Building a hardware start-up in India is tough

Despite the hype around Modi's Make in India program, country's start-up hardware ecosystem is yet to get a kickstart, reports Tech in Asia

Sai Kiran was about to launch his first product offering – Teewe, a media streaming device. He knew setting up a hardware start-up would be challenging, given India’s limited resources for hardware manufacturing, but went ahead anyway.
 

He ended up losing US$100,000 when he sought to make a prototype in India for Teewe.
 

Tech in Asia caught up with some industry experts at the Blueprint workshop to get some useful mentorship for you. Here’s a peek:

Build to solve local problems
 

If your ambition is to conquer the world, this might be difficult to achieve.
 

But the most effective way to make a hardware product succeed is to identify niche problems and address them. 

Keep software integration in mind Start-ups need to understand how hardware plays a role in a country’s overall market. Making a consumer-centric product for India doesn’t work well in hardware. Instead, the real opportunity locally will be in enterprise, SMEs, and agritech solutions with hardware as the core of their service delivery.
 

Plan your costs ahead
 

It’s a no-brainer that hardware start-ups need more funds than their software counterparts. To top it, there’s very little funding for companies without working prototypes. 
 

Don’t compromise on prototype quality

To build a good prototype, invest time in finding the right vendor, assessing the correct materials required, and identifying the manufacturing processes for your particular product. 

Don’t be swayed by the ‘make in India’ wave

In the long run, manufacturing locally will be important, especially to keep expenses in check. But till India’s manufacturing capability matures, it’s okay for you to explore vendors in known hubs like Shenzhen in China.

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here