I don’t know the technical details but why are you in a rush to build a profitable prototype right at the start?>Solve the problems that are right in F*cking front of you.
I've been quite f*cked up by this advice by the way. It deserves its own post, but whatever
Now, it is very true for entrepreneurship in general, and I do use the one problem strategy literally all the time, but it does not work for engineering .
Long story short when making my machine I had gone through the default process -
Point is... If I'd sit more on a drafting table in the 1st week I'd save myself 4-5 months of work.
- think up,
- sketch the idea in 3d and improve it,
- After two months stop to realize you don't know engineering,
- learn actual engineering (the thought up version would work quite well, except the parts themselves were unmanufacturable), try to sell the Kickstarter to raise funds for engineers...
- Fail. Because as it turned out nobody believes you. (1-5 took 3mo)
- Okay, engage the one problem strategy... Learn engineering.
- Given a thought up version (which works OK paper) DFM everything.
- DFM worked.
- Patent (3 weeks to write, polish, claims, etc)
- Do a cost calculation... (after 6 months)
- What the F*ck, I lose 50€ on every machine?
- Reengineer to v2, get have 26% margin, make fit on the table, nice (+2mo)
- Realize I want it smaller... In 3 days come up with a version that is 4 times smaller, 2 times cheaper... After 9 mo of work
- Solve the hard parts. (1mo)
- (drop the invention to create something way F*cking greater)
So, be cautious with 1 problem strategy with tech. In my current venture I have researched for 1mo straight before doing any code, or even learning the ins and outs of the field. I know for a fact I saved myself months of work due to what is the average advice in the ML community is suboptimal and would increase my costs 5-10x due to, for example, inefficiencies of common frameworks.
(part of it is also because of ill advice of learning through reading top papers... Which doesn't get you closer to learning, because, what is this all?)
And now I'm getting into learning everything, and I know exactly how I optimize every single detail of my project.
The prototype usually just needs to be technically feasible as a proof of concept and no need to be commercially viable.
The first plane and first computer ever invented were clumsy as hell as insanely costly to build. Anyone who expects to make a buck out of it would be mad.
If you have a working prototype you will naturally attract money and others who want to help you to lower the cost of production.
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