Ask HN: Are there any conferences for bootstrapped hardware businesses?

28 points by syedkarim 2 years ago | 8 comments

What conferences are most useful to bootstrapped businesses that design and sell hardware as their primary source of revenue?

anticorporate 2 years ago |

I've always enjoyed the dedicated hardware track at All Things Open (Raleigh, NC, USA, October). They also partner with an organization called RIoT that has a lot of resources for startups and typically do a demo night, among other things.

https://riot.org/event/riot-iot-demo-night-2023/

https://2023.allthingsopen.org/schedule/

It's not exactly what you're looking for, but it's a great opportunity to network with other people in this space.

warrenm 2 years ago |

I ... am similarly curious

Closest I could find in a quick search on Electronic Design is The Things Conference ... https://www.electronicdesign.com/technologies/communications...

syedkarim 2 years ago |

I’ve found two conferences that are only kind of relevant.

https://www.crowdsupply.com/teardown/portland-2023 The focus is definitely hardware, but I don’t think they really touch on the business of hardware.

https://microconf.com/americas Microconf is definitely business focused, but not at all hardware-oriented.

thewizardofaus 2 years ago |

Not sure about conferences but I run a sports tech hardware bootstrapped business. Feel free to drop me a line (email in profile)

junon 2 years ago |

I would love this. Organizers get on this; with the rise of things like JLC and PCBWay hardware hacking culture is making a resurgence, and I suspect there will be many new makers trying to start small companies, similar to the SaaS boom. We have tons of these in the software world but, as evidenced by this post, not so much for the hardware scene.

Very much an untapped market.

rapjr9 2 years ago |

Many music conferences for new music products (including both software and hardware) are open for those bootstrapping a hardware business. You can set up a booth and demo your product to create interest for when the hardware is released and to take pre-orders or just to get ideas and feedback for features/design. Might even connect with a larger company that wants to adopt your product. Some of the conferences may offer some sessions on bootstrapping a business. Some of the larger ones are Superbooth, NAMM, Musikmesse, and AES, but there are lots of smaller ones also such as SynthPlex and Ableton Loop. Knobcon might be a good one. Not sure if MoogFest still exists since Moog was bought by a mass-market conglomerate.

dv_dt 2 years ago |

Possibly the Hackaday Supercon

jayemar 2 years ago |

I wish there were a better way to find conferences. If I hear about one it's usually because it just happened and I missed it.