We are DC-area technology entrepreneurs and innovators who want to build viable and vibrant business based on hardware, whether electronic, mechanical, or other.
Atoms are the new bits: We believe that the time is ripe for a new wave of entrepreneurship in hardware in the United States and worldwide.
Lean startup / pretotype methodologies: Thanks to inexpensive contract manufacturing, domestic and overseas, 3D printing, programmable hardware, and an Internet to propagate ideas, the principles of “lean startup” methodologies are as applicable to hardware startups as to software startups. Hardware “minimal viable products (MVPs)” can be build in weeks or days, and “pretotypes” can often be formulated in just hours or even minutes.
Identify the right product to build before you mass produce: This classic rule still holds. How can we identify the right hardware product to build without expending too many resources?
Unique challenges for hardware: Hardware startups have their own unique logistic challenges- inventory management, component sourcing, and manufacturing to name a few. We will discuss and learn how to handle these issues as well.
Inventor to entrepreneur: We hardware folks love to tinker and invent. This is pure fun! Can we apply this tinkering mindset to build business, not just gizmos?
If your product moves, flies, makes a sound, has blinking lights, or does something physical, come join us!
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
