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Ask HN: Build to Order Hardware (IoT)?

Hi HN.

I'd like to make a very small IoT device, ideally I design it and I'd find a company that can both manufacture and ship straight to consumer. Does this exist ? I understand that I'd still have to pay to finish the design and for a few prototypes, but I don't want to have to handle the full sales life cycle. I don't want to have to worry about inventory, funding, returns and all that stuff.

This is more of a passion project of mine than anything else. I plan on making all the software running on the device open source, and I'll encourage others to write their own software as well.

I basically want a raspberry pi zero( or possibly another small SBC) + a screen and a few buttons in an nice enclosure.

( 2 comments | on HN )
Re:Ask HN: Build to Order Hardware (IoT)? by texas1775 on Friday May 17, 2024 @09:17PM (#40395765)
Checkout Seeed Studio https://www.seeedstudio.com/
Re:Ask HN: Build to Order Hardware (IoT)? by GianFabien on Saturday May 18, 2024 @02:02AM (#40396769)
There are lots of contract manufacturers, especially in China. But they will want a ready to manufacture design and an up front commitment for thousands of units. Prototyping generally requires many iterations.

Hardware is very hard. e.g. https://www.luminary-labs.com/insight/why-hardware-is-hard/

When you have the financial resources to outsource the hard bits, it is doable.