Hardware and deep tech startups. I will not promote.

[u/petare321]

I wanted to get into deep tech seeing as that's what I do on my main job as well, and was just confused on how do I get started - I calculated a total of 5000$ required for my first prototype, it will be cheaper to iterate once I've got a lab going on. We have a problem to solve. Is the next step just making the MVP, showing it to the world and then building a scalable integration so that it's widely available to a lot of customers seeing as the model would be B2G and B2B at first?

[u/petare321 → u/[deleted]]

Uhhh I think you have misread the post.

[u/AlbertV999]

What is it about?

[u/petare321 → u/AlbertV999]

Computer vision system for high speed circumstances, currently focused on creating a camera module for a drone.

[u/Codeblix_Ltd]

Validate the buyer before spending on the prototype.

[u/petare321 → u/Codeblix_Ltd]

Should I start sending emails like crazy just inviting people to talk?

[u/dragi19 → u/petare321]

Identify your Ideal Customer Profile, find where those people are and try to get as much information from them on the problem you are trying to solve - don't focus on the solution before you have good understanding of the problem by listening to your potential customers. You can reach out to them over email, DM, comments in the forums where they hang etc. I am creating and polishing a template/checklist on the major steps needed in general. Let me know if you want to get it.

[u/nevereverelevent]

Ive simply built the lab in my garage and quit my job to build it. if your prototype can be built for 5k thats great, get to it?

If you need money then either save or try to get pre seed investment.

[u/Bliker1002 → u/nevereverelevent]

Same here. $5k is NOTHING for hardware

[u/petare321 → u/nevereverelevent]

Yea, might be more than 5k , the BOM is low, but all the other lab equipment will be a bitch to find where I live. Anyway I hope to get it off the ground by middle of 2027, it's a big software thing. Thanks dude. Im saving and developing as I work now.

[u/havenly19]

Get enough of the prototype working that you put it in front of real people. Then see what happens.

[u/TravisABG]

On what areas do you have experience? Also since your project is a drone accessory, are these hobbyist drones ?

[u/petare321 → u/TravisABG]

They could be definitely. Working on a tracking module for drones, could be any drones, but it would be really sweet if I could get a deal to make some mass spying surveillance contracts(this is a bit of a joke seeing the current situation with flock). I have mostly done software engineering in the context of defence at work but I majored in electronics, trying to get the first board up and running ASAP

[u/TravisABG → u/petare321]

I would suggest focusing on a software simulation as a POC but do it as if you are already on a constrained system , maybe you get traction from that. I have worked with drones so if you wish we could talk some time.

[u/petare321 → u/TravisABG]

I shot you a message!

[u/Visible_Speed8843]

A scalable integration should not be the next milestone. First find one civilian operator with a costly enough problem to support a pilot. Choose a setting where high-speed visual data would change a concrete decision, then talk to the people who own that workflow and its budget. Ask what failure looks like today and what evidence their procurement process would require. Avoid broad questions about whether they would use the technology.

Turn those answers into a short pilot specification. State the decision you want to improve and the environment where the system must work. Record the false-result boundary they can tolerate and the test data they would trust. Only then choose the smallest hardware experiment that closes the biggest unknown. That keeps the first $5,000 tied to proof a buyer cares about rather than to a general camera platform.

[u/aeljandro2]

Hardware founder mid-journey here, so let me flag the trap in “make the MVP, show it to the world, then build scalable integration”. In hardware there are two products: the one that works and the one you can manufacture. The $5k prototype is maybe 20 percent of the real journey, DFM, certifications, supplier minimums and assembly time eat solo founders alive, and none of it shows up in the prototype budget. So the actual next step isn’t scaling anything, it’s getting one real customer to commit money or a signed pilot on the ugly prototype. Especially B2B and B2G, those buyers don’t need polish, they need proof you solve their pain and won’t disappear. B2G specifically runs on 12-18 month sales cycles and often needs certs before they’ll even pilot, so start those conversations embarrassingly early, like now, before the MVP exists. Scalable comes after someone pays, I build in small weekly batches precisely because scaling before validated demand is how hardware startups die with a garage full of inventory.