on the design, engineering, and branding aspects of getting a physical product from idea to out the door. I've gotten to chat with people in my area, but trying to get as many perspectives as I can to start! This is super open ended, so share whatever seems relevant. Thanks!

Anyone who's tried building a physical product knows how frustrating it can be to find the right components and suppliers.

You start with one search, end up opening dozens of websites, comparing specifications, and trying to put together a BOM.

I'm building GrabRaw to make this process easier by breaking products into components and helping people discover suppliers.

Still improving it, but I'm curious how other founders and hardware builders handle this today.

What's the most frustrating part of sourcing components for you?

Smart locks are convenient until the battery needs attention at the worst possible time.

I’m building LockPower Infinity, a solar charging accessory for compatible fingerprint door locks. It includes a built-in 1500mAh battery and a retractable USB-C cable.

I’m interested in making this kind of maintenance less troublesome, particularly for rental properties and entrances that receive enough daylight.

Would you consider adding a solar accessory to your smart lock setup, or would you rather keep things simple with spare batteries?

I'm a first-time hardware founder and I'm still at the concept stage. Nothing is built or tested. I'm asking for advice, not selling anything.

The problem: people don't carry power banks because they're bulky, cables get forgotten, and someone in the group is always at 2%.

The concept is called O-Ring. It's a magnetic power accessory designed to attach to your phone and charge it. Then you detach it and hand it to a friend so they can charge their compatible phone. It's one unit that moves between phones, not simultaneous charging.

So far I have a landing page with a $1 refundable reservation. Planned pricing is $29 at launch and $49 retail, but both are targets, not commitments. I've deliberately not published capacity, size or compatibility, because I don't want to promise anything before we've prototyped.

Questions for people who've done this:
1. Is a $1 refundable deposit a meaningful demand signal, or just noise? What conversion would make you take it seriously?
2. For a shareable accessory, what's the biggest risk you'd want to test first: magnet retention, heat, compatibility across phones, or whether people will actually lend it out?
3. Which compatibility would buyers expect at minimum, and is it smarter to launch narrow?