Resource website for Open Source Hardware businesses?

Hello there !

I am Marco Schwartz, electrical engineer & hardware entrepreneur. The main business I am currently running is around home automation & open-source hardware (http://openhomeautomation.net). I am happy that these forums are available for us to talk about open-source hardware !

One of my idea at the moment is to build a website giving information and advice about how to start & run a hardware startup based on the open-source hardware model. I know that they are successful companies out there that works on this model (Arduino, Adafruit, Sparkfun …) and a lot of people that want to start in that area (looking at the number of projects on Indiegogo & Kickstarter).

The website would be similar in the concept to this one that some of you might know : http://www.ecommercefuel.com which is based on how to build an e-commerce business. The long-term goal would be to create a website where hardware founders can help each other out, but really focused around the business side of things.

I wanted to have the opinion of people from this forum on my idea, for example if you think that there would be some interest from the OSHW community for this kind of website.

Cheers,
Marco Schwartz

Marcos,

I am starting an OSHW-based business myself and I know that this kind of information would be of great value to folks wanting to start in that area. Of course, the site would be best served if you could round up a few of the big guys in business to collaborate…

Cheers,
George

Hello George,

Thanks for the feedback. Indeed it would be great if the big names could collaborate, maybe plan is to involve them first via guest posts and podcast episodes (a bit like the ecommerce website I was mentioning in my first post).

Jim,

Thanks for your message. I plan to publish content about starting & running an OSHW business from anywhere, as I am a location-independent entrepreneur myself. So definitely, you’ll find resources to run a business if you are located in South East Asia (I am actually just back from Chiang Mai, Thailand).

I also just published my first podcast on the website I mentioned:

http://openhardwarelabs.com/money/

Cheers,
Marco

There is another company helping open hardware businesses:
http://owiowi.net/

Here’s a blog post by Lars Zimmerman on the business models / economics of oshw too:
http://bloglz.de/business-models-for-open-source-hardware-open-design/

Hello Alicia,

Thanks for the link! I am also already in touch with Lars Zimmerman, I am really excited about collaborating on some projects with him.

I really like your propose idea, all you just need to do if to provide your innovation a better and unique brand name, one that is catchy name that can attract not only consumers but also distributors and investors wanted to partner with your business. Here, http://eatmywords.com/services/names/, a site that is perfect for you to generate valuable brand name. You can also get advice from experts on the said field like Alexandra Watkins.