The Hardware Academy is a global platform with members from around the world. You will benefit from joining regardless of where you are located.

In addition to the U.S. we also have members from Europe, Canada, Asia, Australia, Africa, and South America. To my knowledge we don’t have any members yet from Antarctica, but otherwise we have members from every region of the world active in the Academy.

Most discussions, courses, and resources are completely independent of your location. Some topics like regulatory certifications are location dependent, but even then the requirements are very similar regardless of the country.

Yes! With a Private Mentoring plan you get private mentoring with me (John Teel), and you also get private engineering support from my team of engineers.

Regardless of where you are on your journey with your product the Hardware Academy is a hugely beneficial resource. If you don't yet have a definite product idea you wish to pursue, then the academy will help you select the best idea to pursue.

If you instead have a definite product idea then you'll learn what steps come next. If you have a proof-of-concept (POC) prototype already, then you'll learn how to migrate it to a manufacturable product.

If you already have a manufacturable prototype, then you'll learn how to partner with manufacturers, do online marketing, find customers, connect with investors, etc.

The Hardware Academy was created primarily for electronic hardware products. However, outside of the electronics design, the other steps and challenges are pretty much the same for any physical product, so the Academy can be a good fit for non-electronic products too.

Obviously the content and discussions on electronics design won’t apply, but everything else applies almost equally well for any physical product.

On the Pro and Premium plans anything you share privately is kept strictly confidential and is protected by an NDA. All intellectual property remains 100% yours. 

When posting in the open community area you can get support and feedback from lots of other engineers, experts, and members. But what you share here is not private and all other active members can see it. 

Anyone can post in a free forum so how do you know you can ever trust any of the advice? A lot of the information in a free forum is garbage. Everyone thinks they are an expert, but very few really are. Public forums can also be very unfriendly places where you may get verbally attacked for asking the wrong questions.

That is not the case at all with the Academy community! First of all, it's a private forum so only Academy members can access it. This alone filters out a lot of the bad stuff because only more serious people are allowed access. It also means that the general public can never see your questions or any details about your product.

Secondly, John is in the community nearly every day personally answering questions and sharing advice. He also heavily moderates the community so the quality remains very high.

Finally, we've hand selected over a dozen experts to help answer your questions in the community. So you know you can trust the advice you are given in the Academy. It really is much more than just a community, and it's a place for you to get low-cost, low-risk access to me and lots of other trusted experts.

You can now also get personal advice directly from me via video, audio, or text.

The courses mostly consist of recorded video content. Each course is broken down into multiple lessons which you can watch at your own pace. A new course is released each month, but members have access to all of the previous courses. Total course length is usually between 1-4 hours.

We also sometimes host live workshops. You are welcome to attend any workshop live or the recording will be available to you afterwards in the course library.

The course topics vary considerably between technical and entrepreneurial subjects. Take a live peek inside the Academy to see the courses currently available.

Yes, and there are two options for getting a design review.

Option #1: If you share your design in the community area of the Academy you will get a high-level review by at least one engineer, likely by multiple engineers. Keep in mind this will require you to share your design so other members can see it, and private design reviews are not included in the subscription. This level of design review will only typically highlight any major design issues.

Option #2: For a more thorough design review (including checking all of the potential minor issues) we offer paid design reviews starting at $399 on the Predictable Designs website. However, members of the Academy Standard plan get a 10% discount on all design reviews, and members of the Private plan get a 50% discount.

Yes, probably. The Academy was originally created for those wishing to learn about product development in order to bring their own product to market. But there is also a ton of value for those who design products for others especially since you can get quick feedback from other experienced engineers.

The simple answer is maybe, but only if you are open to learning new technical skills. If you have absolutely no technical background, and you have no interest in learning new technical skills, then it will be extremely challenging for you to manage the development of a complex new product.

You definitely should join now, because the more you know and the earlier you know it, the better. Understanding the steps it takes to get a product developed and on the market gives you the knowledge to select the best idea to pursue.

Do not wait until you have your idea finalized before you begin the learning process. The earlier you begin the learning process the more likely you are to succeed.

Obviously I'd love it if all our members stuck around forever - but I know that is not realistic and things change! So, if you do decide to cancel obviously I'll be very sad, but if you're intent on leaving then you'll be able to do so with just 2 clicks of a mouse.

I don't hide the cancel button, nor do I require that you get my permission to cancel your subscription. You can cancel at any time. In fact, here’s a video showing you how to cancel your subscription.

Yes, you can rejoin at any time. However, if the membership fee has increased you will have to pay the new higher price.

Yes, absolutely. Whether you want to keep your product a secret, or keep your identity a secret (from perhaps your employer), you'll still gain a ton from the Academy.

You can remain totally anonymous inside the Academy if desired, so no one except myself (and any employees) will know your true identity. We will be as secretive with your idea and identity as you wish.

However, we always encourage members to not be overly secretive (especially with their identity) so they can receive the maximum benefit possible from the Academy.

If you want fully private support from John Teel and other experts then we also offer our Pro and Premium plans.

You get access to everything already inside the Academy straight away. We don't artificially delay anything just to hook you into staying longer. Instead, we hook you into staying longer by giving you tremendous value!

Each month a new course or workshop is added to the database, so over time the amount of content you can access increases.

Yes. You are allowed to upgrade and downgrade between the different plans as needed. Although, we do ask that you plan to stay on the new plan for at least 3 months. Please email us for help switching plans.

You can all share all the same account as long as you are all a part of the same startup/project.

Absolutely not! All of your intellectual property remains 100% your property. We claim absolutely no rights to your intellectual property.

For more details see the section titled “INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS TO YOUR MATERIALS” in the terms and conditions for the Academy.

Absolutely not! As long as you stay an active member your price is guaranteed to never increase. Any price increases will only impact new members, not existing ones. 

However, your current pricing is only guaranteed if you stay on your current plan or downgrade. If you wish to upgrade you are subject to the same price increases as new members. 

Also, if you cancel your subscription you are subject to all of the price increases and you will need to join at the current rate.

The price for the Hardware Academy is constantly increasing so the sooner you join the more you save.

This is kind of like asking "Should I wait until my project is successful before I ask for help?".

So the answer is no, and you need to get help first in order for your project to be successful. Helping you reach the point of generating revenue is one of the main goals of the Hardware Academy.

I always encourage you to strive to keep your expenses to a minimum, but the cost to join the Academy is so low it's really insignificant compared to the cost of developing and selling a new product.

The small monthly fee for the Academy will likely save you thousands of dollars and months or even years of your time. There is no better Return On Investment (ROI) than joining the Hardware Academy.

The earlier you seek help from those that have done what you seek to accomplish then the faster you will reach your goals!